Commercial Integrator January 2021 - 40

FINAL THOUGHTS
Next Year's State of
the Industry Should
be 'Evolution'
I RECENTLY HAD A DISCUSSION with Steve
Grace and Collin Hogan of AVH Technology
Partners, a consulting firm that graced the November
2012 cover of Commercial Integrator,
when the company was called AV Helpdesk.
We discussed the company's experience
during the last year, handling the COVID-19
pandemic, navigating the emergency loan
program created by the federal government,
dealing with the experience of furloughing employees
and bringing them back,
recovering and returning to
profitability heading into 2021.
AVH is a consulting firm, and
the bulk of their work is done in
the design phase before projects
are even put out to bid. When the
pandemic started and companies
began to close offices, their pool
of business dried up completely.
Like many integration firms,
AVH was dealing with an indefinite
amount of time without
projects.
They used that time to their
JLL recently released a study of more than
As a result
of an
unprecedented
2020,
integrators
are poised to
evolve with
the workplace
in 2021 and
beyond.
advantage. They conducted a survey of their
customers to find out what they were doing
right, where they could improve, and gauge the
overall expectations customers had for them.
They rebranded and revamped their websites
to create a better online experience. They
overhauled their customer engagement strategy
and created better systems and processes
to manage and continuously contact clients.
In short, AVH used the pandemic to evolve.
I've seen a number of integration firms do the
same.
Whether it's evolving business practices,
evolving the technology that they offer, involving
the services portfolio they provide in order to
introduce more recurring revenue streams to
their organization - smart integration firms didn't
duck and cover when the pandemic hit but rather
used the down time for internal growth.
2,000 office workers across 10 companies
that suggested 74% of respondents want to
work from the office in some capacity after the
pandemic.
About 72% of employees want to continue
working from home in some capacity as well,
on average two days per week.
The workplace hasn't changed in the year
2020; it has evolved. Collaboration and communication
have become top of
mind for organizations because
they've learned productivity can
be seen even among teams in
disparate locations.
Still, the social aspect is still
necessary for individual workers
to thrive and feel part of the team.
Integrators should use 2021 to
evolve with the workplace. I've
written before that I believe the
cultural shift to UCC tech puts
integrators at the forefront of
business development and digital
transformation.
Integrators can drive the evolution of the
workplace - not as a reactionary provider but
as a proactive partner for their clients.
That starts with changing how you work with
and interact with clients. It starts with changing
how you discuss options with them.
It starts with looking inwardly and introducing
processes that spur your sales and engineering
teams to build strategies - not just blueprints
- for new technology implementations.
Let 2021 be the year that integration moves
to the forefront of business development. Next
year I want the January issue of Commercial
Integrator to read " State of the Industry 2022:
Evolution. "
Jonathan Blackwood, Editorial Director
jonathan.blackwood@emeraldx.com
@BlackwoodTweets
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Commercial Integrator, (USPS 005-160) (ISSN 2165-9850), Vol.11 No. 1, is published monthly by Emerald X, LLC., 100 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10005, 800-440-2139. Commercial Integrator
is a registered trademark of Emerald X, LLC. All reproduction, including photocopying, is prohibited without written permission. Postage Paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER:
send address changes to COMMERCIAL INTEGRATOR, PO BOX 297, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0297.
40
Commercial Integrator JANUARY 2021
commercialintegrator.com
CI Webinar: State of the Industry
2021 (January 20, 2021 at 2 p.m. ET)
With COVID-19 still affecting the industry
in various ways the State of the Industry
2021 may be the most important to date.
Many integrators have felt the effects of
COVID-19, and it has certainly been a
difficult time for the industry.
However, we've also found integrators
moving in new and exciting directions with
the latest technology in order to combat
COVID-19 and keep their businesses
steady through the uncertainty of 2020.
Join us on January 20, 2021 at 2:00 PM
ET to learn more about these findings and
what they mean to the industry.
Jonathan Blackwood, editorial
director of CI, will join Chuck Wilson,
executive director of NSCA, and Tim
Hennen, chief technology officer
at IVCi, to discuss specific statistics
coming out of the survey, and the larger
picture of these statistics.This webinar
is available as a free download at
commercialintegrator.com.
CI White Paper: How to Lower
Project Costs and Increase
Sustainability

http://www.commercialintegrator.com http://www.commercialintegrator.com http://www.commercialintegrator.com

Commercial Integrator January 2021

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