Systems Integrator AVI-SPL Targets Financial Services Growth With New Office In Germany

Solution provider AVI-SPL is striving to continue its success overseas by opening an office in Frankfurt, Germany, a hot spot for Europe’s financial services industry.

’We picked Frankfurt because of its tremendous tie to the financial services industry,’ said John Zettel, CEO of AVI-SPL, No. 51 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 list, in an interview with CRN. ’When you look at our strategy to be able to provide the most comprehensive offering to large multinational customers – whether that be designing integration systems or the services to better provide utilization and ROI on those systems – we felt like we had to expand our global footprint.’

In the last 18 months, the company has conducted projects in more than 100 countries, according to Zettel.

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’The need is out there and we felt like we had to complement that need with better operational points, so having a better geographic presence,’ he said.

The new office in Frankfurt is targeting global enterprise customers in the area, providing German-speaking assistance with a 24-hour help desk and field services. AVI-SPL will also create a virtual network operations center that will support its full portfolio of video managed services in Germany.

The Tampa, Fla.-based unified communications specialist touts itself as the world’s largest AV integrator, partnering with the likes of Cisco, Microsoft and Polycom. AVI-SPL already has offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as in the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.

’We match up well with not only our U.S. and London-based customers in the financial services sector, but we felt we could go after German financial services as well,’ said Zettel. ’Germany has some operational opportunities, but it was also the right market to go after because of its economy and the verticals that its strengths are in.’

Another vertical opportunity in Germany for AVI-SPL is in the public sector, where the company is already conducting work for the U.S. government in Germany.

The solution provider’s push in Germany will be spearheaded by newly appointed General Manager Johannes Stehr, who has served in the German military.

’AVI-SPL is the missing piece of the puzzle customers in Germany are looking for – high-quality installation and services from a global perspective,’ said Stehr, who previously spent eight years in various management roles at Crestron Electronics.

International revenues are currently AVI-SPL’s strongest growth sector year over year, according to Zettel.

’We know that our customer base values a global presence and global expertise that we’ve been able to provide and this is another step to provide it more seamlessly and better to our customers,’ said Zettel.

The company has already begun its daily operations in Germany and will officially open the doors of its Frankfurt office Nov. 1. AVI-SPL has completed over 35,000 integrations since 2008 and manages more than 5,000 customer service contracts for clients, according to a statement.