11 QUESTIONS With Rashid Skaf
President, CEO & Co-Chairman, Biamp
President, CEO & Co-Chairman, Biamp
Serving as the President, CEO & Co-Chairman of Biamp, for more than five years, Rahsid Skaf,
shares his success journey and the big leap in the AV industry with AV-ICN Magazine. Expressing
his interest in pro AV in this brief '11 Questions' feature, Skaf mentions how he has
established trust and built the global market through organic product expansions, and how Biamp
is leading the market growth with high quality audiovisual expereinces.
1- Please describe your journey in the Pro AV industry.
My journey in AV started when I was asked to join a publicly traded control
systems company on the verge of bankruptcy 25 years ago to turn it around.
I never imagined I would fall in love with this industry and what it enables.
Since then, I have grown companies organically and through acquisitions. I am
pleased with
2- How would you describe your day-to-day responsibilities at Biamp as
the CEO and Co-Chairman?
I see myself as a long-term strategist and day-to-day train conductor. I have
an amazing team that all work towards a set of common goals. My job is to
remove obstacles that prevent my team from reaching those goals.
3- What are important milestones in Biamp's history in terms of research
and development?
Biamp has a long history of designing products that are easy to use, easy to
install, and create high quality audiovisual experiences across a range of venues.
Highlights include:
a- The introduction of the Tesira platform that defined the standard for programmable
processors and still does to this day thanks to continuous updates
and enhancements.
b- Beamtracking microphones that extend beyond beamforming technology to
eliminate hassles with setup and allow users to position themselves and move
freely around the room.
c- Biamp Launch functionality that automatically detects, configures, and tunes
equipment to deliver a professional quality experience at the touch of a button.
d- Audio Intelligence/Video Intelligence that brings the power of AI to the pro
AV experience, delivering unprecedented levels of audio and video performance
with greater flexibility and power than ever before.
4- What is Biamp's roadmap with respect to developing Unified Communications
solutions?
Biamp elevates collaboration with a complete portfolio of conferencing solutions
for meeting spaces of any size, certified for leading UC platforms such as
Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Biamp makes it easy to put a professional grade AV
experience in every UC room that is easy to install and performs superlatively.
5- As more remote work is taking over the world since the pandemic,
how is Biamp's latest MAX Connect BYOM Room Solution making it
convenient for the users to enhance meeting experiences?
Biamp MAX Connect offers the same comprehensive experience that users
have come to love in dedicated UC conference rooms, now within bring-yourown-
meeting (BYOM) collaboration spaces. MAX Connect enables users to walk
into any room, with any device, and join a meeting instantly using any video collaboration
experience, including UC platforms
or messaging apps. It is the first
and only seamless BYOM collaboration
experience: from joining a meeting, to
sharing content, to adding remote participants,
to controlling room AV, MAX
Connect offers the same experience for
all meeting participants and makes it
easy for IT to manage and deploy.
6- Biamp recently won the Red Dot
Awards for Outstanding Product
Design. Can you name the products
that caught the attention of the Jury
and their credible features?
We are proud to have been recognized
for outstanding product design
by the Red Dot Awards for a number of
products, including the Parle Video and
Audio Conferencing Bars, the Voltera
line of power amplifiers, Desono EX
Loudspeakers, NPX Network Paging
Stations, Vidi 250 4K Video Conferencing
Camera, and the industrial design
for both the TesiraFORTe X and Devio
SCX Digital Signal Processors. We are
dedicated to creating extraordinary
audiovisual experiences, and part of
that experience includes how the user
interacts with our products. Thus, high
quality industrial design remains a priority
for Biamp.
7- We recently came across a press
release about the Biamp's acquisition
of Evoko. Could you shed more light on it and what are Biamp's expansion
strategies through this acquisition?
Scheduling is an important part of conference
room management, which is a core
part of Biamp's business. Evoko's technology
complements and enhances our current
conferencing solutions nicely. We've been
on a path to own the entire conference room
space-and part of that experience is knowing
you have a space scheduled for you to
go into. This provides a nice completion to
the overall conference room experience. In
addition, with the growing interest in flexible
workspaces, desk scheduling is a rapidly
emerging market for which Evoko's desk
management system is an ideal solution.
8- Could you describe the growth trajectory
of Biamp in India as compared to the
rest of the world? Is India a potential
market for Biamp?
India is a fast-growing market where we
see strong demand for AV solutions across
a range of applications. We're very pleased
with our progress in this important, tech-savvy
market but know our current position is
just scratching the surface of what's possible.
We're committed to making India a major
business geography in the next five years. To
that end, we have now have an office and
Customer Experience Center in India, offering
local product support and repair.
9- What are a few of Biamp's most popular
solutions in India? Can you mention the
highlight features that make them stand out from the competition?
Similar to our other markets, we see great
popularity in solutions for conferencing,
education, government, retail and hospitality,
and large venues within India. Underlying
all of it is our Tesira platform, supported by
our Parle microphones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers.
In addition, our Sound Masking
solution has gained a tremendous foothold
in India. The unified and consistent product
ecosystem we provide is unparalleled in our
industry, and we make it easy to do business
across the entire value chain. I am pleased at
our continued growth in India.
10- How do you think the pro AV landscape
has transformed in India over the past
5 years?
India is developing rapidly as a global
economy with users that are becoming very
technically sophisticated. The pro AV market
has grown rapidly as well, driven by growth
in enterprise, education, and government
sectors.
11- What is your vision for Biamp, in India
for the next couple of years?
We aim to expand our channels and
partnerships to take advantage of this
increasing demand, bringing the full power
of Biamp's extensive product portfolio to
Indian customers. India will continue to
outpace the rest of the world when it comes
to innovation, and I'm excited by the opportunities
offered by India's dynamic market
in coming years.