Inherited AV: What a New IT Director Should Do in the First 90 Days
Inherited AV is a common headache for new IT leaders. Here is a practical 30, 60 and 90 day plan to find out what you have, what is at risk and what to fix.
Chris Gore Updated 2026
Inherited AV is one of the least glamorous parts of starting a new IT role. Nobody hands over a tidy list of meeting room equipment, the previous owner has moved on and the first you hear about problems is when a board meeting goes wrong. A short, structured plan stops it becoming a crisis, and it starts with finding out what you actually have, which is harder than it sounds, as we explain in why you do not actually know if your meeting rooms are working.
What to Do With Inherited AV in the First 30 Days
Build an Inventory
Walk every room. Record what is installed, the make and model, where it is, what firmware it runs and which conferencing platform it is set up for. Note anything that looks unusual, such as devices that are unplugged or rooms with equipment nobody can explain. A spreadsheet is fine at this stage. You are trying to replace guesses with facts.
Gather the Paperwork
Find every contract, support agreement and warranty. Establish who is responsible for support, what response times were promised and when each agreement ends. Check who holds the admin accounts for cloud portals and conferencing tenants. Our guide to what an AV warranty actually covers helps you read what you find.
Listen to the People Who Use the Rooms
Ask staff which rooms they avoid and why. Look at any support tickets from the past year. Patterns in complaints tell you where the real problems are, often more reliably than a technical audit.
Days 31 to 60: Assess and Prioritise Inherited AV
Rank Rooms by Use and Importance
Not every room matters equally. A boardroom used by the leadership team and clients every week matters more than a small room used twice a month. Rank rooms by how often they are used and what happens when they fail. That ranking decides where your time and money go first.
Spot the Risks
Look for equipment that is out of support, has not been updated in years or has no support arrangement at all. Check for single points of failure and for devices on the network that nobody manages. Our list of ten signs it is time to replace your meeting room AV is a handy checklist, and our piece on AV maintenance explains why regular attention matters.
Find the Quick Wins
Some of the most visible improvements cost very little. Updating firmware, replacing a faulty cable, labelling rooms clearly, adding simple instructions and fixing the room everyone complains about all build credibility early. A few visible fixes in the first 60 days make the bigger conversations easier.
Days 61 to 90: Plan What Comes Next
Decide How the Estate Will Be Supported
Decide who supports the rooms and how faults are found. That might be an in-house team, a managed service or a mix of the two, and our comparison of in-house AV support and outsourced managed services sets out the trade offs. Whatever you choose, agree response times in writing, and use the points in our guide to AV support SLAs.
Build a Roadmap and a Business Case
Turn your findings into a short roadmap with priorities, costs and dates. Link each item to a business outcome, such as fewer failed meetings or less time spent on support. Our guide on writing a business case for meeting room AV investment shows how to present it so finance and leadership can say yes.
Common Mistakes With Inherited AV
The common mistakes are replacing everything because it is unfamiliar, ignoring the estate until something breaks, and assuming the previous supplier will tell you everything you need to know. Another is trying to fix everything at once. A clear order of priorities, based on real use, will always beat a big bang.
Put a realistic figure against your roadmap before you take it to finance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first with inherited AV?
Build an inventory. Walk every room and record what is installed, where, what firmware it runs and how it is supported, so you are working from facts instead of assumptions.
How do I find out how well inherited AV is working?
Look at support tickets from the past year, ask staff which rooms they avoid and test each room yourself. Monitoring gives you ongoing visibility once it is in place.
Should I replace inherited AV straight away?
Not usually. Rank rooms by use and importance, fix the quick wins and replace only what is failing, unsupported or unfit for the way the room is used.
Who should hold the admin accounts for AV systems?
Your organisation should hold them. Check early who has admin access to every cloud portal and conferencing tenant and transfer any that sit with a supplier.
How do I get budget to fix inherited AV?
Present a short roadmap with priorities, costs and business outcomes, such as fewer failed meetings, so finance can see what the money achieves.
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