Chile. Undoubtedly, one of the news of the year in the Latin American audiovisual industry is the merger that has just occurred between two of the most important rental companies in Chile, and that have a regional presence, SAV and RLA Latam.
Both companies, which until the beginning of 2014 competed to win the main events and tenders to have in-house audiovisual technology in hotels and convention centers, realized how complementary they were and as RLASAV, they become an important player for the region, with presence in Colombia, Peru, Chile and Panama, more than 200 professionals and 30 wineries throughout Latin America.
Behind RLASAV are two large companies: Videocorp and MyA. Both Chilean companies, with many years in the local market and with deep experience in the Latin American market.
To know the details surrounding this business, future expectations and how it will enter to play in the regional market, AVI Latin America spoke with Juan Carlos Vergara, General Manager Latam, and Juan Pablo Jimenez, Commercial Manager for Latin America
AVI: How long did it take to do this merger?
JCV: There is great affinity between the owners, both in terms of value, in the way of being, as in the objectives and way of seeing the business, so the whole process has been developed very fluidly. The process began at the end of last year and took place during the first quarter of this year.
AVI: In the new company, do you both have the same percentage of participation or is there one with a higher stake?
JPJ: Both companies have the same percentage. The Board of Directors is formed by Alfonso Vergara Salas, founding partner of Videocorp, Alfonso Vergara Rivera, General Manager of Videocorp, Cristóbal Alonso and Gonzalo Martino, both owners of the MyA Group.
AVI: Who is the manager?
JCV: The Management was formed as follows: The General Manager is Juan Carlos Vergara, The Commercial Manager for Latin America is Juan Pablo Jiménez, LATAM Operations Manager based in Miami José Ignacio Castro. The managers of the branches in Latin America are: Sebastián San Francisco in Peru, Victor Matamala in Colombia and Luis Zamora in Panama.
AVI: What are the benefits that this merger brings for the new company and for the AV industry in the region?
JPJ: Coming together allows us to double the size of our warehouses and our support capacity. Clearly we will be able to deliver a better, more comprehensive service, expand our coverage, with greater capacity in equipment for large international congresses regardless of the place where it takes place. We are building the largest audiovisual services company in Latin America with the aim of always being close to our customers.
JCV: Another great advantage is that at RLASAV we work under strict international standards. Partners of Infocomm and AV Alliance, we work under ISO 9001 procedures world quality standard. In addition, we strive to reduce our CO2 footprint and thus impact our planet as little as possible. We choose environmentally responsible manufacturing equipment, reduce pollution from transporting equipment operating locally, recycle our disused equipment and are attentive to any other details that can help the environment. It is important to highlight that in both small and large events we work with the same passion and quality.
AVI: Each company had other subsidiaries operating as distributors and other services, are they also included in the merger?
JPJ: RLASAV was born as a new company, independent of the others. Both Videocorp and MyA continue independently with their businesses in parallel, but clearly we will continue to have the latest developments in technology since the Board of Directors is made up of members of these two companies that import and distribute the best AV brands for Latin America. So we will always remain at the forefront.
AVI: Does the new company have offices in which countries in Latin America?
JPJ: We have offices in Colombia, Peru, Chile, and recently added a new office in Panama. There are more than 30 wineries distributed in different cities strategically chosen to provide the most complete regional service. We feel that we are on the right track. Our idea is to further consolidate our participation in these countries. We have an important presence in the hotel sector and we are working very hard to develop the Corporate business.
AVI: In how many hotels does the new company have technology installed?
JPJ: There are more than 45 hotels that have the in-house service of RLASAV, many of them with automated rooms. The equipment is state-of-the-art, selected to deliver the best quality in audio and video.
AVI: What are the challenges and future plans after this participation?
JCV: First, to make the new culture, the way of working, much more than the sum of the two independent cultures. RLASAV is a new company that takes the best of both companies, the best practices, the most creative ideas, all the international experience of both will be mixed and added with the aim of delivering to our clients a superior value proposition.
Second, to continue raising the standards of quality in the Latin American audiovisual market. We are aware that if we continue to improve the quality of our service, our competition will also do so and ultimately the customer is the one who is most favored. We will continue to promote both technically and at the equipment level the services we already deliver such as audio, projection, simultaneous translation, debate systems and voters, closed circuit cameras, lighting, videoconferencing, video streaming, computing and networking, content creation, editing, mapping, etc. and we are in the process of evaluating 3 new lines of business that will complement our audiovisual proposal. We hope to surprise you in the short term.
AVI: How do you plan to achieve this?
JVC: We will continue with the periodic measurement of our quality of service thanks to satisfaction surveys, ISO 9001 procedures will be constantly reviewed, and technicians will participate in international training of the brands we represent, Infocomm, among others. We will also take care to comply with the environmental standards that hotel chains and end customers demand today.
We are creating an Area of Innovation and Development especially to work on what obsesses us: to surprise. Finally, we would like, in the medium term, to be annealed as one of the best companies to work for.
We want to be the largest audiovisual services company in Latin America, but with business centers in focus countries, and we want to maintain a wide regional coverage. Having the support of two companies like Videocorp and MyA, solid and with so many years already in the market, allows us to dream big. We know that this is a great advantage over the rest of the companies, very few have the support we have in RLASAV. We will meet our goals, step by step, with a lot of energy, work and dedication.
