GPA Expert Update: Global Standardization, AI Literacy, and the Experience-Driven Workplace

You hear a lot of conversations when working closely with technology leaders, right? Sometimes a specific collection of discussions perfectly captures where an entire industry is heading. When industry leaders and GPA experts sat down for a series of in-depth video interviews at InfoComm Asia 2026, their insights laid out a clear, comprehensive roadmap for the global enterprise landscape, with value that extends far beyond a single year or region.

The professional audiovisual sector is undergoing a profound structural evolution. For enterprise technology leaders, workplace strategists, and global integrators, the priorities have fundamentally shifted away from isolated equipment purchases toward systematic, data-driven workplace ecosystems. To navigate this landscape, organizations must understand five overarching macro trends currently redefining enterprise technology:

• Experience Over Hardware: Success is measured by how effectively technology eliminates user friction and facilitates natural human interaction, rather than by individual equipment specifications.

• AI as an Experience Enabler: Artificial intelligence is shifting from a marketing buzzword into functional tools for meeting automation, automated transcription, camera tracking, and preemptive maintenance.

• Centralized Procurement and Regional Governance: Multinational corporations are moving away from country-by-country purchasing models in favor of centralized procurement supported by regional governance to drive global consistency.

• Data-Driven Workplace Strategy: Modern room platforms aggregate telemetry data, including room utilization, occupancy counts, and environmental metrics, enabling enterprise real estate leaders to make informed space planning decisions.

• Managed Services and Preemptive Support: Enterprises are relying on managed service providers for centralized remote monitoring and proactive troubleshooting, resolving technical failures before users experience meeting disruptions.

Let’s have a look at what was discussed and what’s shaping not only 2026 but also the near and far future of professional AV and the journey to the future of work.

The Association View: Human Experience Over Technology

To understand where enterprise technology is going, organizations must first examine how the industry defines its core purpose. David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA, provided a foundational perspective on this evolution in conversation with Sujith Sivaram, the Managing Director of the GPA team in Singapore. While David is not a GPA staff member, AVIXA serves as the central umbrella organization for the commercial audiovisual industry worldwide, giving him an overarching vantage point on global market maturity.

David explained that in its early days, the industry focused almost exclusively on products, hardware, and the mechanical challenge of getting technology to operate. Over time, industry leadership recognized that the actual value of AV lies in creating meaningful human experiences and connecting people. Hardware is simply a means to an end.

This realization drove the association to rebrand from InfoComm to AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association. David drew a sharp distinction between information communication and integrated experiences. While information communication is essential, communicating raw data can be dry. A financial spreadsheet communicates information, but it does not evoke an emotional response. The true strength of the AV industry is delivering engaging, integrated human experiences that support collaboration.

David also reflected on AVIXA’s structural shift from a US-centric trade group to a truly global community organization. He emphasized that industry associations exist strictly to serve the industry and its members, rather than to generate wealth for shareholders or build corporate egos. In his guidance for GPA, David advised that large global organizations must never prioritize themselves over the wider industry. By acting as catalysts and leaders for the broader AV community, organizations generate sustainable, long-term industry growth that benefits all stakeholders, both culturally and economically.

Market Fragmentation and the Frontier Workplace

The global market for professional audiovisual integration holds massive potential for structured growth. James Shanks, Managing Director of GPA, shared an analytical breakdown of global integration dynamics. Despite widespread geopolitical challenges, GPA is tracking strong growth trajectories and a rising appetite for enterprise AV solutions across all operating regions.

James pointed out a striking structural reality: currently, no single global AV integrator holds more than 1% of the total worldwide market share. In contrast to mature sectors like telecommunications or consumer electronics, where dominant global players hold massive market percentages, the AV integration space remains highly fragmented. This fragmentation represents a substantial opportunity for expansion for organizations capable of delivering standardized global services.

When assessing artificial intelligence, James emphasized that AI in enterprise AV is still in its infancy. While AI currently delivers practical improvements in room facilitation and smart hardware features, its broader capabilities across global enterprise architectures are only beginning to take shape.

Capturing this market opportunity requires a structured operational model. Ellesse Fehlberg, Director of Global Marketing at GPA, outlined how GPA addresses the demands of multinational enterprises through its global footprint. GPA operates across more than 30 regional business units, spanning 55 countries and over 180 cities. This scale allows GPA to deliver global consistency through standardized operational processes, centralized program management, and unified global care offerings.

Ellesse identified the primary market evolution as the shift toward the ‘Frontier Workplace‘. This concept defines the deep, practical integration of AI into daily employee workflows and measures the tangible impact of technology on the user experience. Rather than treating technology as an add-on, the Frontier Workplace focuses on creating unified physical and digital environments that adapt to user needs.

Outcome-Based Design and the AI Skills Gap

Engineering modern collaborative spaces requires a complete pivot in how integrators design and deliver systems. Chris Pitsillides, Chief Technology Officer at our Singaporean business unit, addressed the technical practicalities of implementing AI within enterprise meeting rooms.

Chris noted that while AI has been an industry buzzword for several years, its real-world implementation is still developing. Today, practical AI applications are improving user experiences through automated meeting facilitation, intelligent note-taking, automated action items, meeting recap generation, and automated time-management alerts within unified communications platforms.

To keep pace with these advancements, Chris emphasized that system integrators must actively bridge the internal AI skills gap over the next three years. System integrators need to build organizational AI literacy. While basic users rely on generative AI tools for routine search queries, advanced technical teams are utilizing AI to write custom code, automate internal workflows, and architect sophisticated platform integrations.

