Security Sales & Integration July 2022 - 32

Management
Integrators
BREAK
Chain That
Binds Them
Procurement
challenges were
top of mind when
company leaders
met to brainstorm
solutions during SSI's
annual roundtable.
A host of issues are
bandied about as
integrators share
a sober but never
somber outlook.
By Scott Goldfıne
T
gration
hey say having a good cry is
healthy. Although no tears were
shed, the commiseration was
no less cathartic during Security
Sales & Integration's longstanding annual
integrator roundtable. Th at's because owners
and operators of security installation businesses
have been confronted with unprecedented
circumstances. Th ey include moving past the
pandemic; supply chain stagnation; soaring infl
ation; scarcity of talent; and a fragile economy
due to turbulent world events.
All that and more was on the table as inteleaders
shared
common challenges,
hardships, experiences, strategies, solutions and
even some comic relief. Following two pandemic
years in which this summit-like meeting
of the minds took place virtually, participants
were once again able to convene in person at
PSA TEC in Denver, where the roundtable has
taken place more than a dozen years.
Th is year's panelists were Christine Lanning,
president of Hawaii's Integrated Security Technologies
(business partner and spouse Andrew
Lanning was also present as a guest); Dean Reece,
president of Portland, Ore.-based REECE Complete
Security Solutions; Trevor Stewart, president
of Pine Brook, N.J.-based Security Control Integrators;
and Jim DeStefano, senior vice president
32
Security Sales & Integration JULY 2022
for Unlimited Technology in Chester Springs, Pa.
Despite all the challenges currently in the
mix, as Christine Lanning states at one point,
" It's not all gloom and doom. " On the contrary,
there has still never been more opportunity out
there for steadfast, agile and savvy operators.
Resiliency has always been at the heart of the
security industry and so no matter the hurdle
these forward-thinking executives are not about
to cry in their beer.
Let's let it fl y with the elephant in the integration
industry room: supply chain. How is
it impacting your business? What are some
of the strategies you've come up with?
Trevor Stewart: It's impacted our business,
project-wise. Nothing's a straight line anymore.
Everything's back and forth, trying to fi nd a
substitute. Th e other thing that's changed is we
don't return anything anymore. We keep mistakes
because we'll sell it some diff erent way. It
has made all of our customers, including ourselves,
really rethink single-source solutions.
Th e big boys on the street; Nobody's staying in
that route. You can't. Nobody predicted it could
get this bad, but we can't let it happen again.
Is there any particular type of product
that is harder than the others, whether
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Security Sales & Integration July 2022

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