Security Sales & Integration March 2022 - 12

INDUSTRY PULSE HOT SEAT
Finding Opportunity
in Fierce Headwinds
▶ Enduring impacts of the pandemic,
supply chain bottlenecks and other factors
continue to fuel considerable headwinds
for installing security contractors. Bob Appleby,
vice president and general manager
for ADI North America, joins the conversation
to help make sense of it all and pinpoint
opportunities.
What product categories emerged
during the pandemic that you expect
will become mainstays?
▶ Bob Appleby: Although building closures
and construction slowdowns had
effects on the market, new opportunities
became available around thermal imaging
products, contactless access control, intrusion
and analytics. And now with fewer
projects on hold, construction beginning
again and schools open, there continues to
be a significant opportunity for dealers going
forward around these categories.
In the residential market, as more people
were staying home, they began making
more investments in their homes which
led to increased opportunities across residential
A/V, networking, intrusion and
smart home products. More consumers
have set up home offices, resulting in a rise
in home networking upgrades and conferencing
technologies, and more people entertaining
at home and investing in whole
house audio, residential video and outdoor
entertainment categories.
We believe the investments people are
making in their homes will continue, leading
to more opportunities. Additionally, as
hybrid learning and working models are
more widespread, being able to supply the
technologies that help bridge and enhance
this experience will be key for dealers.
What are ADI's internal projections
on how long the current supply
chain disruptions will continue?
▶ Appleby: We are expecting these supply
chain disruptions and uncertainties to
remain well into 2022, and we'll continue
to take every step possible to try and lessen
12
the impact for our customers.
Communication across the supply
chain remains key to responding fast and
efficiently to any situation. Our demand
planning team collaborates regularly with
both our suppliers and integrators to
quickly identify any potential shortages
and monitor inventory levels. We conduct
an integrated business planning process
with suppliers to understand their current
inventory, secondary and tertiary component
sourcing, and levels of production so
that we can respond with additional safety
stock or order expedites where appropriate.
Additionally, we're staying closely engaged
with our carriers to mitigate the potential
for container availability challenges
and port congestion.
ADI carries products from more than
700 suppliers, giving customers a wide
array of choices and alternative options.
We've been working closely with our customers
to forecast their needs and are encouraging
them to order now and stock
up. This will help ensure they have the
products they need, and may minimize
any additional price increases from inflation.
Additionally, on larger projects we
encourage our customers to get the ADI
team involved as early as possible, so we
can help them secure all that is needed for
the specific project.
Beyond core product categories,
what technology do you view as
having a huge upside?
▶ Appleby: In addition to our core security
and life-safety markets, we identified
categories where we see growth opportunities
for ADI and our customers in residential
A/V, professional A/V and data communications.
And we're expanding our
offerings in these spaces both organically,
and by pursuing M&A activities, to build
upon our presence and help our customers
capitalize on these growing markets.
Since 2020, we've made four acquisitions
including Herman Pro A/V and
Shoreview Distribution in pro A/V, and
Security Sales & Integration MARCH 2022
BOB APPLEBY
V.P. & G.M.,
ADI North America
Norfolk Wire & Electronics and most recently
Arrow Wire & Cable in data communications.
These acquisitions create
numerous cross-selling opportunities for
our customers, and we're helping them
take advantage of them.
What do you view as the most
significant challenges that
wholesale security distributors
are currently facing?
▶ Appleby: As mentioned, we'll continue
to endure shortages, supply chain restraints
and logistics slowdowns, and we must remain
in constant communication to address
situations as they arise to try and mitigate
the overall impact. As an industry, some of
the other challenges we'll continue to endure
include inflation and economic woes,
COVID-related concerns, labor shortages
and recruiting and/or retaining talent.
I think the most important investment
any company can make is in its people, and
this will help with recruiting and retaining
talent. At ADI, our employees are our most
valuable asset and key to our success. And
we continue to invest in our teams with
training, tools and resources to help them
successfully do their jobs. In 2021, we added
more than 135 new team members globally
- and we're still growing. We've been
equipping our teams with more digital tools
to help improve sales effectiveness.
FIND IT ON THE WEB
For more from our conversation,
search " Bob Appleby " at
securitysales.com.
securitysales.com
http://www.securitysales.com http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Security Sales & Integration March 2022
