My husband Matt can literally bench press me — make that three of me. He’s a big guy with even bigger muscles, but when he first started his journey to becoming the strength and conditioning director of Pepperdine University, Malibu, Calif., he was a skinny freshman.His transformation did not take place overnight; it took years and a plan. Forget a few sets of bicep curls in the gym. He has put in regular workouts whenever necessary (sometimes at 4:00 a.m.) and performed tens of thousands of repetitions in consistent, calculated workouts over years to reach a point where his body handles hundreds of pounds of weight and moves like a machine.

Every year, SDMawards the Systems Integrator of the Year Award to an integrator demonstrating unmistakable success, a high level of innovation, the use of industry best practices, and notable growth and accomplishments in the systems integration industry. That kind of excellence takes commitment on another level.

The 2014 SDMSystems Integrator of the Year, Unlimited Technology Inc., Chester Springs, Pa., is a great example. It committed to adding a tremendous amount of engineering muscle to its offerings and team in 2014. To ensure flawless installations at the highest level of integration, Unlimited Technology has built finely tuned engineering skills and processes. It is the kind of engineering muscle that cannot be built overnight, but only comes with unwavering commitment.

The company has spent considerable time perfecting its processes for engineered drawings to the point that one large access control manufacturer called the company’s drawings the best it had seen in 30 years of being in this industry, according to David Fernandez, vice president of engineering. “We detail out the landing on our point to points of every single conductor for every single cable that has been run. There is nothing that is left unanswered,” Fernandez emphasizes.

High-level integration project will quickly expose any integrators’ discomfort with pure integration and engineering. Yet project after project, no matter what is thrown at it, Unlimited Technology has maintained a level of high excellence, displaying comprehensive engineering fitness.

“We are truly experts in the products we present, and customers see that we do not drop the ball through the entire process. Our standard for quality is carried through from the beginning of a bid proposal through the life of the system,” founder and president Brent Franklin says.

Today Unlimited Technology, which specializes in heavily scrutinized critical infrastructure projects, networks two or more systems in 90 percent on its projects. That’s heavy engineering akin to lifting hundreds of pounds where others lift double digits. The company has established strong processes and an internal infrastructure that will allow it to scale up in the coming years without sacrificing quality, and it maintains an outstanding reputation. Along the way it has produced double-digit growth every year.

Transformation does take commitment. Put your plan in place, commit to the decisions and effort needed to drive it forward, and you’ll appreciate the results of your efforts in the future. Your company may even be the next SDMSystems Integrator of the Year. After all a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step — or bicep curl — depending on the journey.

In This Issue:

 Check out the SDM’s Guide to Distributors on page 91 and research all the distributors selling security and low-voltage products the security channel in this exclusive guide from SDM. You can also search online at http://directories.sdmmag.com/distributorguide throughout the year.