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PSA TEC 2023: A Sampling of Scenes & Top Takeaways

By Rodney Bosch, Former Senior Editor

Chris Petersen, founder of the Vector Firm, presented a session titled, "Increasing Revenue From Existing Customers." Installing security contractors must grow to survive, yet focusing too much on customer acquisition can lead to a decrease in quality. Petersen said focus on increasing sales with your current customers. A few top tips: 1) Teach them about everything you sell; 2) Deliver unsolicited ideas; 3) Get them out of their office because they become different people.
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DEI — (*l to r*:) PSA's Candice Aragon, VP of marketing & education, was joined by Tia Eskandari, director of service, Allied Universal; Trevor Stewart, president & CEO, Security Control Integrators; and Lori Hudnall, director of HR, SAGE Integration. The panel's discussion centered on diversity, equity and inclusivity in the workplace. There are huge ramifications for those companies that don't foster equitable environments to improve company culture by valuing individuals and their differences. (Related: Solving Security's Workforce Conundrum)
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PSA TEC 2023 session — Grady Jett, VP of sales, Preferred Technologies (standing), moderated a panel titled "Forecasting & Pipeline Management: Overcome the Barriers." He was joined by (l to r) Wayne Benson, VP of sales & marketing, Reliable Fire and Security; Alana Batschelet, federal account manager, Integrated Security Technologies; and Mike Bradley, founding president, ECD Systems. Oftentimes companies focus too much on the sales forecast and far too little in pipeline management. However, good forecasting requires a milestone driven pipeline process and continual improvement.
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PSA State of the Industry — A TEC top attraction, the State of the Industry panel was led by (l to r) PSA CEO Matt Barnette and featured John Honovich, founder & president, IPVM; Merlin Guilbeau, executive director & CEO, ESA; Martin Huddart, SVP & head of physical access control, HID; and Chuck Wilson, CEO, NSCA. The wide-ranging conversation touched on the good and bad of M&A consolidation in the manufacturing sector to the impacts of cloud, AI, mobile credentials and more.
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John Honovich — Honovich views the cloud as potentially more impactful than AI in the security industry. And yet he cautioned the cloud to be a "net negative" for integrators because it "shifts power to manufacturers," allowing them not only to more easily sell direct to end users but also service them directly.
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Merlin Guilbeau — Guilbeau said the monitoring industry is beginning to see some activity with utilizing ChatGTP bots and analytics to help with the workload of central station operators. He views it as a real positive if bots can eventually handle some non-emergency alarm calls so monitoring personnel can then focus more on higher priority signals.
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Martin Huddart — HID's Huddart says mobile credentials are creating the "verticalization of access control," with the real estate market leading this trend and burgeoning segment opportunity for integrators.
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Chuck Wilson — Wilson said insurance providers are becoming very active in wanting to assist the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) initiative help K-12 facilities fill their security technology gaps in order to offer them discounted premiums. In a sign the education market will continue to be a big opportunity for dealers and integrators, many innovation companies are approaching PASS for the potential to participate in delivering new tech solutions to the sector, he said.
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Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, provided a breakfast keynote. In looking at traits of successful people, he said the very best leave their stamp on things. In this case, STAMP stands for five common habits of successful people:

Simple: don't add things to your plate, try to take some away
True: be true to the core of who you are
Action: nothing happens without action
Map: be firm in your destination but flexible in your path
People: success doesn't happen alone
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PSA WISF — The Women in Security Forum Luncheon explored how male allies can support progress toward gender equality in various and impactful ways. Kasia Hanson, left, Global IoT Partner Sales Leader - Safety & Security and Safe Cities, Intel, moderated. She said there are simple, fundamental ways companies can help attract more diverse applicants. Like, make sure your job descriptions are written so they are open to diversity and not targeted for a specific group.

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WISF_VanHout — Hanson was joined by (l to r) Geoff Kohl, senior director of marketing, SIA; Deanna VanHout, national partner program manager, Paladin Technologies; Diana Hanna, director of sales - West, PSA; and Ryan Kaltenbaugh, SVP of Sales - North America, LenelS2.
A insight from VanHout: Men commonly mentor other men. We're also getting used to seeing them mentor junior women. But one step companies can make is encourage mentor-mentee relationships with senior women mentoring junior men.
An overriding message from the session: Stop letting your potential go to waste because you don't feel ready enough. Too often women elect not to pursue openings to advance in the company because they feel they don't check all the boxes. Take the leap!
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PSA Women Members — The Women in Security Forum Luncheon wrapped up with a call to the stage of all PSA Security female members in the house.
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PSA State of the Integrator — PSA CEO Matt Barnette led the State of the Integrator session, another staple of the annual conference. He was joined by Jamie Vos, president, Security Solutions Northwest; Ryan Kaltenbaugh, SVP, Sales, North America, LenelS2; and Dee Ann Harn, CEO & president, RFI.

