Commercial Integrator June 2022 - 22

COVER STORY
" McCann Systems management team's job
is to provide a quality work life balance, including
a robust benefit program, taking additional
worry off the staff's mind. " Although
many companies might echo similar words,
the COVID-19 pandemic gave the management
team an opportunity to live up to those
values. Bittner recollects McCann calling a
meeting of the executive team in mid-March
2020, right at the pandemic's outset, and
almost 12 months prior to any PPP announcements.
He recalls, " He basically said, 'This is
going to be a really short meeting. We're not
laying anybody off. Nobody's taking any pay
or benefits cuts. We'll go to the mattresses.
Go do your jobs.' And that was our COVID-19
meeting. " And the company stuck to that;
only executive management sacrificed,
voluntarily choosing to freeze their own
compensation until things stabilized. In fact,
McCann Systems added 12 people in 2020,
and the firm provided bonuses too.
Some business owners reading this might
be thinking, " Boy, I wish I could have done
that, but it just wasn't possible. " When I
pose this to McCann, he says they tapped
some cash reserves. " We still had revenue
coming in, " he says, " because the revenue
always lags. " Thus, McCann's questions
are simple: Are you willing to take the risk
for your staff? Are you willing to spend the
money? " If you're able to bet on your people
the company and customer is paid back
in spades, " he states. McCann also points
to groupthink at the time, indicating that
some industry groups seemed to coalesce
around laying off a certain percentage of
staff or cutting pay by a particular percentage.
McCann Systems - not a member of
any such consortiums - went the opposite
way. " It was time for the company to step up
to the plate and support the staff, " McCann
declares matter-of-factly.
Although it's hard to say anything good
emerged from COVID-19, McCann Systems
capitalized on some other integrators' approach,
attracting and acquiring personnel
as quickly as they became available. " We
found some great talent out there who were
very disillusioned by the approach some
firms took - they either got furloughed
or had a 20% cut in pay, " McCann says.
Amplifying the point, Bittner notes that
executive management knew the pandemic
wasn't going to last forever. " We took it as
22
Commercial Integrator JUNE 2022
an opportunity to go out and hire people, "
he adds. And, during the lockdown period
when site work was largely suspended, executive
management urged team members
to pursue education, training and self-betterment.
" [I wanted them to] get every
certification they could get while they were
sitting at home, " McCann explained, citing
CTS and Crestron credentials. It all goes
back to wearing that " McCann Systems "
logo; it means you have to be your best.
at pre-pandemic levels or better. "
Distilling things to the essence, McCann
Systems tries to do things right - that is,
integrate systems right, service them right,
treat the customer right and do right by the
staff. That's part of the reason why virtually
every customer has an ongoing relationship
with the integrator. It's also why, once
people join the company, they rarely seek
greener pastures. " We have almost zero
attrition, " Bittner says with pride. " People
McCann Systems' executive management team, including president and COO Tom
Treichel, committed themselves to living up to McCann's core values during the COVID-19
pandemic, protecting everything from jobs and pay rates to benefits and bonuses.
Reaping the Benefits
With society emerging from the pandemic
years, McCann Systems is seeing the
benefits of its investments, including its
commitment to customers and staff alike.
Through Q1/22, the integrator is topping
its 2019 numbers, and it's on track for 2022
to be its best year yet. " We're back into our
2019 growth cycle again, " McCann enthuses.
That includes new customers being
up about 15%; indeed, more than a dozen
new Fortune 500 customers have contributed
massively to revenue. McCann says
auspicious signs began materializing at the
end of 2021 despite ongoing supply-chain
snarls. Pointing to the China-centered
manufacturing problem, he explains, " We're
starting to get different channels of access
to equipment, and we're starting to get different
avenues where equipment is starting
to flow a little bit better. " That puts McCann
Systems in an enviable position. As Bittner
puts it, " In terms of workload, backlog and
projects that are in-house, we are operating
don't want to leave us. " In the event someone
does accept another offer, however,
the former McCann Systems employee
doesn't have to worry about a non-compete
clause. These people work in our
industry, McCann says, and their opportunities
shouldn't be constrained.
It's a vision that's refreshing...that's
bold...that's contrarian. And it is core to
Frank McCann - a leader who, Bittner
says, calls to mind " The Road Not Taken, "
by Robert Frost. But, even more
importantly, that vision is woven into the
DNA of the company that Frank McCann
founded - a company whose aura shines
well beyond one person. " McCann
Systems is not the corporate office, " he
concludes. " McCann Systems is every
last employee of the company. That's
who McCann is. Everybody carries the
brand. " With that mindset, the venerable
integrator will continue to pioneer
sophisticated, innovative approaches for
years to come. CI
commercialintegrator.com
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator June 2022
