By Udeshi Amarasinghe | Photography by Menaka Aravinda
Established in January, 2009 Dynamic A V Technologies is committed to providing quality audio-visual solutions to the Sri Lankan consumer. It has partnered with many leading brands in the sector to ensure the best possible solutions for its customers. The Company gives priority to its people and comprises of a team equipped with experience and knowledge in the audio-visual sphere. The team at Dynamic A V Technologies have the unique experience of executing some of the largest A V projects in the country involving the Sri Lankan Parliament, the BMICH and Western Provincial Council to mention a few. Managing Director Mohan Abeysinghe and Finance Director Malik Fernando sat with Business Today to shed light on the services and progress of the Company since its inception.
How did Dynamic AV Technologies come about?
We believe that it is the people who make the profits, not the products. We were in an environment that was not very customer-friendly. Therefore we decided to form an entity that would look after all stakeholders, particularly our staff who are important to us; our customers and shareholders.
We selected some of the best in this industry from various sectors ranging from sales to technical staff. All staff members take their initiative, which is what we are looking for. Even though it has been six months since we started many principals have joined us; our customers are a good testimony of what we are trying to do. We have a long way to go but during these six months our achievements have been many.
We started our company during a tough business environment and no real product to represent, but with a simple belief that people who know us would believe in us. Today we represent many leading international brands which cater to varied Professional Audio Visual requirements of customers. The Chairman of Dynamic A V Technologies is Manilal Fernando. He is very straightforward and appreciates and expects honesty from his staff. As the Chairman he overlooks the operations and guides us even before we approach a client. We were looking for a dynamic, dedicated and focused leadership in whom the business world and the people will believe in and we are happy as Manilal Fernando who represents all that, decided to be our Chairman and invest in us. We believe in the future. When we come in to an area it is for the long haul. Even though we are the new kid on the block, we want to be number one. That’s our vision. When we formed the company, we didn’t have one single agency with us and that was a risk. Today we have almost 14 agencies.
What is the market for such products and solutions in Sri Lanka?
Well it is not a market that is very visual, but there is a big market if you offer a total solution. When we sell a multimedia project to a customer, we do not sell just the multimedia equipment. There are other instruments that can be added on to the multimedia and then we can add instruments on to a laptop that would make a presentation much more professional. Therefore, we offer a total solution to our customers. Recently, we did some work for a five-star hotel in Colombo in which we provided services that no one else could offer, for example providing unlimited music for three to four weeks. If a person wants to listen to Chinese music, they can listen to that, if they want to listen to Thai music, they can listen to that. For us, providing a solution that the customer needs is more important than the money. We offer solutions that are tailor-made to their requirements.
The strength of Dynamic A V Technologies is its high calibre professional team; can you tell us about the staff at DAV and the role they play in order to achieve the Company vision to be the Audio Visual Solutions Provider in Sri Lanka’?
We have the presale people who make presale inquiries, they would find out what the customer requirements are and recommend our solutions. Then of course the sales team will come in and once we acquire the business, the technicians and the installation people will complete the entire job.
Our experienced staff cover the technical side and we strive to build a very financially strong company. We believe that the cash flow is very important especially these days as the world is going through a very bad economic period. Therefore we keep ourselves in line and are focused on achiev-ing the Company vision.
What are the services you offer at DAV technologies?
We focus on three areas. We have the audio-visual, broadcast and rental section. The audio-visual section provides sounds and visual equipment to our customers. The broadcast section is tender based. We do seminars and we have worked with some of the leading broadcasters in the re-cent past. Business doesn’t really come tomorrow but six months down the line, you will be able to see the growth in the Business.
Very often the customer wants something, however what we give is not what he wants but what he actually requires. We always explain why we offer them a certain solution. We discuss with them and ensure that what we give is the right solution. Our business strategy as mentioned earlier is to differentiate ourselves from competition by offering more than just a product to our customers. We offer a total solution. This strategy, simple as it may seem, is a difficult proposition to duplicate as it needs a perfect combination of different brands and products to suit the budgetary limitations of customers. Experienced personnel are equally important and Dynamic AV Technologies have both.
We are confident that the edge we have, could be sustained, because as mentioned, we are focused on just one business and all our resources are utilised to achieve one business objective – to add value to our customers. Apart from our people, we also have the support, expertise and knowledge of our foreign business partners whom we represent and this has a synergistic effect on the output.
We will continue to distance ourselves from competition with new creative ways of offering solu-tions to our customers.
We Have Much Confidence That The Markets Will Improve. If This Year Is About Survival, Then Next Year Will Be Better.
Some of the best brand names are your business partners, such as Benq, Behringer etc, can you tell us why you specifically decide to link up with these brands and what advantage is there for the consumers in Sri Lanka?
We are proud of our association with international brands such as Brahler – professional conference & interpretation systems, BenQ – multimedia projectors, Behringer – professional audio equipment, DAS – loudspeaker systems / power amplifiers / subwoofer systems, Tandberg – video confer-encing systems and Quadra Technics – conference systems, all of which are market leaders in their respective fields.
One of the reasons is that most of our competitors have multi brands. We decided we will go with one brand for each market segment. They may seem to be competing in the same market but they are not. Our principals, ourselves, our employees and of course our customers, we all get a good deal at the end of the day. The advantage is that we give the customer a total solution. Many service providers don’t give a solution, they just give what the customer wants.
Can you elaborate on a few of the projects that you have successfully completed and what has the re-sponse been so far?
We compete with companies who have been in business for 13 – 14 years therefore for a six month old company we have done well. We already entered into a contract to do audio, visual and sounds for the SAIGT and the Tower Hall Institute.
Today, we have an impressive customer portfolio consisting of leading local and multinational, government organisations and places of worship all of whom have decided that Dynamic AV is their preferred Audio Visual Solutions Provider.
Sri Lanka is an interesting situation, one with the war over, there are more opportunities but on the other hand, with the global environment being as it is, many companies face numerous obstacles, in such a context how would Dynamic Technologies move forward and venture into newer markets?
We are currently operating in Colombo and Kandy. However, we are looking at moving into the East and subsequently to the North as well. When we started, many people asked us whether it was the right time to start a business. We feel it was the right time and we stand by that. We are approaching a golden era in Sri Lanka. We have much confidence that the markets will improve. If this year is about survival, then next year will be better.
