NSCA announced the winners of the 2018 Excellence in Business awards in six categories:

• Business Performance: Infinity Sound, Grand Prairie, TX
• Customer Experience: JKL Technologies, Newbury Park, CA
• Differentiating Strategies: ET Group, Toronto, ON
• Employee Engagement: Avidex, Bellevue, WA
• Strategic Transformation: Tech Electronics, St. Louis, MO
• Talent Development: Bluewater Technologies, Southfield, MI

“As usual, this year’s submissions were very impressive,” said Chuck Wilson, NSCA executive director. “Every year during this process, we learn about new strategies and initiatives that innovative companies in our industry are taking on in order to create new business and keep up with the changes headed our way. There are some great lessons to be learned from these leaders.”

This year’s Excellence in Business awards honor six systems integration firms in their efforts to adapt to the constantly changing industry. NSCA describes the winners below:

• Infinity Sound, winner in the Business Performance category, wanted to position its company to generate more sales through existing channels and markets. Its capture rate had remained the same over the last few years, even though the company was gaining more clients and leads. After conducting research on proposal wins and losses over a two-year period, Infinity Sound spoke directly with customers to learn more about buying habits and decisions. After creating new pricing strategies and examining value-added options, the company’s project backlog is now five times larger than the last few year-over-year sales. Monthly sales intakes have more than doubled.
• JKL Technologies, winner in the Customer Experience category, expanded its AV services and wanted to help customers introduce new technologies to their end users to ensure long-term success. Through a combination of training, communication, proactive assistance, near-immediate support and highly accessible expertise, JKL Technologies has helped clients successfully launch new technology initiatives and increase business. The service has been so well received that technology adoption services have been requested even when JKL Technologies wasn’t the company to complete the project.
• ET Group, winner in the Differentiating Strategies category, knew that the industry was shifting, and wanted to refocus its offerings to clients, expanding from technology to business advice. With a new approach that weaves together people, space, and technology, ET Group employees embed themselves into their clients’ organizations to become strategic advisors. To do this, the company adopted design thinking and participatory leadership approaches, moved to a self-managed structure composed of cross-functional teams servicing specific customer types, decentralized decision-making, and embraced a work-from-anywhere culture. As a result, ET Group has grown its revenue by 30 percent.
• Avidex, winner in the Employee Engagement category, wanted to establish a positive experience not only for its customers, but for its employees as well. By creating an internal team dedicated to developing standard processes for all areas of operation across all Avidex branches, the company now has an established guideline for growth and expansion, and can ensure the best financial results possible.
• Tech Electronics, winner in the Strategic Transformation category, recognized the need for change in order to continue its success. Instead of convincing them to stick with existing solutions that were familiar, the company wanted to be ready when customers asked about future technology. Just one example of success in this area for Tech Electronics has been the establishment of its own hosted voice solution, which allows clients to forgo upfront equipment purchases and bundle services and maintenance into one monthly fee. This solution will expand to support hosted access control and many other technologies.
• Bluewater Technologies, winner in the Talent Development category, developed a new mentorship program to help employees successfully onboard and feel secure in their roles. This program has helped employees establish personal and professional development goals by being paired with someone to help them exceed their objectives. Through a mix of one-on-one mentoring, e-mentoring, reverse mentoring, group mentoring, and peer mentoring, mentors and mentees can select which method will work best for them. This mentoring program has empowered Bluewater to foster innovation and collaboration, which helps employees in all roles and at all age levels become exponentially more successful.

Award winners will be recognized at NSCA’s 20th annual Business & Leadership Conference, Feb. 28-March 2, 2018, in Irving, Texas. To attend the conference, or to learn more, visit www.nsca.org/blc.