"From The Top" with Michael Olinger, Vice President of AMX International Sales

When Michael Olinger walked into a small Dallas tech company in the early ’90s to run its tiny international division, he had no idea what he was getting into, much less what control technology was all about or where it was headed. Nearly 12 years later, the head of AMX international operations shares why he’s proud of his team’s accomplishments, and why he’s so excited about the future.

An Exciting Time For International
I don’t know if it’s the jetlag, the time conversion or all that great European coffee, but I barely slept last night. I’m just back from the ISE show in Brussels, and more than likely, it’s the buzz from an absolutely terrific show. I can undoubtedly say that the European integration market is nothing less than on fire.

Much like their US counterparts, our European dealers came in droves to learn about, try out, get their hands on and get training for anything and everything AMX. It was a stellar three days, and it speaks volumes about where we’ve been, and where we’re going, in our quest to be a truly global company.

Baby steps to Globetrotting
As a young American company, AMX was lucky enough to recognize early on that immense possibilities lie outside its domestic borders. Twenty years ago, we were selling products in only a handful of countries, accounting for just a sliver of overall company revenue.

However, since then, we’ve been quite fortunate to build relationships with an outstanding group of world partners and to be supported by an excellent line of products. As a result, we now have representation in 85 countries spanning the globe.

A recent article published in Industry Week magazine put our progress thus far in perspective. It was reported that the 350 fastest growing small to medium-sized products and services companies expected 18 percent of their overall revenue to come from the International market. In 2005, we more than doubled that number, and we are forecasting substantially more growth for the future. Undoubtedly, it’s a very exciting time for AMX International.

“Our mission is to bring AMX products into a new part of the world every day, and to make the AMX name synonymous with excellence and recognized with a smile in any language.”

Successful Relationships Are Paramount
Domestically, we can most effectively sell to and service our dealers directly, but because of logistic, import regulations, ability to provide sales and technical support locally, language and even cultural differences, we have been successful internationally by working through world partner distributors, dealers and AMX overseas operations. Regardless of how we get AMX products to the end-user, developing strong, loyal, successful relationships throughout the supply chain is paramount.

AMX World Partners make the finest network of distributors and systems integrators in our industry.  Through them, end users are assured of receiving a customer satisfaction experience that’s second to none.

Going Vertical
It’s very interesting to watch the vertical markets that our international customers are trending towards. This year at ISE, we added a very special area to showcase these specialty markets. From Home Automation to Private Transportation to Building Control, the fastest growing markets were represented to demonstrate the amazing growth potential for each of these markets.

Every region and culture has unique wants and needs, but overwhelmingly, we are seeing more business than ever in the worldwide residential control market. This is really no surprise, however. Regardless of your culture, the home is where people invest the majority of their time and resources. The Home Theater market also continues to be a strong sell for us in many regions because of its growing popularity and greater than ever value.

As more and more countries are choosing to invest additional resources in social services, the Education and Healthcare sectors are also experiencing phenomenal growth. Following the U.S. trend, we are also starting to see more international construction of multi-dwelling units, or MDUs. This is an international market in its infancy but we expect it to grow considerably in the future.

Synonymous with Excellence
When my team and I forecast where we’d like to be down the road, it’s clear that we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible globally. Our mission is to bring AMX products into a new part of the world each and every day, and to make the AMX name synonymous with excellence and recognized with a smile in any language.