When it comes to an investment that punches above its weight class, focused and relevant professional development is hard to beat. Gone are the days of one-and-done courses carrying your knowledge base: The best integrators are lifelong learners. Without continuous professional development, integrators risk losing project dollars and their competitive advantage.
What’s more, if your staff — from the newest member of the team to your most veteran colleague — aren’t dialed in to on-the-job site details, the time you wish you would’ve spent on training will be used instead to roll a truck for another service call.
Professional development also can play a powerful role in any leader’s strategic mix to create loyalty and reduce turnover. By extending growth opportunities to your employees, including CEDIA education that could put them on the path toward industry-recognized credentials, you’re providing the kind of benefits that any ambitious or seasoned technician finds rewarding.
Our industry is unlike any other, and the education has to rise to satisfy the audience. CEDIA keeps education options fresh and forward-focused. Experience tells us the industry professionals who run their own businesses are keen on highly-technical training, and they also gravitate heavily toward professional development options.
CEDIA educational offerings are available on-demand and in-person via CEDIA Academy; webinars; at our US and UK training facilities; and at live events like CEDIA Expo, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), and CEDIA Tech Summits. Subject matter varies from courses that help integrators boost business acumen to those that cover day-to-day operations such as filing taxes and onboarding.
Business owners can’t be more than one place at one time, so developing differentiators that drive the lifeblood of growth – referrals – is crucial. Gain the skills and be the answer. Clients are still working from home and need a more secure network? Try the Cybersecurity for Integrators course. Need to calibrate screens using the most prestigious industry techniques? Our training collaboration with the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) will help improve work quality and professionalism, secure the final 5%, and add a revenue source.
When business is churning, understanding project management skills are essential to business success because you’ve got to keep the work on track. What are the best practices to keep a project within scope? What’s the life cycle of a typical project? How can you tap into the project manager’s expertise to guide a project from start to finish?
A newly-launched pathway in CEDIA Academy has solutions in the form of four courses: Fundamentals of Project Management; Systems Integration Lifecycle (Initiation); Systems Integration Lifecycle (Execution and Closure); and Interpersonal Skills.
A few additional CEDIA Academy courses to consider:
- Finance for the Non-Financial Manager: Focuses on understanding financial reports to make informed business decisions. Provides basic financial management knowledge, including forms of business ownership, financial accounting processes, and major financial statements and reports.
- Hiring the Right People: Helps business owners find the right people, starting with defining hiring needs to identify and land the most qualified individuals. Learners will be able to draft a job advertisement that attracts the best candidates, interview and select the right candidates, and retain top performers.
- Mastering Cash Flow: Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, so managing it is essential to operating a business successfully. This course explains how cash flows are generated, which factors impact them, how to forecast cash requirements, and how to better interpret cash flow reports and statements.
Whether investing in personal growth or building employee skills, the real value of education is far-reaching. Drive employee and customer loyalty, develop a happier workforce, and train up a more reliable team by leaning in to professional development.
See also: PowerHouse Alliance, CEDIA Partner To Expand In-Person Training Availability
