Colombia. In 1953, Luis R. Montoya opened a music store and spare parts for rockolas, not knowing that over the years his vision and innovation would lead him to have one of the most important companies in the audiovisual industry in Colombia, both in distribution and integration.
Juan Montoya, CEO of La Cita and second generation that is in charge of the family business, told AVI LATINOAMÉRICA that the name is due to the fact that the company began at the entrance of a bar that was called La Cita and since it had no name, soon customers recognized it with the name of the bar and so it stayed.
He recalled that at that time it was very difficult for complete equipment to be sold, parts to be sold. The customer bought the speaker, the tweeter, the plans and he made the box himself to put everything together. With the passage of time, the number of products offered expanded and the first imports began. To do this they had to travel to different countries to bring directly from the factories.
In the 70s La Cita began to distribute electronic spare parts for stores throughout the country. When the manufacturers began to sell the armed equipment, they added them to the portfolio, which included the sale of music, spare parts, equipment, tools and everything related to the electronics of the moment.
With the technological development everything was specialized and to concentrate the business the first thing they stopped selling was music, then the tools and so in the 80s they are already focused on the distribution of products of what is now known as audiovisuals.
Soon the need to expand the offer with installation would arrive, since customers were looking for someone to install the equipment, and since there were no specialists, the same seller did it. Thus they were specializing in the installation of the equipment. In the 90s, with the arrival of computers, they began to make systematized studies to install audio.
Juan Montoya stressed that they continued to be wholesale distributors and integration was not a line of business, many times it was a service that was not charged. They were integrators without being defined as such, because the term did not exist, they only responded to the needs of the client and looked for how to innovate in the matter.
The technological evolution and the new century came with new realities for the sector, seeing the need to have integrators and that is why La Cita formalizes as a company what was previously only an internal division. In 2002 Ambientes Inteligentes is projected as an independent name dedicated to engineering.
Juan Montoya said that with the participation in specialized audiovisual fairs, and knowing what companies from abroad were doing, they were adapting the new developments to local needs. And the experience in audiovisual engineering has allowed them to support the new integrators of the country in their different specializations.
Las Cita remains a family business, led by brothers Adriana and Juan Montoya, which continues the tradition of innovation. They were the first to bring a home teather to Colombia and to talk about digital signage and audio evacuation in the country. Today the boom is the corporate part and unified communications, issues that they have been working on for 7 years.
"We are the oldest audiovisual company that still exists in Colombia and we are aware of the most advanced technologies. We represent 42 brands and we are sure that the industry has a lot to grow. We must know how to reach new segments with solutions, more than just technology. We must learn to sell the industry better," concluded the CEO of La Cita.
