With a very active participation and great recognition in the audiovisual technology industry, Luis Fernando Hinojosa, founder of Planeadores Visión, is aware of the importance of academic preparation and research in the evolution of this market.
by: María Cecilia Hernández
Create visual tools through which the staff of a company can capture and be clear about their short- and long-term goals, their main objectives and offer high quality audiovisual solutions that facilitate communication between employees, are some of the missions that Luis Fernando Hinojosa has put on his shoulders, founder and CEO of the Mexican company Planeadores Visión.
For this edition of AVI LATINOAMERICA, Hinojosa accompanies us in the section of the professional of the month, in a conversation in which the entrepreneur allows us to know his perspective about the present and the future of the audio and video market in Latin America, and opens spaces through which he shows that he is a man full of happiness.
The city that saw him born and grow is the same one that has seen him become a successful owner of a consolidated business: Monterrey, in Mexico, is the headquarters of Planeadores Visión, an audiovisual solutions company that was born in 1990 with three employees and in a space of 70 m2. Today, that was very far away, because the growth of the company is evident and vertiginous, at the beginning of this decade they already met the needs of about one thousand 200 national companies.
"We do integrations in the audiovisual area, for applications of complete assembly of boardrooms, training, training, videoconferencing; war rooms, monitoring and control, classrooms and auditoriums," explains Hinojosa when referring to the objective of his company.
A market that keeps you alive
But this philosophy was born some time later and in a way contrary to how it occurs in most companies: demand came first, supply later. "I came to this audio and video industry because customers asked me to supply them with video projectors and other audiovisual products in 1998. I started serving maquiladora companies and others in the town."
Thus, captivated by the innovative dynamics of the market, Luis Fernando decided to stay in business forever. This world worries him and keeps him active because, as he himself says, it requires him to be in the permanent search for products and services that make life easier for people and make it easier for them to communicate with others.
One of the things he likes most about this sector is that "it requires a great immersion in what you do, so continuous training is necessary, in order to offer first-class products and services, that is, that what our customers find in our company is a solution to their needs and fully trust what we suggest. Also because I have always been struck by technology and its application in everyday life."
Thanks to his extensive experience and his extensive experience, Hinojosa has been a speaker at various national forums, congresses and seminars that are held in Mexico under the themes of Total Quality and Customer Satisfaction. This business recognition has been consolidated as it progresses along the path of international certification. In 2001, for example, Planeadores Visión won the Nuevo León Quality Award; in 2006 it obtained the certification as Certified Audiovisual Solutions Providers Gold Level, the first Mexican company to enjoy this recognition granted by the most important international organization in the field, Infocomm. His company currently owns Emerald Level AV Solutions Provider.
Educating yourself to educate
"The audio and video industry has been growing in Mexico from being a marketer to being a facilitator and integrator. At the same time, customers have also evolved thanks to greater access to knowledge of global technological advances, either from the Internet or traveling."
The entrepreneur emphasizes that it is necessary to generate a culture of purchase for quality and not for price: "A buyer must take into account and recognize the importance of the international credentials that a company has and the training of its employees, because at present they are issues that are not appreciated or valued. In Mexico, for example, customers are very used to buying by price and not by total cost over time (ROI). The moment users change this mindset, then the industry is going to grow, not in units but in value-added supply."
In that sense, the director explains the need to be trained to educate customers. "This industry is promising in Latin America as long as the people who work in it specialize and receive training. The demand in sectors such as videoconferencing, digital signage and displays, will grow; on the other hand, in products such as video projectors and minor accessories, the opposite will happen, especially in what has to do with the cost of the type of technology, but this is an industry in which the expansion will be given by the creation of aspirational products for both the company and the home, "he considers.
According to the engineer, the best education he has had is through the courses of Infocomm and some companies he represents such as Smart Technologies and Polycom.
Running and praying
He is a family man, an example to follow for his family and is clear about his consequent plans. "I am passionate about the telepresence and videoconferencing industry because it seems that you had the gift of obicuity and it gives you the possibility to do more in less time, achieving better operational performance and personal productivity. I want to learn more about this industry that surprises me, to become internationally certified in both design and facilities; I am very self-taught and I like to help my colleagues. In the company I always consider four perspectives: the financial, the client, the Internal and the personnel, that is what my strategic issues depend on to develop in the short and medium term".
Almost 29 years ago he is, as he says, "happily married" to Rosa María González Lozano, with whom he has two children: Luis Fernando, 21 years old and who studies Engineering in computer technologies and Juan Pablo, 19 years old who studies Medicine, both are studying their careers at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, from where their parents graduated.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, father and husband, he is an inveterate athlete and although he dedicates himself to it only as a hobby he never leaves it aside and, as in all his activities, he demands himself as a professional: "For a long time I played Basketball but I had to leave it two years ago due to injuries. I have always practiced athletics, I have participated in road races of 10 kilometers and 21 kilometers (half marathon). I like to train and keep a record of it. I dedicate myself to my work, my family, sports and religion, of course also balancing time with my friends, but in general I am very homely. I have a phrase in front of me that says 'pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you'. I feel that you have to give a supernatural meaning to actions and to life itself, if not, you do not leave a mark."
