IoT, DIY/MIY, cyber security, active shooters — SDM 100 dealers talk about the issues that will have the biggest impact, either positive or negative, on their businesses this year.

Based on responses from the SDM 100 group of security dealers, 2017 was both a successful year and a challenging year.

Collectively, the SDM 100 security dealers grew their RMR 4.2 percent, from $618 million to $643 million last year. Among the top 100 there were 88 dealers who individually improved their RMR rate in 2017 over 2016.

Security integrators are indeed interested in these technologies and identifying many uses for them within their security world.

Last month in SDM we offered an outlook for 2018 for the security industry. This month begins our State of the Market article series to help you strategize about the types of products and services your company will offer to the marketplace.

Last year was good, but 2018 could be great, say security integrators and security dealers who participated in the 2018 SDM Industry Forecast Study and Panel, a report that SDM has published annually since 1982. The economy is roaring.

It’s extremely important that security dealers and the industry as a whole understand how to reach different generations of buyers, but especially up-and-coming buyers.

With the vast proliferation of webinars occurring in business and industry across the board — and particularly in security — perhaps it’s time for you as a manager to develop a training program module for your employees that consists entirely of webinar-based education and a requirement for participating in X hours of webinar training each month.