Industry Soapbox: Has Loyalty Taken a Backseat to Pricing & Competition?

We asked longtime attendees of NSCA’s Business and Leadership Conference what they would tell colleagues at the show if they got the microphone and a soapbox.

NSCA will bring its Business and Leadership Conference to Tampa, Fla., for the 17th edition of one of the systems integration industry’s most highly regarded gatherings.

The event boasted its highest attendance last year with more than 300 people heading to Dallas for three days of business advice, frank discussions and sharing of information that’s unique to this show, and organizers expect a similar crowd to gather in Florida from Feb. 26-28.

We asked some people who have been to the BLC in the past and will be there for this year’s edition what they’d tell the audience if they got five minutes, an open mic and a soapbox. The results were fun, interesting and instructive. Enjoy!

Steve Greenblatt, founder of Control Concepts, says…

I’d be interested in talking about how relationships and loyalty have taken a backseat to pricing and competition in our industry.

As a subcontractor, we used to have to be able to invest in working with other service providers to form a functional and efficient project team for the collective benefit of those involved and the customer.

In our experience, the industry has moved away from that model and become more self-fulfilling rather than team oriented. This is also reflected in the defined lines of responsibility in a project.

When everyone works together cooperatively, one hand washes the other and the job gets done in an effective manner. When everyone is out for themselves, there are more disputes, items that slip through the cracks, delays, and cost overruns.

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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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