GPA Blog: Trust in each other makes for a unique collaboration

One big family

I wasn’t deterred, however, because I was about to meet the members of the GPA for the first time. I was going to experience it in the next few days. People from different countries with different cultures and customs. The GPA really is one big family. Cultural boundaries disappear, you feel you’re all working on a common goal. Americans working alongside Russians. An Israelite having a beer with a Turk. Cultures and backgrounds fade because you have a common goal, which is consistency across the globe.

A lot of international businesses know that it’s not easy to find a global system integrator that offers such consistency. Now that AVEX has joined the GPA, we will be able to implement international projects efficiently and offer a consistent service, regardless of location.

I’ve worked at numerous international companies and I’ve noticed that, at meetings, you come together as colleagues and then you go your different ways again. This goes much further at the GPA. They understand you need each other. That you want to achieve a common goal, together.

Trust in each other is particularly important and that’s what makes the collaboration so unique. You don’t just ‘throw’ something over the wall, you work together as a single organisation.

The GPA members meet up three times a year, at the AVIXA (formerly known as Infocomm) in the US, the ISE in Amsterdam and, of course, the annual event at one of the members anywhere in the world. But it’s not just about these regular meetings, we also conduct video conferences each week to stay in contact. It just goes to show that large distances don’t have to stand in the way of a solid collaboration.

Trust

The central theme of the annual event was team-building by building up trust with each other.
This time, the subject was the standardisation of processes and suppliers. How do we work as a team on a global basis and how do we roll out standard projects. And what are the practical challenges you come across?

I travelled to my hotel in the centre of Salvador, without my suitcase. The fact that it’s a real ‘family’ was proven by the fact that when we arrived in the middle of the night, the GPA members treated my colleague Jeroen and I to a cold beer. It really felt like coming home.

And my suitcase? Fortunately, it was delivered to my hotel two days later.

PS I’m already looking forward to welcoming the GPA members in Amsterdam during the Integrated Systems Europe trade fair (the biggest trade fair of our profession).

Ben Smit is an international Business Development manager at AVEX. He was added to the AVEX team on the basis of his extensive experience. He also participates in the Global Presence Alliance (GPA) on behalf of AVEX. The GPA is a select network of more than 25 prominent solution providers of audiovisual and unified communications solutions.