As the year draws to a close, many of us alternate between reflection and speculation as we think about our businesses.

I trust most will agree that 2021 was a year unlike any other in recent memory for reasons we can all rattle off in our sleep. However, 2021 will soon be a memory and it is most important to focus on the future. To do this, we can point to a few trends that should provide guidance as to what we can anticipate as we move into 2022.

The second half of the year has shown the market is making a dramatic comeback. This is evidenced by the rise in inquiries and the pace of new product orders — driven primarily by corporate, casino gaming, medical/healthcare, higher education and government sectors. We attribute this to pent-up demand from the early pandemic lockdown months when projects in progress, and those being planned, were largely put on hold. I anticipate this “catch up” trend will continue well into 2022.

IP is becoming mainstream in consultant designs. This is most welcome as it is helping to convert the still wary or uninformed integrators and end-users away from matrix signal distribution to AVoIP solutions (our own ZyPer4K, XS, XR and ZyPerUHD encoders and decoders as well as those from other manufacturers). While I believe our (and other) training programs have been instrumental in assisting the design folks in their decision making and analysis of appropriate applications, the real proof has been in the pudding. Installations of IP based video transport continue to climb and there are an abundance of success stories in every vertical of every shape and size to point to. We have always been committed to helping advance the technology by supporting these professionals with our training programs, webinars, SIGNAL Partner program and knowledgeable “actual humans” who will answer their questions when they call. This will continue!

Supply chain issues are slowly being resolved. Let’s face it, the key word here is ‘slowly’ and no doubt about it, 100% product availability is key to making it possible to get projects and businesses back on track. We are proud that our planning efforts continue to enable us to ship our AVoIP products in just a matter of a couple of weeks.

Considering the above upbeat feedback from InfoComm and the market at large, 2022 holds the potential for stellar growth throughout our industry — a well-deserved payout for all the work everyone has put in over the recent challenging period. As always, we’re here to help you navigate the new year and support you in any way that we can.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wonderful New Year,

Bob Michaels
CEO, ZeeVee