The Shift to Fleet Thinking
Why ANZ organisations should rethink AV management.
23 April 2026
Across Australia and New Zealand, organisations are investing heavily in collaborative technology to support flexible work, hybrid learning and increasingly connected public services. While the ways we stay connected have evolved, from legacy voice-only conferencing devices to feature-rich, centrally-managed solutions where audio, video and automation come together in the cloud, many AV environments face an array of different challenges when cohesive scaling is not considered from the outset. This bolt-on approach for expansion can result in a growing gap between how systems are designed to function and how they actually perform – and that gap widens every time another piece of technology is added to the system.
In today’s increasingly complex and disparate AV landscape, integration, visibility and control should be at the forefront of every manufacturer and technician’s mind.
This article will explore some of the common challenges faced by AV and IT teams in corporate, higher education and government today, and provide tangible recommendations to efficiently and effectively future-proof the collaboration setup. As the tide turns in the AV industry, strategic upgrades with a mindset shift towards ‘fleet thinking’ can make the following scenarios a thing of the past, along with those clunky on-premise analogue conferencing systems.
WHEN EVERY ROOM IS DIFFERENT
Let me paint a scenario that will feel all too familiar to IT and AV teams.
A professional services firm operates across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Each office was rolled out at a different time, by different integrators, using a different mix of vendors. All three sites have modern meeting rooms, but each operates in a slightly different way.
For instance, Sydney was the first space to be installed. With most of the employees located in this office, the management of the system is reviewed frequently with minor issues, and there is confidence amongst the staff as they are familiar with how everything operates. Melbourne was installed during a cost saving period within the business, therefore, the control interface and wireless workflow operate differently. Brisbane is the smallest of the offices, with the least amount of maintenance and support provided. Two out of three rooms work fine, but one room is not as reliable as the others.
As a result, a company that initially set out to enhance collaboration and connectivity across all its sites has exposed that the impact now goes beyond a delayed meeting, mounting help desk tickets, or the cost of a technician’s time to sort it out. It’s the potential billable professional hours lost while the team stands idle, waiting for the technology to turn on and function as they require for their jobs.
Noel Denchfield
Sennheiser’s Technical Application Engineer, Business Communications for ANZ
GROWTH MAKES COMPLEXITY EXPONENTIAL
As organisations expand, more opportunities for growth appear – a net positive for the broader organisation, but potentially a pitfall for already overextended AV and IT teams and budgets.
Higher education is a prime example. A typical university may operate 200-plus teaching spaces, from huddle rooms to 500-seat lecture theatres. Add hybrid classrooms, specialist labs, student-access rooms and legacy infrastructure accumulated over decades.
Many also operate with constrained IT budgets, while supporting academics with their enforced technology preferences and students who expect a frictionless experience.
Government agencies are equally intricate but with different opportunities for growth. Increasing adoption of Zero Trust security principles means AV endpoints are subject to the same scrutiny as other networked devices. Departments may manage classified and unclassified environments within the same building, operate under strict procurement frameworks and maintain long asset lifecycles. Standardisation becomes even more important as security expectations rise.
Compared to this, corporate environments often have clearer decision-making and more predictable refresh cycles. They can standardise three or four room types and replicate them. Education and government must support greater diversity of collaboration spaces while still aiming for consistency of experience.
THE SHIFT TO FLEET THINKING
As AV environments grow in scale and complexity, many organisations are recognising the need for a more unified approach to management.
Supporting dozens, or in some cases hundreds, of spaces highlights the growing importance of maintaining consistency, especially when systems are managed individually. What begins as a series of well-intentioned deployments presents an opportunity to evolve toward a more unified approach, helping reduce complexity and streamline efforts for IT and AV teams.
This is where a shift in mindset becomes important. Rather than managing AV room by room, organisations are increasingly adopting a device ‘fleet’ approach.
By treating AV systems as part of a connected ecosystem, teams gain the ability to monitor, manage and optimise devices across multiple sites from a single interface. This creates greater consistency in how spaces perform, while also reducing the time and effort required to support them.
Cloud-based device management platforms such as Sennheiser’s DeviceHub support this shift, providing clear visibility of device status and firmware, simplifying remote troubleshooting, and enabling ongoing optimisation at scale. Just as importantly, they help embed AV into broader IT workflows – strengthening control, security and long-term flexibility across the organisation.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Centralised AV management may sit behind the scenes, but its impact is far-reaching.
Visibility and control form the foundation for effective AV environments. When teams understand what devices are deployed, how they’re configured and how they’re performing, they can scale more efficiently, strengthen security and move from reactive support to proactive optimisation.
With access to the right data, organisations can identify issues earlier, maintain systems more consistently, and reduce the burden on support teams, while delivering a more reliable experience for end users.
Ultimately, rethinking AV management isn’t about adding more technology. It’s about regaining control and creating environments that are consistent, secure and easy to manage at scale – so that every space, in every location, performs as expected.
RESPONSES