Along with our annual Top 50 Systems Integrators feature, we polled a selection of leading firms on industry hot topics.
How well has your company recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Angela Nolan, Chief Operating Officer, Vistacom
Financially, Vistacom has made a full recovery from the disruption of COVID-19, and our business has actually grown with the increasing need of communication technology and AV solutions that are designed for the future and with resiliency in mind. The biggest hurdle that we are still trying to overcome is the lack of adequate staff and the ability to hire qualified employees for new positions.
[Top Integrators 2021: Growing Vertical Markets]
Dave Van Hoy, President, Advanced Systems Group
In an overall economic sense, we have recovered very well from the shock and doldrums of 2020. Interestingly, our physical system integration business has expanded beyond pre-pandemic, some of it driven by projects that were delayed or pivoted. Our VAR business, while pivoting the mix of goods and services somewhat, has stayed steady (with the exception of supply chain challenges). The big surprise was the continued growth of our Managed Services business, where challenges for our clients grew.
Bob Swing, CEO, IVCi
IVCi was built on the premise that our solutions improve our clients' businesses, and 2021 was no exception. Our managed services continued to help our customers achieve their business outcomes, and our thoughtful approach considering the health of our customers and employees assisted creating procedures that resulted in our install work to continue to thrive. Our combination of service offerings that support in-office and remote technologies organically supported the hybrid culture that clients face today.
Jason Derector, Principal, Spectra Audiovisual Design
Thankfully, our company has recovered remarkably well. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
[Top Integrators 2021: COVID-19 Challenges]
Arash Raznahan, Director of Technology, HS Solutions
We are still in the recovery phase. When COVID started, our pipeline came to a standstill. It took about a year for the activity to ramp back up. During the slow time we had to cut costs wherever we could, streamlined some of our overhead, and bought material much closer to install times. We made our employees the priority; we were able to keep every employee and not lay off or furlough anyone. We started looking at different types of projects that we typically don’t go after to cover for some of the revenue.