Jamie Vos — Barnette asked Vos to identify a major challenge he sees systems integrators having to navigate. His response was immediate: The encroachment of competing forces flooding the marketplace with new technology innovations. Namely, manufacturers going direct to the customer. “Not necessarily selling direct, but going directly to the customer and educating the customer. If that’s not your technology that can be very scary thing. Even if it is, it can be a very scary thing.”
Yet, despite the potential for channel conflict, Vos stressed that manufacturers dealing directly with end users has a lot of upside.
“This model is working exceptionally well. We know we don't have enough sales staff to go to every single one of our clients and educate them on every single piece of technology out there. [Still, going direct to end users will be] a major challenge as we move forward. Who will our customers be approached by and will that lead to them still being my customer?”
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Dee Ann Harn — Harn furthered the channel conflict theme, stressing the importance of partnering with manufacturers in order to effectively join in approaching and educating the customer. Such a scenario is no easy task for integrators, she said, unless they have “a workforce that can develop fast enough to be able to keep up with the technology that is bombarding us so quickly.”
“It's not just the workforce out in the field,” she added. “It is the sales staff, your estimators. How do you bill it differently? All the different types of technology that we are selling — whether it be on-prem or cloud — are we ready for any of those things?”
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Ryan Kaltenbaugh — Kaltenbaugh was asked to provide a window into LenelS2’s strategic path forward and what challenges the company, and the integration channel, is likely to confront along the way. His response was rather blunt for any company that may be feeling comfortable about the success they may be enjoying currently.
“We are in this unique moment from a digital transformation perspective. In our own personal lives we are seeing it, but companies like [LenelS2] and most of the manufacturers that are here and present are trying to transform the technology to provide data to those end users of value. From the integration perspective, there are going to be integrators that are very much onboard; they are investing in the right people, the right resources, diversifying their services portfolio and thinking very differently as it aligns with technology in the future to meet the needs of those end users.
“Quite frankly and candidly I think there is going to be a lot [of companies] in this room — and probably outside the industry — that are not going to keep up. There are a lot of people who are very comfortable in the environment they are in; they are making great money. They employ a lot of folks. But that doesn't really track very successfully over the next 5 to 10 years. We at LenelS2 are going to see a transformation based on our trajectory with our roadmap and where we are headed. We are in a moment that we need to embrace and investigate and really spend the time to educate our own leaders, but also even the technicians on the ground, thinking very differently about the folks that are installing and sustaining systems.”
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This past week’s PSA TEC 2023 held true to the event’s reputation as the premier education and networking event for PSA systems integrators.

Traditionally hosted in Denver, the longstanding event was held for the first time in downtown Dallas at the Hyatt Regency, May 1-4. In all, more than 400 energetic and motivated attendees from across the security industry ecosystem gathered for technical and business training, PSA member meetings, awards, networking and social gatherings, and connections with technology partners.

TEC aims to provide education for every department of a systems integration company. This year’s programming was built around tracks for Leadership & Business, Operations, P.E.O.P.L.E. (Purpose, Elevate, Organization, Passion, Learning & Evolve), Sales, and Technical. A cross section of session titles illustrate PSA’s mission to help its member companies — which are responsible for more than $4.5 billion annually in security, fire, life safety and pro A/V installations — remain leading providers in their service regions and nationally.

By example, among the many hour-long sessions were: The Connected Business Improves Growth & Profitability; Applying the Principles of Lean Six Sigma to Enhance Efficiency & Increase Profits; Technical & Cyber Expectations of Today’s Integrators; Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges Through Emerging Technologies; and, Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity in the Workplace.

In one noticeable change at PSA TEC 2023, the traditional products and technology exhibition was replaced by individual vendor-hosted TECTalk Tables, which integrators circulated among during set meeting times each day. Two long-running highlights of the event did return, with PSA CEO Matt Barnette moderating the State of the Industry and State of the Integrator panel discussions.

For a fuller visual representation of the event — chockablock with details and session takeaways — be sure to click through the gallery of images and captions at the top of this article. For more information about PSA Security Network, go here.

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Rodney Bosch joined the SDM editorial team in May 2022. He has been covering all facets of the electronic security industry as a trade journalist since 2006. As the former SDM Senior Editor, Bosch writes exclusive cover stories, such as SDM’s State of the Market series, as well as other feature-length articles. He also heads up the news section for both the emagazine and the website; and manages the annual Monitoring Today and Video Monitoring Today supplements.