Commercial Integrator December 2021 - 23

Integrators across the spectrum shared
their frustrations and needs for industry
software as part of the 2021 Commercial
Integrator Software Deep Dive Study.
Integrators revealed they spend a median
of $1,260 per year in either new software
or ongoing fees, and they buy on average
four new pieces of software every five
years. In total, the typical commercial AV
company uses six pieces of software to
operate his or her business. Integrators
also note that, on average, they have
completely abandoned three pieces of
software for various reasons.
So why go through all the headaches
something like $12,000 per year for
software licenses and I can't even get it to
work properly on a mobile app. There is
a vacuum of simplicity in the industry; it's
super frustrating, " he says.
Ostrin's experience is not unique.
92%
3
9%
37%
Percentage of integration
companies that have purchased
a new piece of software over the
past 5 years
Median number of software solutions
abandoned by an integration company
over their lifetime in business
Percentage of integration
companies that spend more than
$10,000 per year on business software
Percentage of integrators
who want to use an end-toend
turnkey software solution for running
their business
commercialintegrator.com
72%
58%
Percentage of commercial
AV integrators that provide
cybersecurity software for their clients
Percentage of commercial
AV integrators that charge
an ongoing service fee to their clients for
software usage
of purchasing and learning software if it's
such a hassle?
The bottom line. Dealers report that
utilizing software to help run their company
adds a median of 13.4% to their bottom
line. For the typical custom installation
company that earned approximately $1.36
million in revenue last year at a 30% profit
margin, that means software alone adds
nearly $55,000 directly to the bottom line.
For some integrators, the benefits of
implementing software are even more
apparent. In total, 4% of integration
companies report seeing a 50% boost to
their bottom line by adopting various types
of software. Meanwhile, some dealers
must see other benefits in software than improvement
in profits; about 6% report that
using software does not boost their bottom
line at all.
Faster installations, improved documentation
and the ability to close more sales
14%
20
Percentage of integration
companies that currently
use an end-to-end turnkey, multifunction
business management software solution
Median number of months between
new software purchases
D-Tools: The Secret
to Neutralizing the
Labor Shortage
Almost every industry
is suffering from a
labor shortage, and
electronic systems
integrators have not
been spared. The
pundits point to a variety of causes, but
the shortage is most likely a symptom
of what is being referred to as " the
mother of all recoveries " stoking the
economy. GDP growth is at its highest
in nearly 40 years and, according to
the U.S. Congressional Budget Office,
economic growth is expected to continue
compounding at an unprecedented
rate of 4.0% for the next nine years.
In other words, this labor shortage
isn't going away. So, if you accept the
reality that finding candidates to hire
is challenging, expensive, risky ... and
unlikely, what options are available for
integrators faced with uncomfortably
high and growing demand?
Well, if you like the current size
of your business, an obvious way to
taper demand is to raise prices. In
these inflationary times, everyone's
doing it! And the side benefit of chilling
demand by raising prices is that profits
will increase dramatically since fixed
and variable costs should remain
unchanged.
A better option for those who want
to " ride the wave " is to focus on increasing
output and project throughput,
using your existing team. How?
By focusing on improving employee
engagement, creating and operationalizing
best practices, and exploiting
productive tools (i.e. software), the
combination of which can result in a
20%-30% increase in productivity and
project throughput without expanding
the size of your team. (To learn more
about ways to increase team output
and project throughput, visit d-tools.
com/resource-center/industry-insights.)
-Randy Stearns, CEO, D-Tools
DECEMBER 2021 Commercial Integrator 23
PURESOLUTION/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator December 2021
