The fall show and conference season is right around the corner.

As security systems integrators take to the world stage amidst trends such as the commercial Internet of Things, cybercrime and terrorism, they showed their prowess with 14 percent growth in 2016.

This issue features the 22nd annual Top Systems Integrators Report, a ranking of the largest security integrators by their North American systems integration revenue.

The security industry looks to the SDM 100 — a group of the 100 largest security companies ranked by their recurring monthly revenue (RMR) — as a wellspring of industry trends and operational best practices.

In this month’s feature article, “Financial Services: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t,” author Joan Engebretson focuses on some financing facts that are well known to security dealers  as well as some lesser known facts, such as that interest rates are expected to increase soon.

The result of the 2017 SDM 100 was upbeat: Collectively, the industry’s 100 largest security dealers grew their recurring monthly revenue (RMR) 18.4 percent, from $612 million to $725 million, last year.

Every time we at SDM have an opportunity to ask our readers what their greatest business challenges are, the topic of “finding and retaining employees” always emerges as one of — if not the most important — issue that dealers face.

As in past years, the April issue of SDM centers on the theme of access control.

If you’ve run a security business for a long time then you know operations as well as the back of your hand.