VENUE SPOTLIGHT > SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR Q&A SVG SIT-DOWN: DIVERSIFIED MAINTAINS PROACTIVE APPROACH DURING TIME OF UNCERTAINTY Founded in 1993, Diversified has emerged as global partner with more than 50 offices serving a dynamic and diverse global clientele. In the time of the coronavirus, every aspect of the sports video production community is feeling the effects. SVG had the chance to speak with Duane Yoslov, SVP, sports & live events; Anthony Cuellar, SVP, global marketing; and Chris Sullivan, VP, business development, sports & live events, about how business is continuing in the wake of this sports hiatus, how safety protocols are being developed for all employees, and how the company is planning for a future when live events return. How is the company continuing to communicate with clients? How is the team adopting new ways to attract new clients? Cuellar: Our sports and live events team is one of our key specialties, but for many years, we have also been working with clients in corporate, education, government, and many other verticals to provide communication and collaboration solutions. We’ve used these same solutions to stay connected via virtual rooms in Zoom, [Microsoft] Teams, and [Cisco] WebEx. It’s been really interesting for us because as the markets changed, we’re in a position where our customers and clients have started to request solutions immediately. Initially, we set up a COVID-19 page on our website for business continuity, to inform and share solutions that we’re offering free of charge to customers to cope with this. That’s one way that we started to provide communication and collaboration tools with our clients. This has helped during the crisis and how we’ve approached it across all of our business lines internally as well as externally. Sullivan: We’ve done a lot of [video conferencing] before, but now, it’s become the [common] way of doing business. Since everybody is starting at 8:00 in the morning, it seems like the calls are running right through 9:00 at night, so it hasn’t slowed down. We’ve stayed really busy but it’s just in a different way. Are your active projects continuing or have they been put on hold? Yoslov: The travel restrictions have caused a profound impact to our active projects. In total, there were more than 300 job sites that were affected globally. A small handful of those were sports or stadium projects, so we’ve regrouped, come up with contingency plans, and kept our teams intact for the most part that are servicing those projects. We’re reacting day-by-day as the environment changes.
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From left: Duane Yoslov, Anthony Cuellar, and Chris Sullivan Cuellar: There was a security project in California that would normally have been installed by our team in Virginia. They weren’t able to travel people, but it was a mission-critical job and something that had to be done. We were able to take the expertise of our local AV team in California and have them do the implementation and get the work done for our clients while not having to travel. Those are the types of projects where we have been able to work across the country since we have so many offices. Sullivan: We have people onsite at Texas Rangers’ [Globe Life Field] and [SoFi Stadium in] L.A., but there were some folks that decided, due to family reasons, to not go to work and that’s fine. It’s their choice to decide whether they want to go onsite [or not]. We’re taking the necessary steps at these sites, so they’re doing temperature checks when you go in and wearing masks. All of those preventative measures are in place to make sure it has been as safe as possible. Has the coronavirus forced the company to think differently about how control rooms are constructed? What new technologies can potentially aid remote workflows moving forward? Yoslov: The construction and requirements of a control room are built around fan engagement, but when considering other technologies that will enable these production crews to continue to engage their fans through live production and production of digital or OTT content, there are a lot of different concepts and proposals. Our media workflow group is engaging with production teams about technologies that allow remote editing in the cloud. As for the physical control room, we’ve been talking about physical barriers or personal protection gear, but not in terms of reshaping the layout of the rooms. While we don’t know how long this will impact venues or production, there will be an end to this since vaccines and other medical therapies are in rapid development. Most of our efforts are focused on a more temporary solution than redesigning a room. Since real estate is always at a premium, there are a lot of concepts stirring around on how to minimize the footprint of the overall control room. – KH < To read this interview in its entirety, CLICK HERE