Commercial Integrator January 2023 - 24

ANNUAL REPORT Industry Update
bring them into the onboarding process
of the company, " Wilson laments, rattling
off culture, core values, mission, vision and
other differentiators into which employees
must immerse themselves. " What you do
with that employee for the first six weeks
is so vital in determining how long they're
going to stay with you, " Wilson declares.
The Corporate Lattice
LeBlanc notes the volatile labor market, saying,
" We've seen a lot of jumping around
- even more so than in the past. " Thus,
integration businesses should develop a
strategy to hang onto the talent they've
successfully attracted. That might entail jettisoning
the corporate ladder in favor of the
corporate lattice. " The idea of a lattice is,
you don't have to lose your A-level performers
just because they get bored in their job,
or they want to try something different, " he
says. " It's about sliding them over, training
them and giving them a good chance to be
successful in a different part of the business. "
This strategy helps integrators hang
onto top talent who, otherwise, might feel
locked into a narrow career path.
" Try to show those people that there is a
rewarding career no matter where you've
started, " Wilson adds. " We have to demonstrate
that our industry [offers] such a great
opportunity to start here and go anywhere,
all the way up to maybe one day running
your own company. "
Hardest Type of Role to Fill
1.5%
33.1%
Installer/Technician
Operations
9.6%
Project Management
11%
Sales
15.4%
System Design/
Engineering/Programming
All of the Above
29.4%
Biggest Challenge in Filling Open Positions
5.9%
No Time to Find/
Recruit Candidates
6.7%
Not Enough Funds to
Hire New Employees
12.6%
Salary Demands
of Candidates
73.3%
Lack of Qualified
Candidates
1.5%
Other
Optimism Prevails
With integration businesses clearly facing a
litany of challenges, one might reasonably
suspect that integrators are a bit wary of
what 2023 will hold. On the contrary, the
CI and NSCA survey indicates integrators
are bullish not only about the present but
also about the future. Asked to describe the
current business climate, a combined 35%
of respondents say it's either excellent or
24
very good, with another 48.9% describing
it as good with some reservations. Only one
in 10 say the business climate is challenging.
" We're in this stage where what an
integrator offers to their customers is more
valuable now than it has ever been before, "
LeBlanc declares, pointing to customers
across verticals assessing what technologies
to invest in post-pandemic. In that
Commercial Integrator JANUARY 2023
sense, we have, indeed, become mission
critical. " The demand for what we do is
high, " Wilson says plainly. " We do stuff that
people want. "
If you ask Ray Bailey, president of Lone
Star Communications and president of the
NSCA Board of Directors, there is a real opportunity
for integrators to recognize trends
and take advantage of them. " I can tell
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Commercial Integrator January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator January 2023
