Looking to break into the government market? Take it from these five Industry Leaders: it’s not easy.
“Aligning AV technologies to each different type of business practice is the tough part,” says Jeff Stoebner, president and CEO at AVI Systems. “The goal is to improve the way people communicate ideas and arrive at decisions. Equally important is the ability to offer the kind of technology that attracts the types of talent and personnel companies are searching for.”
Follow the Money
The government market “has been a stable source of income” for Genesis Integration, says national sales manager Kevin McKay.
Top 5 Government Market Integrators
AVI Systems
Genesis Integration
Human Circuit
Net-AV
Technical Innovation
“Governments tend to spend money even through recessions,” he says. McKay and the Genesis Integration team rely on the Genesis Way to do best by the client and earn a letter of reference, he says. Genesis also “has construction management in our DNA,” says McKay, noting the staff knows how to collaborate with architects, engineers, general contractors and the other construction stakeholders better than its competitors.
The true differentiator could be its focus on managed services, with several new offerings rolling out this year in an effort to increase Genesis’ recurring monthly revenue.
Bruce Kaufmann, president of Human Circuit, sees more demand for dynamic signage systems and collaboration rooms and says its design-build approach helps get more access to more unique opportunities. Human Circuit employs a needs analysis/ programming approach for design/build and support tools for web portal reporting/ tracking that lead to its remote monitoring and remediation.
Still, Kaufmann says the company is “trying to remain relevant in a very crowded field of players.”
Learn to Play the Game
Although Net-AV is successful in the government space, president Ron Baylin knows the market is “tricky.”
“Above all else, you need to know how to play the game — how to navigate labyrinthine procurement and buying policies; how to strategically partner with larger companies or other small niche companies to create a strong joint venture or partnership for bidding and performance; how to leverage key differentiators to find and win opportunities; how to get and keep the ear of government end-users, buyers and prime contractors,” he says.
Mike Landrum, CEO at Technical Innovation, mentioned in our CI profile on the company last year that the federal government vertical market represents “a big initiative” that’s “challenging to get through” and command and control centers remain “a very complex space” that “takes a lot of nuance to understand.”
“You can’t expect instant success,” says Landrum. “It certainly helps to have some level of confidence and a good, healthy backlog. We can’t let the competitive market move us from our approach. We don’t overtly overreact to competition.”
Download the complete report: Meet the 2015 CI Industry Leaders.
