AVIXA’s 10th weekly COVID-19 Impact Survey provides new information that gauges the steps companies are taking to go back to work safely. In addition, a steady share of AV providers says they’ve been impacted negatively, although the share of all AV providers citing fresh revenue declines has gotten smaller. The consensus is figuring out the extent of the damage will take time.
This week, AVIXA Market Intelligence asked members of its AV Intelligence Panel about specific measures they’re taking to work safely. Of AV providers (integrators, designers, manufacturers, distributors, service providers, live events companies), 74 percent said their staff members are wearing masks; 42 percent said they’re doing extra cleaning at project sites; 40 percent are reducing the number of staff at project sites; and 36 percent say they’re regularly screening crews for symptoms of COVID-19. For many, project work has not yet resumed, so we will be monitoring these answers in the coming weeks for indications that more professionals may be onsite. Additionally, 25 percent said they’re planning to complete projects over a longer period of time, and 23 percent said they’re working off-hours at client sites.
Among end user customers, 60 percent said they’re wearing face masks, 48 percent are reducing the number of staff on projects, 38 percent are doing extra cleaning and 31 percent are planning to finish projects over a longer period of time.
The latest Impact Survey also indicates that 61 percent of AV providers said their businesses had been negatively impacted, the same share as last week. Among end-user respondents, 57 percent perceived a negative impact over the prior seven days, down from 63 percent the week before.
In previous Impact Surveys, AVIXA asked respondents who’d said their companies were negatively impacted to cite those negative impacts, including revenue loss, slowing sales and more. With the share of respondents impacted negatively slowly in decline, we asked the entire panel about specific impacts from the prior week. This has meant the percentages have dropped, but AVIXA has projected weighted measures from last week’s survey in order to draw some comparison. For example, of all respondents—whether or not they said they’d been impacted negatively—40 percent of AV providers said they’d seen declines in revenue. Applying weighted measures to last week’s survey data indicates this percentage is down from about 48 percent.
Looking at other impacts, 42 percent of all AV providers cited slowing sales (versus a weighted average of 43 percent last week) and 31 percent had seen supply chain disruptions (up significantly from 22 percent overall last week). On the flip side, this week, 44 percent of end users perceived revenue decline at their companies, which would be up from a 41 percent weighted average of last week’s respondents. Nearly 30 percent of all end users said they were dealing with supply chain disruptions.
That said, AV companies are working. Almost 90 percent of AV providers and 88 percent of end users report operating at full or reduced capacity. Asked about positive impacts over the prior week, 40 percent of AV providers and 30 percent of end users cited resumption of projects. And the share of respondents saying they’ve held in-person meetings (12 percent of AV providers and 10 percent of end users) has ticked up. Once again, nearly 40 percent of AV providers said they’d seen an increase of incoming inquiries.
To read AVIXA’s latest Impact Survey in its entirety, click here.
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