Crucially, Chris argued that integrators must completely abandon the traditional practice of selling equipment boxes. Listing hardware specifications, such as display dimensions, microphone polar patterns, or speaker wattages, does not solve enterprise challenges. Integrators must adopt outcome-based design, assessing how clients actually intend to use their spaces and engineering environments that fulfill those specific operational goals.

The Five-Year Lifecycle and Data-Driven Facility Strategy

Modern meeting spaces require lifecycle planning that extends far beyond initial installation and project sign-off. Christopher Lim, President of the AV Division at our team in Singapore, challenged the industry to reconsider the definition of user experience.

Christopher emphasized that user experience is not confined to the initial delivery and handover of a project. The real user experience unfolds over the subsequent five-year lifecycle of the deployed hardware. Because manufacturers frequently build proprietary management software for their own product lines, enterprise environments often end up fragmented across dozens of disconnected tools. To resolve this, integrators must develop and deploy centralized overlay platforms that aggregate data from all in-room systems into a unified operational view.

This centralized data aggregation enables corporate real estate strategists and IT directors to make evidence-based workplace decisions. By capturing empirical data on room utilization rates, live occupancy counts, and indoor air quality, facility planners can optimize their office footprints based on actual usage patterns rather than anecdotal employee feedback.

Furthermore, these overlay platforms enable preemptive remote support. Technical support teams can identify, diagnose, and resolve system faults remotely before a meeting host ever encounters an issue in the room, optimizing technical support efficiency and eliminating downtime. Christopher also highlighted the evolution of room automation, noting that the industry is advancing past ‘one-touch join’ interfaces toward zero-touch environments. In these setups, ambient room intelligence identifies the host and automatically launches scheduled sessions, backed by cross-platform interoperability with platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Cisco.

Regional Transformation, Upskilling, and Partnership Ecosystems

Understanding broad technology shifts is only half the equation; executing them requires dedicated regional expertise and workforce investment. Sujith Sivaram returned for his own dedicated interview and provided critical context on the pace of digital transformation across Asia.

Sujith noted that with Asia driving approximately 60% of global GDP growth, digital transformation projects are advancing rapidly across all major enterprise verticals. To manage this demand, integrators must treat human capital as their primary competitive differentiator. Organizations must continuously invest in technical training, skill development, and manufacturer certifications, while adopting internal AI tools to automate operational processes and enhance service delivery. When summarizing the strategic function of AI, Sujith defined it simply as an “Enabler” for workforce potential and client satisfaction.

This focus on operational enablement changes how enterprises view technology investments. Nicky Surapaitoon, Country Manager for GPA in Thailand, emphasized that workplace technology is no longer treated as a corporate IT cost center. Instead, modern audiovisual and unified communications systems serve as essential drivers of employee engagement, hybrid productivity, and workflow efficiency.

Nicky highlighted that long-term industry success relies heavily on sustained ecosystem partnerships. Developing complex enterprise environments requires deep trust, transparency, and ongoing collaboration among enterprise clients, system integrators, and technology manufacturers. Rather than engaging in short-term transactional sales, industry leaders must cultivate shared, multi-decade relationships that prioritize long-term organizational success.

Centralized Procurement and Global Platform Alignment

The requirement for global operational consistency is directly restructuring corporate purchasing strategies. Jeffrey Reyes, Managing Director of the GPA team in the Philippines, detailed how multinational enterprises are overhauling their technology acquisition models.

Multinational clients are moving away from country-specific, decentralized purchasing. Instead, global organizations are establishing centralized procurement frameworks governed by regional management teams. Enterprise buyers are prioritizing long-term operational value, system scalability, and lifecycle support over the lowest initial bid.

Jeffrey outlined the tangible benefits of implementing standardized regional AV designs:

• Reduced Complexity: Standardized system topologies eliminate technical ambiguity and simplify room operations.

• Accelerated Deployment: Pre-engineered, repeatable room standards dramatically shorten project rollout timelines across global offices.

• Streamlined Support: Standardized hardware environments allow internal IT teams and external managed service providers to troubleshoot and maintain systems efficiently.

• Consistent User Experience: Employees encounter identical room interfaces and operational workflows regardless of the office location they visit.

Executing this centralized strategy across diverse geographic markets requires a combination of structured regional oversight and deep local knowledge. Richard Bishop, Manager at GPA in the Hong Kong area, demonstrated this dynamic by examining Hong Kong’s role as a technological bridge between Eastern and Western markets.

Richard noted that Hong Kong enterprises regularly deploy established Western collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Cisco Webex alongside advanced mainland Chinese hardware and software ecosystems. He identified three distinct trends dominating enterprise deployments in the region:

• Global Footprint Standardization: Enterprises are standardizing their primary unified communications platforms globally while adapting to regional communication tools.

• Invisible Room Automation: Organizations are embedding background automation technologies, including automated room-booking systems, digital-signage networks, people-counting sensors, and intelligent camera tracking.

• Long-Term Managed Services: Large enterprises are actively moving away from basic vendor supply agreements and are contracting with managed service providers to handle continuous remote monitoring, platform maintenance, and proactive troubleshooting.

Every expert would say that the industry is always changing and always in motion, but many might feel there is a sort of acceleration in recent years, and it’s increasingly important to stay in sync with both tech news and actual customer and user demands. Thanks to the ESCO team, our family across many regions in Southeast Asia, and the great on-site production team for recording these insights for all who didn’t attend the event in person.