Modern Workflows & Smarter Equipment Decisions: What We Learned from AVCOM

Running a production company in 2025 looks very different from what it did ten years ago, and for AVCOM, that shift didn't happen by accident.

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Recently, Paul Murphy, Owner and Managing Director of AVCOM, joined us for an expert session on "Modern Workflows and Smarter Equipment Decisions." He shared how his team rebuilt their operations after COVID, from the gear they own to the way their team works together. Here is what we took away from the conversation.

Own what you use, rent what you don't

If a piece of gear sits in your warehouse for most of the year and only goes out a handful of times, owning it probably isn't worth it.

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Paul's team regularly weighs up how often an item goes out against what it would sell for secondhand. If two or three rentals a year roughly equals the resale value, it might be worth keeping. If not, move it on and reinvest that money where it makes a bigger difference. Better cabling, a smarter ops setup, or modular staging that gets reused on every show.

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The rule is simple: keep what goes out on nearly every job, and sub-rent the rest.

Separate your sales team from your production team

For years, AVCOM's salespeople were also their production managers. That's a lot to ask of one person. When you're trying to do two jobs at once, neither one gets done properly.

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After COVID, Paul's team made a clean split. Sales owns the client relationship, while production focuses on the technical side. The result? Faster quotes, fewer missed opportunities, and better shows.

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This is something Tom Stimson also brought up at a recent Jumpstart event. Your sales team should focus on selling. When they take on tasks outside of that, deals slow down and opportunities get missed.

Build real supplier relationships, not transactional ones

When AVCOM moved to an outsourcing model, they stopped treating suppliers as a last resort and started treating them as partners.

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To make that work, they hired a dedicated procurement person. Someone whose whole job is managing supplier relationships, sourcing gear, and making sure the margins on bought-in services are protected.

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It adds a cost to the business, but it pays off. Better rates, stronger buying power, and the ability to confidently deliver for clients even when the gear isn't yours.

Know when it's time to bring something back in-house

The thing about sub-renting is that you need to know when to stop. AVCOM spent years outsourcing all their hot-head camera solutions. Last year, they ran the numbers: they were spending enough with suppliers that owning one complete in-house solution made more financial sense. So they started investing in it.

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The data inside Rentman helped them see when they had crossed that line. How many days those items were being rented at the same time, how often they were going out, and whether ownership made sense. Having this data helped them ask the right questions and make smarter decisions.

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Write SOPs your whole team can follow

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are step-by-step documents that tell your team exactly how to do a task. At AVCOM, they have one for every stage of their workflow, from the moment a job comes in to the day it gets delivered.

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Each SOP maps to a specific tab in Rentman, so it's clear who does what and where. Sales, production, procurement, everyone knows exactly what they own and how to do it. Paul suggested keeping them short, using screenshots and videos, and reviewing them at least once a year.

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Paul's start, stop, double down

To close, Paul left us with three things worth acting on. Review your inventory utilization regularly. Don't be afraid to sub-rent. And when outsourcing, make sure your margins reflect the risk. Small changes in how you manage gear, suppliers, and processes can make a real difference to your bottom line.

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Want to hear all the insights? The recording of Modern Workflows and Smart Equipment Decisions is now available on YouTube.