Confessions from the AV Trenches: Real Problems, Real Fixes

The screen was blaring. The meeting had started. The remote was nowhere to be found. And yes - someone actually texted me: “Help. The TV is possessed.”

This is the kind of support moment we see nearly every day in Customer Success. They never come with advance notice. They happen mid-call, mid-install, mid-weekend. The AV techs we work with solve problems with one hand holding a coffee, the other digging through a rack, and the third clutching the phone with their support teams.

Sometimes the stories are mundane. Sometimes dramatic. Frequently they’re funny - after the fact. But they are always human and they never fail to remind me why I love my job. Here are some of my classics:

“You Just Saved Me $100,000” – Firmware at Scale

The partner was getting ready to replace everything. The devices were still mostly running, but the firmware hadn’t been touched in years. The quote for a full refresh was in the six-figure range, so they reached out to see what we had to contribute to the discussion.

We looked at the setup together. The hardware itself was solid, but the firmware did indeed need an update. We showed them how to push out a firmware update from the Xyte dashboard to nearly a thousand devices. The rollout took minutes. Most of the devices updated without issues. A few didn’t and those were flagged and swapped.

The partner sat back and said it plainly: “You just saved me a lot of money.” Without site visits, without disruptions to work and – crucially – without unnecessary hardware replacements. This is the kind of outcome that always gets remembered.

“I Can Bid in Chicago Now” – Growing Without Leaving Town

One of our partners followed a clear rule: if the team couldn’t drive to a site, the project stayed off the list. Their work was close to home and their customers came from the same familiar radius.

Once they started using Xyte, things changed. They could keep an eye on systems from wherever they were, solve issues through the platform, and stay responsive without leaving their office or the job site they were already on. Chicago entered the picture as their first out-of-state bid.

They sent the proposal, won the project, and realized that they actually could take on work in places that once felt out of reach. More bids followed in other cities. Each one fit naturally into the way the team already operated.

That Chicago project still comes up when we talk about their growth and new opportunities. It marked a shift in what their business could do - without changing who they were.

“I Was Supposed to Be at a Recital” – The Truck Roll That Never Happened

The integrator got the alert while getting ready for his daughter’s recital. One of the systems he managed had gone offline. Before Xyte, he would have loaded up the truck, headed to the site, and missed the recital. His daughter, he said sadly, was kind of used to it.

That day played out differently. He opened the Xyte dashboard from his phone, checked the device, and rebooted it remotely. The system came back online. He let the customer know it was resolved and walked into the recital smiling.

He told me the story like it was no big deal. Just part of the job. I heard something else in it - a moment that happened because the right tools for the job were doing what they were supposed to do. That’s the kind of outcome we try to make possible. And in this case, it made one little girl’s day a lot better, too.

“We Lost the Remote” – Solving the Unsolvable

This one is a story I heard from one of our MSP partners. One of their customers was in a meeting room when the display started blaring. The remote had vanished. Someone texted the MSP during the meeting an alarming “SOS”.

These moments tend to unfold the same way. A device acts up. No one knows how to fix it. The meeting stalls, and everyone gets off track.

Our MSP partner opened the Xyte dashboard, located the device, and brought the volume back down. The room settled, and the meeting moved forward.

The MSP rep who related this to me didn’t really see this as a technology story, and neither do I. It was about helping a group of people move past a frustrating moment and return to what they were there to do. That’s the part of an MSP’s job that matters—especially for the folks sitting in the room.

It’s Not the Tools. It’s What They Make Possible.

Most of the people we support aren’t behind desks. They’re in the field - managing installs, chasing issues, and handling whatever breaks next. Some run very lean teams. Some run everything. They reach out mid-task, mid-drive, and usually mid-chaos. And when they do, they expect us to be ready.

The stories I’ve shared here aren’t really about dashboards, alerts, or features. They’re about being there when someone gets stuck, resolving the issue before it escalates, and taking one more burden off someone’s plate.

This job has taught me that customer success looks different every day, but always centers on the same thing – solving problems. Sometimes it’s a meeting that stays on track, a truck that doesn’t roll, a device that stays in service, or a parent who makes it to the recital.

That’s the work I’m proud to be part of.

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