AHEAD vs. AVI-SPL

They are easily our go to company for anything revolving around VMware suite, whether that is infrastructure related, automation related, or monitoring related. It's a no brainier to get their assistance with a lot of tasks as they can competently implement complex designs. Also on the storage architecture side they are great. I'm sure there is much more but for my team we mainly leverage them in these areas.

Incentivized

It would depend on the task and project scope. I recommend them in helping with equipment and dealer or rep needs, and we have worked with AVI SPL into 2025 for this need. We had some difficult integration projects in 2021 to 2022 that did not go so well on the integration side, so there is room for improvement there. However, there were major widespread industry equipment challenges at that time. But in today's market and equipment availability, it may have been a different experience. But we continue to use AVI SPL for some of our equipment needs at this time.

Incentivized

• The provided pre-req documentation was thorough and well thought out, making it easy to jump into the project.
• The design session to gather our requirements was very helpful, Sovereign's familiarity with the vRealize product line along with diagramming our desired layout confirmed our decision to bring in assistance with the project.
• When we ran into some issues with Sovereign's custom code their development team was on top of it and solved the issue in a matter of a few days.

Incentivized

• Analyzed our physical soundstage from architect drawings and made recommendations tailored to our space.
• Fast email response and call-backs from their consultants - we never had to wait. They get back before the day ends.
• They remember us as a valued client, even if months go by between purchases. We never have to be reintroduced.
• Invoicing is clear and concise with no mystery charges - always matches the quotes.

Incentivized

• Coordination of product orders with the vendor although I think the vendor is the bigger issue. Insuring delivery time frames are met is of great importance with these kinds of projects.
• Communication between scheduled project meetings. There could be more contact between meetings.
• Provide a customer portal for project tracking.

Incentivized

• Turnaround time on quoting could be improved.
• Install times are generally booked out a bit. I know that there is a balance between demand and onhand resources.
• Pricing. They are by far one of the most expensive. I constantly need to look for ways to trim back costs because there is quite a lot baked into the quote in terms of maintenance and it feels like a cash grab in the end. I've gotten quotes elsewhere due to some of the numbers I've received and they all have come well under AVI-SPL's. Here's the list of line items from what I've seen from my last quote and this is from one conference room. Equipment Total, Installation Materials, Professional Services, Direct Costs, General and Administrative, Room Support and Maintenance, Device Maintenance. This feels egregious.

Incentivized

They are a great company to work with overall, but there is always room for improvement. We have had incredibly positive experiences with our main sales rep for any and all purchases. The installation team in southwest VA is lacking and lead to quite a lot of issues on a large scale project last year.

Incentivized

They had us replace the PC three times stating that the PSU was not strong enough to power the USB bus. The last PC had a 1500w PSU. The USB devices kept not working because they had too many USB devices connected. We had to hire another company to come out and fix this mistake as well. They redesigned the solution to get the features that we requested from the beginning and something that would work correctly

Incentivized

AVI-SPL always availability. I have no issue

Incentivized

There was been no downtime in using AVISPL.

Incentivized

I have not yet had to engage their help desk for support, so I am unable to provide any feedback regarding their global help desk support capabilities. Their project management team has been very responsive for support during the project lifecycle, which may be different than their operational support services.

Incentivized

I would not call it training, rather would call it knowledge transfer.

Incentivized

SPL-AVI covers all the questions when asked. Excellent demo on how to use the system in our community.

Incentivized

The representatives I worked with were patient and very well versed in working with my team to ensure we are aware of all aspects.

Incentivized

Having extensive pre-implementaton dialogue really made the process much smoother. We had most of our bases covered and were ready for the equipment installation/implementation, except for the previously mentioned network configuration issues that arose.

Incentivized

Given a caveat that this project had major changes to overcome, I would say AVI-SPL did about as well as any large installer out there could do under the circumstances.

Incentivized

I have use plenty of other A/V companies in the past. They all have they pros and cons. AVI-SPL has consistently proven they can get the job done on time, within budget, and the type of quality I need and expect. AVI-SPL's service department has been able to keep our rooms going on short notice whenever we have an issue. It was a no-brainer to purchase a service contract with them.

Incentivized

All is good

Incentivized

The system was not scalable with the hardware they ordered

Incentivized

I would consider inside sales as a professional service. My experience with AVI-SPL and Amanda Laraia has been second to none.

Incentivized

• With the products they supplied, I was better able to present the information to my clients.
• Based on the conference room size, they help determine the best projector that would optimize the viewing for the clients in the room.
• This had a positive impact as I was more effectively able to communicate the information to my clients in an engaging manner.

Incentivized