Commercial Integrator January 2022 - 34

RESEARCH Post-Pandemic Changes
REDEFINING THE
VALUE OF AN
INTEGRATOR
End-user research reveals how your customers will
prioritize technology in their budgets post-pandemic.
By Tom LeBlanc
Editor's Note: In our October edition,
Alyssa Borelli's article, " Customers' Technology
Needs & Budgets are Increasing
Post-Pandemic, " explored data from
NSCA and My TechDecisions. This month,
NSCA dives even deeper into that same
data, including presenting some new-to-CI
graphic representations. We hope you find
this re-exploration of the data valuable.
THE PANDEMIC HAS IMPACTED integrators
in the commercial integration community
in so many dramatic ways. One of the big
ones? The solutions your customers determined
to be important and paid you to install
pre-pandemic are different from what your
customers are prioritizing post-pandemic.
As an integrator, you must evolve with
customer demands. You must ensure you
are well-positioned to provide the solutions
your customers deem important.
The tricky part is knowing what those new
customer priorities are. It's easy to make a
blanket statement like the one laid out in the
first paragraph. The hard part is actually understanding
what customers need post-pandemic.
That's where a recent survey conducted by
NSCA and Commercial Integrator's end-user-facing
sister website, MyTechDecisions,
comes in handy. Instead of speculating about
what customers want, this research reflects
the outlook of your customers.
The survey of 160 technology decisionmakers
or influencers captures technology
demand, budget considerations and willingness
to enter an as-a-service agreement.
34
Commercial Integrator JANUARY 2022
Company sizes are wide ranging: About
half are smaller than 50 employees, but
some are as large as 50,000-plus employees.
It also covers a wide range of markets
(nearly 30% are corporate, 18% are education,
12% are healthcare and several other
markets are represented, as well). Overall,
the research appears to provide a strong
indication of real-world challenges that
integrators can use to better understand
customer demands.
PRE/POST-PANDEMIC: Working From Home (A Lot)
15%
Pre-pandemic:
% of employees who
WFH 3-4 days
weekly
50%
Post-pandemic:
% of employees
who'll WFH 3-4
days weekly
One of the obvious trends that will have impact on the solutions customers need is
working from home. More employees working from home and fewer employees
collaborating in an office changes things a lot. According to respondents, 40%
of employees typically worked from home one to two days a week prior to the
pandemic. That number is expected to be closer to 50% post-pandemic. It's a
change, but it's not earth shattering; however, things shift more dramatically
when you look at employees working from home three to four days a week: The
percentage climbs from 15% pre-pandemic to close to 50% post-pandemic.
commercialintegrator.com
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator January 2022

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