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By Jose Rivera and Jim Campbell    

Benchmarking is critical for the success of any company or organization, including those of system integrators. That’s why CSIA has historically offered its members essential SI benchmarking programs that are not available anywhere else -- CSIA Pulse, Salary Survey and EZ Stats. CSIA is committed to evolving and improving these programs while continuing to ensure data confidentiality. To that end, here are some important updates to these valuable member programs.

CSIA Pulse

Pulse and its predecessor program (KPICs) have provided participating SIs with quantitative benchmarks on SI company KPIs. Through dedicated work, participating SIs, the Statistics Committee and iLumen (the provider of the platform) were able to deliver these surveys and create actual benchmarking data. At the request of CSIA, iLumen ran a report comparing the KPIs of certified vs. non-certified SI companies. The results were published in the white paper “Proven Better Performance” in support of the CSIA Best Practices and Certification program.

While Pulse has provided significant value and was regularly promoted, the participation level remained modest. In the April 2019 CSIA Newsletter, we communicated the conclusion of Pulse by the end of 2019. This decision was not well-received by the attendees of the Statistics Committee and, with the promise by its members to address some of the program shortcomings, the decision was reversed. Pulse will continue in its current form in 2020.

Pulse seems to require some support around data input and interpretation, mainly to first-time participants. With the help of volunteers and partner members, CSIA will be redoubling efforts to tackle these obstacles, specifically with the following offer over the coming months and into 2020:

1. A video series, culminating in a webinar in April 2020, to help SIs understand and apply the benchmarking KPIs that Pulse provides. The videos are being developed with the help of CSIA Partner Member Clayton & McKervey. Clayton and McKervey will partner with CSIA Partner Member Exotek to deliver the webinar.
2. Clayton & McKervey and Exotek will offer CSIA members 15 minutes of complimentary consultation services to help SIs interpret their data (this is consistent with the CSIA Legal program). If more assistance is desired, the two firms will provide it at a preferential rate.
3. A cadre of knowledgeable volunteers, consisting of current Pulse participants, to help members learn how to enter their data.

The fee for Pulse ($350 annually) will remain that same. This program is restricted to CSIA members.

Salary Survey evolving into Talent Retention Toolbox

It’s no secret that attracting, retaining and developing talent is something that keeps many SIs up at night. To help members address this challenge, the Statistics Committee, iLumen and staff have developed a new compensation survey. Starting in  January 2020, CSIA will replace the Salary Survey with a comprehensive annual talent compensation survey, called Talent Retention Toolbox (TRT).  In addition to the traditional, salary-specific questions, TRT will include other ones around additional benefits (e.g., company matched 401k, medical, dental, etc.) to help provide a more holistic compensation picture.

Here’s how it will work: The survey will open January 1 and accept data until February 14. Only CSIA members who input data and pay the program fee will have access to the final report, which will be available March 16.  This is a key departure from the approach we used for the Salary Survey, where we didn’t establish a data-entry period. It is very important that SI owners support this transition and we encourage you to reach out to the team at your company (HR) to ensure data has been entered by February 14, 2020.

New participants that join the program after February 15 can get a copy of the report that was issued mid-March if they have paid the program fee and input their data. 

Our goal is to significantly increase participation in this important program to ensure statistical significance and ideally allow us to provide results by geographical U.S. regions without compromising data confidentiality.

Important note:  For the rollout of this program, we will restrict participation in the TRT to SI with U.S. operations. We need to do this as different countries have different legislation and nomenclature for employment benefit programs. We may review extending to other countries in the future.

The annual price for TRT will be $350 and is currently available only to CSIA members in the U.S. This comprehensive new report is priced to reflect the increased value compared to its predecessor.

CSIA Pulse and TRT: Implications and next steps

So, what’s next? If you are a current subscriber to Pulse, you will receive an invoice for the program membership renewal. Traditionally we have included this fee in the membership renewal invoice. Due to the changes in our benchmarking program, we had to generate separate invoices in 2020.

If your company also participated in the Salary Survey program and your company has U.S. operations, you will see the TRT amount included as well.

If your company participated in the Salary Survey program in the past but your company lacks U.S. operations, no TRT amount will be included.

If you have never been part of any of these programs and would like more information, contact Jill Gabbert, CSIA operations directo, at JGabbert@staff.controlsys.org.

What about EZ Stats?

EZ Stats, a newer, less formal and free program has provided interesting insights into the business sentiment and industry growth (through shared revenue input). This program remains as is today.

A Thank you to the Statistics Committee

The Statistics Committee has met on a monthly basis for many years to provide our members with actionable data. We want to warmly express our gratitude to those the regular contributors of the participants in our benchmarking programs. We expect the new TRT program to continue the tradition of CSIA helping its members to improve!

Jose Rivera is CEO of the Control System Integrators Association in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Jim Campbell is owner and president of Viewpoint Systems Inc in Rochester, New York.