One of the things that's always been a challenge when doing research in the pro AV space is the terminology we use to describe our buyer verticals. One in particular sticks out -- corporate. 

Now we all know what we mean by that term. Essentially, we are talking about offices as a type of space in which to do integration projects. We mean any and all of those offices regardless of what type of company they sit in. But here's the problem. That doesn't correspond to any larger economic data set on vertical markets or industries.  Anyone familiar with SIC or NAICS codes used by the U.S. federal government to segment industries into their contributing economic parts will know that corporate doesn't align to any code. The closest are codes used for underlying segments like finance or real estate but nothing that conveys the 'office spaces' we think about as a channel when we say 'corporate'. The big problem here is that technically corporate isn't a vertical, it's a horizontal, since offices are part of all normal industry designations. Or more to the point, this means benchmarking growth becomes hugely problematic. 

But beyond benchmarks, another issue exists. By trying to lump all office spaces across all verticals together, we are making assumptions about their uniformity across true industry segments. Yes, while its true an office is an office, the business purposes are different, translating to differences in the type of collaborative work, including the propensity for more hybrid work modes. Thus it may be better for us to think of the customer first by how they define themselves, which should more closely align to true industry classification schemes. Thus offices in retail headquarters are a part of a retail industry or vertical. Same for finance, manufacturing, hospitality, transportation, government, etc. That way we could better tell how those sectors are performing and translate that into opportunity for pro AV. And we can also think of customer needs beyond just a definition of space. 

Instead of using vertical to define these spaces the alternative is to think of offices as a part of a solution set. We do this using our solution segmentation in our Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA). Solutions here are how we define the actual project work to be done. The literal rooms in an office are one facet of a Conferencing and Collaboration solution. But that same office may need digital signage, which is an entirely different solution and project. Using retail again, this means a retail customer could have need for a collaboration solution for their offices, or potentially digital signage in the lobby. And then an entirely separate solution for their customer facing show rooms. They might even want a broadcast AV system for engaging customers with content. This changes the whole narrative and approach to the customer. 

All of that said, change is hard and for decades we as an industry have thought of corporate as the customer. I would argue that its time for a change so that we might think differently about the opportunities before us. Perhaps that time is now.