AV crossover from Residential to Commercial to Digital Signage

I saw a very interesting article today posted on the Infocomm Forum by John Stiernberg of Stiernberg Consulting where he talks very distinctly about the trend for Residential AV integrators encroaching on the commercial AV spaces during these troubling times. The article can be found at the Infocomm site, but I'm not sure if you can get access to it without being a member. The gist of his position is summed up in this direct quote, Why cross over? ﾠPretty easy to understand. ﾠThe residential systems market has been hit hard by the worldwide economic downturn and its impact on residential construction. ﾠThose contractors and integrators who want to survive will go after any job that they can.

His position is also that this is not necessarily a new phenomenon. According to John, The residential integrator who does a good job on a dentist's home theater and multi-room audio has a good shot at the dentist's office and treatment rooms. ﾠAnd vice versa: the commercial integrator who originally provided the office AV systems may do the dentist's home systems as well. This trend goes back to the 20th century. John is looking for feedback as to whether or not this is a good trend in the AV industry. If you are interested in contact John - he can be found on Linked In.

In these troubling times I see more and more businesses looking to enter new and different applications as a viable way of creating new business and new customers.

I have a slightly different question from the perspective of the Digital Signage Industry. We had a very interesting experience at the recent Infocomm Show in Orlando during our Digital Signage Expert Tour. Both commercial and residential AV integrators asked salient questions about the complexity of putting together a Digital Signage component to their business and the expertise that it would take to do that. They all commented on how confusing and overwhelming it all was. How do you decide whether you can make a DS business profitable? How do you choose who to partner with? How long does it take to sell a digital signage network? All viable questions.

So my question is this - would offering services on how to build a DS business and how to sell a digital signage solution to the AV integrator community by manufacturers who make component parts to the digital signage industry be worthwhile? Can it be accomplished through on-line experiences such as webinars or does it need to be face to face or some combination thereof? Would the AV integrator be willing to pay a modest price for that service? An example of what I mean by on-line services can be found at - http://www.minicomdigitalsignage.com/av-webinars.htm
Your feedback is appreciated.