The role of the broadcast engineer and CTO is evolving, becoming increasingly IT-focused as cloud services and cybersecurity reshape traditional AV and media technology.
“When I came into the company in ’22, coming 20-plus years out of IT industry services, it was just an inflection point,” said Eric Hutto, CEO of Diversified, in an interview with NewscastStudio. “AV integration would eventually just run smack into IT, moving to services, cloud, cyber – so many more things would come to bear to shape our ability to deliver what we know today as media, broadcasting, or even really just event spaces.” This convergence is accelerating as broadcast clients prioritize cybersecurity, content monetization, and comprehensive technology solutions.
The shift from project-based integration to outcome-focused implementations is significant. “It’s not so much about the project, it’s about the overall outcome that the business wants to achieve,” Hutto said. “If you don’t have a holistic view of what it takes to get that business outcome, it will be hard to be profitable because you’ll just be relegated to a space.”
The integration industry faces rising labor costs and decreasing hardware prices, coupled with media organizations struggling with talent shortages. CIOs now often control budgets previously managed by facilities teams, demanding comprehensive solutions incorporating cybersecurity, cloud capabilities, and managed services. “Our buyers have changed in our industry. We’ve got CIOs now buying my services, not a facilities manager,” Hutto said. “They’re more accustomed to the bigger technology stack conversations and managed services, and they’re asking themselves, ‘Well, you don’t look like anything I’ve been consuming for 20 years.’"
Integrators are expanding their capabilities. Diversified added cybersecurity personnel and partnered with external security firms. They also established an innovation team focused on technology roadmaps. The demand for flexible staffing solutions is increasing, with firms offering temporary production teams. “We can run your concert and then we can disappear. We can run 300 live events for you and then go away,” Hutto said. “You don’t have to bear the staff. We can even stand up the environment.”
Software-based solutions are gaining traction due to challenges with hardware refresh cycles. “Everybody’s trying to figure out how to maximize the revenue from their investment,” Hutto said. “We’re now looking at our suppliers to actually say, look, if you’re not software-remote capable, in other words, I can commission a program from anywhere in the world, and if you’re not cyber-cloud-oriented, you’re probably not relevant three to five [years out].”
Integration firms are adding design capabilities, improving accountability. “We now have our own design consultants that clients enjoy because whoever designed it, someone’s got to install it,” Hutto said. “If we design it, we can be accountable to it. And we actually can then adjust to things that come up during the actual implementation.”
Cloud technologies are impacting broadcast infrastructure, including outside broadcast operations. This shifts capital expenditure to operational expense alternatives. “I think we both see the cloud is going to change the dynamics of a capital-based truck rolling environment,” Hutto said, referring to traditional outside broadcast providers.
The broadcast integration industry needs to focus on outcome-based solutions, not product-focused sales. Maintaining vendor neutrality is key. “If I’m truly going to be a solutions company, I have to be agnostic,” Hutto said. “I can’t be motivated by the spiff, because that may not be the best technical answer to that business problem that achieves long-term for the client.”