CI Reflects on Events, Experiences of 2014

The end of year means it’s time to take stock of accomplishments and think about opportunities for improvement.

It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone and that we’re now staring squarely at the start of 2015.

I’ve tried in this space this year to offer ideas and encouragement to help your business be even better than it was the month or year before, and here’s hoping some of those tips resonated and played some role in your short- and long-term successes.

Now, it’s time to reflect on how things have changed over the past 12 months and, perhaps more importantly, look forward to the next 12 months and think about what else needs to be tweaked, scrapped, adjusted, tightened or reversed.

It’s always good to look back at what you’ve done or haven’t done as one year ends and another one nears, but as I noted in January’s column, it’s equally as critical to think about and put into action changes that can make you and your company even stronger.

Maybe you can be inspired by one of the 2014 Talent Standouts, who we’re highlighted this month to celebrate their accomplishments and help give others an idea of what it takes to be singled out and celebrated by your peers.

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It’s an eclectic group, to be sure, and includes a handful of people and companies that are new to us, much like the CI 40 Influencers Under 40 brought a few unfamiliar faces to the fore. That’s a testament to the fact there are a lot of people in this industry doing great work who don’t do it for the praise and attention, but who are getting noticed by those who matter most: their co-workers, their partners and their customers.

I’ll admit it: When InfoComm International released its three-year strategic plan late in 2013, I wasn’t exactly sure what they meant when they talked about one of the organization’s goals being creating exceptional experiences.

It sounds good, sure, and even important, but how could they implement it, especially if integrators and manufacturers had no idea what it meant?

It’s good to know I wasn’t alone in my confusion, and equally comforting to know that the meaning, acceptance and execution of creating exceptional experiences seems to moving forward in the AV system integration space, at least based on a couple of recent conversations hosted by InfoComm and AV Nation.

People are talking about exceptional experiences now and thinking about how they can deliver them, if they’re not already doing so. There’s a big difference between “good enough” experiences and exceptional ones. We try to shine a light on what we see as exceptional experiences every day on our website and every month here in the magazine, but certainly there are those who are happy doing enough to get themselves paid and allowing them to move on to the next job.

RELATED: 8 Remarkable Insights from CI Profiles of 2014

Here’s hoping, with InfoComm’s encouragement and the conversation the term sparked among those in the industry, we see more of the exceptional experiences in 2015 than we saw this year. Let us know if you see them, or even if you helped to create one, so we can share the story behind it.

Finally, as I mentioned last month, we’ll be launching a handful of new features in the magazine starting with the January 2015 issue. One of the most exciting is a new back-page profile on some of the more unheralded people in integration companies, without whom things wouldn’t work quite as well as they do today.

We’re not looking for a president, CEO, marketing director or anyone else from your leadership team. These are truly the unsung heroes, those who aren’t typically quoted in CI or the focus of press releases. Let me know if you have any ideas on who we should take a closer look at in future issues.

Enjoy your holidays and we’ll see you back here next year!

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Craig MacCormack is a veteran journalist who joined Security Sales & Integration in June 2023 as web editor. He is also the former executive editor of Commercial Integrator (2011-2021).

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