Commercial Integrator August 2022 - 16

AV AS A BUSINESS
Integrators: This Is Your Moment
Believe it or not, it's a great time to lead an integration company - if you can make a positive impact in
these areas. By Tom LeBlanc
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NSCA's
Business & Leadership Conference (BLC)
and Pivot to Profi t (P2P), our two signature
business conferences, is best summed
up by an onstage exchange that NSCA's
CEO, Chuck Wilson, had a few years ago.
As editor of media partner Commercial
Integrator, I was onstage at BLC with
Chuck, leading a " Beer & Bull " discussion
with the audience. One audience member
challenged Chuck on why BLC doesn't
have more discussion of products and
technology. I loved that Chuck was completely
comfortable with that challenge.
" You're at the wrong event, " he replied.
" We try to leave the product and technology
discussions at the door at BLC. This is
about focusing on business strategies to
move your company forward. "
That's a unique characteristic of BLC.
Meanwhile, just as BLC forces integrators
to keep product and technology at arm's
length, enabling them to focus on the big
picture, P2P dives into the nitty-gritty of
running an integration company. NSCA's
P2P Committee works to identify key
areas in which integration companies have
opportunities for new revenue; it also
strives to pinpoint roadblocks to success.
Each year's P2P session lineup refl ects a
snapshot in time.
Right now, the snapshot captures
tremendous challenges and great opportunities.
Yes, supply-chain issues and
escalating labor costs create profi tability
challenges. But overwhelming demand
across verticals for integrated solutions
to help facilitate the return to work and
hybrid functionality make integrators more
important than ever.
It's a great time to be an integrator - as
long as you're able to navigate 2022's
challenges. The role of NSCA's 2022 P2P
is to equip integrators to make a positive
impact.
Here's a look at the topics that 2022 P2P
attendees will experience in September:
Integrators' Role in Healthy Build16
ings:
Most integrators don't consider the
role they play in providing safe, healthy
environments to work and learn in. However,
the timing couldn't be better to change
that. Think of how many touchpoints there
are in a building for integrators - for example,
HVAC, emergency systems, remote
monitoring, voice notifi cation, electronic
locks, occupancy management, unifi ed
security management, connected fi re systems,
thermal and mask detection, access
control and self-assessment solutions. So
much of that can facilitate the shiſt toward
healthy buildings.
Becoming a Master Systems Integrator:
There's a reason why integrators are
well positioned to benefi t from that big
push toward sustainability in all verticals.
When we look at the foundations of fostering
healthy buildings, we see that integrators
can play a key role in helping customers
achieve their goals. They can do so by
using systems to monitor lighting, thermal
health, noise, and, of course, safety and security.
We see integrators evolving beyond
the thing they specialize in - whether that
happens to be AV, security or life safety -
and becoming master systems integrators
that solve many of a facility's challenges.
Finding Profi tability: To be profi table
in 2022 and beyond, every penny in the
budget counts. Integration companies
need better metrics to determine what
they should spend on diff erent aspects of
their business (e.g., marketing, vehicles, labor,
benefi ts). The NSCA Financial Leadership
Council recently conducted a focused
research project to help you create better
annual benchmarks for spending, and
we'll share those results. Your accounting
Commercial Integrator AUGUST 2022
department will love the specifi c insight
that you'll bring back from P2P.
Staying in Compliance: It's harder
for integrators to keep up with the codes
that impact their projects and weigh on
customers' minds. Making sure a proposal,
contract and project comply with specs
can amount to the work of several full-time
jobs. P2P will outline specifi c information
and advice on how to understand and
apply local codes and requirements.
Pursuit of Recurring Revenue: We
know that you don't want to sit through
a session on whether recurring revenue,
as-a-service or managed services are right
for your company. So, instead, we'll focus
on how to move past general talk and
get down to the details. We'll dive into
recurring-revenue challenges and identify
specifi c steps to overcome them. What
should sales professionals say to transition
customer mindsets from CapEx to OpEx?
What, exactly, should you include in your
managed services or as-a-service solutions?
How should you arrive at pricing?
How can you build support for a service
program?
Being Cyber Resilient: Integration
business leaders know the cyber risks
involved with managing sensitive internal
and customer data. If you've been
fortunate, you only know these risks in
theory. At P2P, learn how an integrator that
experienced a ransomware attack. Hear
how it impacted the organization, and the
steps/missteps the company took aſt er it
happened. The risks are very real. We'll
make sure you walk away with a cyberresiliency
plan to protect your company
before and aſt er an attack.
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Commercial Integrator August 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator August 2022