As industry stakeholders continue to wrap their minds around the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, CEDIA is providing another tool to help fill in the blanks. In an effort to help industry manufacturers and suppliers better understand key challenges and opportunities facing integrators and industry tradespeople, CEDIA has announced results of a study examining overall sentiment and project behaviors of CEDIA professionals. The online survey, a collaboration with The Farnsworth Group, was conducted April 13-28, 2020. The results include data from nearly 350 professionals in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom who do at least half of their work in the residential space.
"I think there's a lot of expectations or assumptions out there about what this means — particularly for the contractor or pro side of our business," said Farnsworth Group Partner and Director of Business Development Grant Farnsworth. "When we look at the overall impact and ask that question, it's not a big shock that there is a large negative sentiment out there in regard to how COVID-19 is impacting their business." He added that smaller firms, or those with annual revenue of less than $500,000, are feeling squeezed more than firms with revenue of more than $2 million. Smaller firms bearing a larger impact, Farnsworth says, is a trend seen throughout the global economy at large.