PSA TEC Talks Focus on Challenging Environment for Integrators

DENVER – Teams from many of the PSA Security Network integrators descended on Denver this week for the annual PSA-TEC conference, where a multitude of the top security trends, technologies, issues, challenges and business strategies were discussed in depth.

Chief among these challenges for these business owners and executives – as mentioned in multiple forums over the course of the four-day event at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel – was the ongoing supply chain crisis.

“The supply chain is affecting all of us, and I wish there was a button that any of us could push to just change that and ameliorate the situation,” the new SIA Chairman of the Board James Rothstein said during the highly anticipated State of the Industry panel at TEC. “I just heard someone tell a story about a company that is buying washing machines because the machines have a certain chip inside of them that is more valuable to the manufacturer than the washing machine itself.”

Of course, supply chain was not the only topic of conversation in the 50-plus educational sessions and roundtable discussions, but it seemed to be the most dominant.

I had a chance to sit in on an informal roundtable discussion among nearly 25 integrators, who shared their experiences, headaches and difficulties with the supply chain. As an editor, the conversation – led by PSA Security Network President Ric McCullough – was enlightening and fascinating. Integrators are indeed struggling to find certain products like access control panels, but more alarming are monthly and sometimes even more frequent pricing changes.

McCullogh himself said that two PSA vendor suppliers announced price increases while the integrators were attending the conference. Meanwhile, integrators are struggling mightily to pivot with these price changes – such as including one number on an RFP, only to see that number increase in the five days between the time the proposal goes out and when it is accepted.

The integrators reported skyrocketing shipping charges on products that come delivered in a box no larger than a loaf of bread, as well as dwindling internal supplies as they strive to come up with technology alternatives for products that are unavailable.

While most integrators in the room agreed that the supply chain issues will not go away any time soon, when asked if they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, most hands were raised in favor of eased conditions by the beginning of 2023.

TEC Show News

After many years in the Denver area, PSA TEC announced that the 2023 and 2024 conferences will be held in downtown Dallas, Texas.

PSA CEO Matt Barnette explained that pre-pandemic, the show was becoming so large with all the technician training and certifications that Denver-area hotels were becoming problematic, so the group decided to look at alternative venues and cities, and signed the agreement to move to Dallas.

Barnette went on to explain that even though PSA changed the conference format so that most of the technical training is now done virtually, they still wanted to shift the venue.

“We have had comments that we have maybe a different draw or a bigger draw if the show was more centralized in the U.S.,” Barnette said. “We are excited to be downtown Dallas next year, and the year after as we continue to evolve and hopefully gain some more momentum with the show. [After 2024] we will reevaluate and decide whether to bring it back to Colorado or to Chicago or somewhere else.”

Vendor Awards

PSA also announced its annual vendor awards during a special luncheon at the conference. For the seventh year, Altronix was given PSA’s “Superstar Technology Partner Award,” which was accepted by National Sales Manager JR Andrews and Western U.S. Sales Manager Stephen