Instead of racing to the bottom with slim margins, integration companies should be competing on the unique value they bring to customers. The 2022 Business & Leadership Conference (BLC) is designed to help you create this distinction. Often called “the race to the bottom,” many integrators get caught up in this web—but you can avoid Read the full article…
These three financial metrics are even more important for integrators than revenue. Brad Dempsey, CEO at business software provider Solutions360, recently joined Brad Malone, managing partner at Navigate Management Consulting, on the Navigator video podcast to discuss project-based financial concepts for integrators. Working with hundreds of integrators, “we see the complete gamut of maturity,” says Read the full article…
NSCA knows all too well some of the actions integrators take that may have unforeseen consequences. The reason we’re so familiar with them is that we’ve either made these mistakes ourselves or routinely hear about them from NSCA members. Read the full article…
In the integration business, we are notorious for tightly scrutinizing our project margins by looking at the gross profit on our hardware, and then the performance of our labor (install, engineering, and programming) against the estimated hours when proposing the project. This is the typical way that we determine whether or not a project has made Read the full article…
Never fund customer projects with your own money. It’s great advice that can be difficult to heed, especially during large, long-term engagements … but ignore it at your peril. Read the full article…
Integrators have to make a profit. There has been plenty of talk about transforming our industry into a managed services model. What does that really mean for NSCA members? Will our clients merely be buying the right to use products instead of buying the hardware outright? Will we be dealing with rental or leasing situations? Read the full article…
I’ve been on several member visits this fall already, and have been around some of our very best business leaders as part of my travels. Without exception, I’m seeing more frazzled and worn-out people. Even the very best companies are working harder and struggling to show good profitability. Even the companies with record sales and Read the full article…
One of our members asked me recently about the direction and future of video conferencing as we know it today and where I see that all headed. To better answer his question I did some collaboration with two of this industry’s leading experts to see if we shared opinions, or had vastly different perspectives. Our Read the full article…
I was recently invited to tag along at three large scale technology implementation projects in existing facilities. On these trips I went with the purpose of observing and assessing the end users perception on how we impact workflow and process, rather than evaluating the technology itself. My goal was to see how effective, or disruptive, Read the full article…
or some reason, I’ve been busy helping the owners of our member companies determine the value of their companies. I always ask why they are interested and, most often, it’s because they are between 55 and 65 years old. They’re worn out from fighting low margins in the bid market, tired of employee issues or Read the full article…
