Commercial Integrator July 2022 - 48

LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
Supersummit
PSNI SUPERSUMMIT
OFFERS GLIMPSES
OF AV'S FUTURE
Packed with provocative thought leadership, PSNI Supersummit revealed
a future that is equal parts anxious and opportune. By Dan Ferrisi
AV INTEGRATION business owners are
living through a unique moment...a moment
that is equal parts anxious and opportune.
That fact crystalized for me at the PSNI Global
Alliance's Supersummit, held this past
April in Houston.
Integrators are anxious because they're
being buffeted by a constellation of challenges:
a snarled supply chain, a shortage
of qualified employees, multi-decadehigh
inflation, the prospect of a near-term
recession, ongoing COVID-19-related
issues and an emboldened labor force that
feels empowered to dictate its own terms.
Simultaneously, integrators have reason to
be optimistic: AV systems are now recognized
as mission-critical resources; demand
remains high, with customers waiting for
gear to be available; the service model, with
its potential for ~50% margins, is coming
into focus; and two years of pandemic-induced
isolation has reminded people that
AV-infused experiences are indispensable to
their joie de vivre.
A Powerful Alliance
The PSNI Global Alliance is a Tulsa,
Okla.-based network of best-in-class
audiovisual providers who learn from and
synergize with each other to deliver outstanding
outcomes to clients worldwide.
The alliance's Certified Solution Providers
(CSPs) have undergone extensive training,
demonstrated expertise in AV and UC&C
technologies, and committed themselves
48
Commercial Integrator JULY 2022
to ongoing education and improvement.
Meantime, PSNI's Preferred Vendor Partner
(PVP) program is composed of manufacturers
and distributors whose product
innovation and service offerings empower
integrators to create outstanding customer
experiences across a range of verticals
and a swath of applications. With a couple
hundred CSPs and PVPs descending on
Houston for Supersummit, the electricity of
productive collaboration buzzed throughout
the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria.
That charge will illuminate countless projects
in the coming months.
For me, the learning began during the
Welcome Reception, during which I chatted
with a range of prominent industry names.
Most of them focused on the global supply
chain, whose delays have not meaningfully
ameliorated. Allusions to eight-plus-week
waits for product availability were the
norm - if not, in some cases, optimistic.
And as we know, this problem is complex,
enfolding everything from raw-material
scarcity, to astronomical shipping costs,
to overwhelmed ports, to insufficient
numbers of truck drivers. To a person, each
of those to whom I spoke discussed making
herculean efforts to get product into waiting
hands, and they affirmed demand remains
high. But as the commercial AV industry's
business handbook, CI recognizes that
having millions of dollars in backlogged
business can wreak havoc on an integrator.
And that's why a thought-leadership event
Keynote speaker Shane Snow said strong
team leaders instigate debate and invite
dissent, while discouraging personal attacks.
When steel strikes steel, Snow said,
both blades sharpen.
like Supersummit was a must to attend: It
was an opportunity for CSPs to maintain and
build on their industry leadership.
Macroeconomic Rundown
Finance reporter Ron Insana kicked things
off on April 6 with a probing analysis of
macroeconomic conditions. His conclusions
were bleak but realistic. He argued that
we must consider the current economic
state through the lenses of the COVID-19
pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Those disruptive forces inexorably changed
any trajectory the world economy might
otherwise have been on. And, with
lockdowns in China and elsewhere, Insana
emphasized that COVID-19 will continue
to have profound effects on the world.
commercialintegrator.com
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator July 2022

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