Diversified Consolidates Managed Services Under New Global Practice
2026-08-21 · via invidis
Diversified, the global AV and technology integrator, has consolidated its managed services operations into a single Global Managed Services Practice, hiring Rob Mello as vice president to run it. For operators who rely on integrators to keep signage networks, control rooms and workplace AV running, the move signals a push toward selling ongoing management rather than one-off maintenance contracts.
Mello joins from a background at NTT DATA, Orange Business Services and IBM, where the company says he spent more than 20 years building technology-enabled service practices. At Diversified he will bring together strategy, delivery and client success functions for managed services worldwide, according to the announcement.
Why this matters for signage operators
Diversified frames the change around a shift in what customers expect from service contracts. The company says clients running connected, business-critical media and workplace technology are asking for proactive monitoring, optimization and ongoing management, not just break-fix support after something fails. For a digital signage estate spanning dozens or hundreds of screens across regions, that distinction matters: reactive service-level agreements typically mean waiting for a fault ticket, while proactive monitoring aims to catch problems before a screen goes dark.
This lines up with a theme invidis flagged in its 2025 Yearbook, which centred on what it called "Managed Signage" and described an industry-wide move from reactive SLAs toward continuous operational models designed to cut downtime. Diversified's announcement reads as a concrete example of that trend playing out at a large integrator rather than a niche managed-services vendor.
The company also says automation and agentic AI will be built into the new practice's service architecture, intended to support faster issue resolution and continuous optimization. The announcement does not specify which tools, platforms or AI systems will be used, how they will integrate with existing content management or monitoring software, or which regions and client segments will see the new model first. It also does not give a timeline for rollout or say whether pricing structures will change for existing managed services customers.
For operators currently on separate regional or point-solution service contracts with Diversified, the consolidation could mean a single point of contact and more consistent delivery standards across geographies, which the company cites as one of the goals. Whether that translates into measurably less downtime or lower total cost of ownership is not something the announcement demonstrates; it states intent rather than results. Diversified's chief revenue officer Tyler Affolter is quoted saying the aim is to move the managed services conversation "beyond maintenance and support toward intelligence, optimization and AI-enabled, continuous value creation," language that signals ambition more than specifics at this stage.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from invidis for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
Rob Mello joins as vice president to lead a consolidated global operation focused on service delivery, client success and AI-enabled operations.
Diversified has launched a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating its existing managed services capabilities under one organization as the global AV and technology integrator expands its focus on recurring, lifecycle-based services.
Rob Mello has joined the company as vice president of Global Managed Services and will lead the practice, bringing together Diversified’s managed services strategy, delivery, and client success operations worldwide.
The company said the move is intended to address increasingly connected and business-critical workplace, media and experience technology environments, where customers are looking beyond traditional maintenance and support toward proactive monitoring, optimization and ongoing technology management.
The strategy closely follows a trend examined extensively in the invidis Yearbook 2025 , which made “Managed Signage” its central theme. The Yearbook showed that managed services are moving from reactive service-level agreements toward proactive monitoring and operational models designed to minimize downtime.
Diversified said its new practice will concentrate on consistent service delivery across regions, increasing the long-term value clients receive from technology investments and developing more intelligent service operations.
Automation and agentic AI will form part of that strategy, with Diversified planning to incorporate the technologies into its managed services architecture to support proactive monitoring, faster issue resolution and continuous optimization.
Mello has more than 20 years of experience in technology-enabled services, including positions with NTT DATA, Orange Business Services and IBM. His background includes developing global service practices, launching new offerings and managing technology and operational transformation initiatives.
“We have an opportunity to move the managed services conversation beyond maintenance and support toward intelligence, optimization and AI-enabled, continuous value creation,” said Tyler Affolter, Diversified’s chief revenue officer.