NSCA’s mission involves helping integrators make smart business decisions to more efficiently and profitably run their organizations. Much of how we follow through on our commitment involves data tracking and benchmarking.
In Q4 2015, we asked systems integrators across the country to participate in our Cost of Doing Business survey, which asked questions about numbers of full-time and part-time staff, prevalent systems and technologies, success in vertical markets, company revenue, and overall financial health. The information allows NSCA to provide a more in-depth look at company operations and dynamics, as well as insight into how our members perceive the financial health of their own companies. Several new metrics were collected and reported on this year:
- Number of sales staff
- Prime contractor status
- Revenue from new customers
- Work backlog
The results were used to create the Financial Analysis of the Industry 2015, a benchmarking report that offers an outstanding way for you to compare your company’s financial information with other integrators that run the same type of business you do. The report also includes verbatim responses about the biggest challenges integrators anticipate in 2016.
The report is one-of-a-kind, offering a direct industry comparison instead of a comparison between similar sectors.
We highly recommend that you take time to compare your business’ ratios and overall performance to the ratios of your industry peers, and highlight the areas where you see significant discrepancies with averages.
For example, it’s important to verify whether you simply account for expense items differently, or if you have allowed expenses to increase well beyond the norm. Likewise, if you see areas in which you excel far above industry averages, you may want to use this report as a way to recognize your team for their performance and hard work.
Many companies use this data to determine the true cost of doing business. The benchmarks here allow you to set metrics and parameters to manage and increase accountability.
NSCA is available to help you make sense of the report and conduct comparisons, set a new course of action, and formulate recommendations for improvement. To learn more about how to use this report to make better business decisions, contact us!