WHY SHOULD END USERS CHOOSE A CSIA MEMBER AS THEIR CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRATOR ?
CSIA – Your Head Start Toward a Successful Automation System Integration Project
CSIA members understand that being a good systems integrator goes hand in hand with operating a good business
The CSIA CERTIFIED Member Program requires an independent, third-party audit of members on 200 criteria that span all aspects of business performance. These criteria come from the CSIA Best Practices and Benchmarks Guidelines manual that details standards deemed necessary to assure that CSIA members’ clients get the level of quality, performance, and long-term support they expect.
Raising the Bar in Seven Business Management Disciplines
■ The audit has 43 criteria for GENERAL MANAGEMENT standards in the areas of organization, facilities, equipment, computer system management, and loss prevention. These standards demonstrate that the integrator has the proper business foundation for long-term survivability, a very important consideration for your business. ■ Because recruiting, developing, and retaining quality personnel directly impact the ability to perform and support integration projects, 32 of the criteria address the field of HUMAN RESOURCES. ■ The ability to properly plan and execute a job is absolutely critical to the success of your project. The audit has 28 criteria in PROJECT MANAGEMENT that assess the integrator’s planning process, design standards, project quality program, documentation, testing, and safety training procedures. ■ Because a proactive approach to quality and continuous improvement in a variety of business issues is deemed an important part of successfully serving you, 21 criteria assess the integrator’s commitment to QUALITY MANAGEMENT by looking at how continuous and measurable improvements are made, and how customer service is addressed. |
■ FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT practices form the cornerstone of long-term financial viability. The integrator’s means to manage, control, report, and plan the company’s financial resources are assessed with 38 audit criteria that cover areas such as invoice preparation, billing procedures, and adherence to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures). ■ You, the customer, are directly affected by the integrator’s methods for developing proposals, negotiating contracts, and maintaining client relationships. The audit rates the integrator on 32 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT criteria that address the accuracy of qualification materials, guidelines for fairly defining the scope of work, estimating and pricing standards, elimination of hidden costs from contracts, and fair allocation of liability and risk. ■ Because the automation field is so complex and rapidly changing, there are six criteria that address the integrator’s TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT programs for infrastructure, testing standards, configuration management, training, reuse management, and others that verify the ability to develop and manage technical solutions. |
Finding a control system integrator near your plant – one with relevant industry, application, and service experience for the industrial automation project you're contemplating – has never been easier.
With CSIA's web-based "Find An Integrator" service, it’s simple, it’s fast and it’s free to locate the top 10 (and more) control system integrators for your project by searching through CSIA's member database, choosing among all the categories — industries, applications, services, and locations — applicable to your project and ranking them in importance.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Selecting a CSIA Member Means Dollars and Sense for your Automation System Integration Project.
Here are five of the many reasons:
1. Membership Certification
In order to become "CERTIFIED," a CSIA member must pass an intensive audit performed by an independent third-party consulting firm and meet the stringent performance standards – in general management, financial management, project management, quality management, human resources, business development, and technical management – that set them apart, business-wise, from other system integrators. This means that your project will be developed, engineered, and directed by skilled technicians, and will be managed by an excellent businessman as well.
2. Solutions-Focus
Being “Solutions-Focused” means that CSIA members look at the big picture…first and foremost. Bits, bytes and black boxes are simply the means to an end. And this includes every step along the way in a successful system integration project − from vision studies, preparation of functional specs, designing, building, and systems testing through installation, commissioning, and training. Leading, not to just any solution, but to the best solution at a lower-cost compared to using most in-house engineering resources.
3. Technology Experience
“Experienced Technologists” is not a term taken lightly by CSIA members. Keeping abreast of rapidly changing tools, techniques, and technologies is a full-time business challenge. Which is the business world in which our members operate. Using the industry standard or leading-edge approach, involving operating systems, application programs, and communication networks, requiring PCs, DCS, SCADA, HMIs or PLCs, we know what it’s all about. Expertise you can count on, gained from firsthand experience.
4. Successful Business Owners
Being “Successful Business Owners” is the first step and bottomline for membership in CSIA. To start with, control system integration firms must show a record of profitable business operation for a number of years, with engineering sales content of over $600,000 annually. They must follow CSIA’s “Best Practices and Benchmarks” standards and earn their “CERTIFIED MEMBER“ status. A good measure of this success is CSIA members' involvement in $1 billion of automation projects annually.
5. Independent Thinkers
"Independent thinking" is what sets our members apart. It allows us the freedom to suggest the best alternative for your integration project. It means that we convert our experience with a spectrum of hardware, software, and communications products and services from all the major suppliers − and niche firms too − into a cost-effective solution. Without attempting to balance affiliations, alliances, or relationships. Call it the entrepreneurial spirit, call it the drive to do it the "better way." We call it like we see it!
CSIA Value Proposition Statement
CSIA is committed to the business development of control system integration companies and their implementation of best practices in order to provide a healthy, low-risk channel for the application of technology to our industrial clients.
Take a look at the Marketing Brochure (http://www.controlsys.org/documents/HEADSTARTfinal060912_000.pdf)
.
|
Home | About CSIA | Join CSIA | Find an Integrator | News & Events | Integration Resources | Members Only | CSIA Partners | Contact CSIA | Site Map ©
Control System Integrators Association |
