The CSIA board of directors met for their annual fall meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, Oct. 25-27.

Message from CEO
CSIA strategic planning and the state of the industry
As most of you know, our Best Practices document starts with "Strategic Management" in the first chapter. It asks, "Does the integrator have a clear strategic planning process?" The CSIA board practices what it preaches. During the in-person board meeting held Oct. 25-27 in Madison, Wisconsin, we reviewed our main strategic topics with a medium-long term perspective.

Certification
Mark LaRoche and Rick Pierro,
Superior Controls, Inc.

Continuous improvement never stops

Superior Controls becomes the first member to successfully complete six consecutive certification rounds

We all have room for improvement, but unless we have a systematic approach for integrating continuous improvement into our daily routines, we stand only a small probability of actually making a step toward betterment. Superior Controls has just completed its sixth certification round and in the process became the first CSIA system integrator to do so.


Superior Controls president Rick Pierro discusses what CSIA certification, and achieving it for the sixth consecutive time, means to them:

Connected Community
You are personally invited!
We are excited to see increased activity and participation on the Open Forum in the Connected Community. Here are some recent discussions started by our members:
Looking for solutions to a challenge you're be facing? Have expertise you can offer in support of your peers? The Open Forum is waiting for you.

Cybersecurity
Task force developing best practices guide for system integrators
The initial draft of the Industrial Control System Cybersecurity Whitepaper for System Integrators is in the review process and is about one-third complete. The task force expects to complete the review and publish the whitepaper in the first quarter of 2016.

Insurance
CSIA insurance provides combined general and professional liability policy
I have previously written regarding the dangers of having different insurers for your general liability and professional errors and omissions coverage. There are two basic reasons for this: 1) Almost invariably this creates gaps in coverage between the two policies. 2) In the event of a loss, it is likely that there will be a dispute between insurers as to who is to indemnify you. This can result in a lengthy delay in any settlement. Meanwhile, your customer the claimant is left waiting for the issue to be resolved. 
Legal
How contractually sophisticated is your company?
A lawyer can tell a lot about the sophistication of a CSI by its contracting strategy. What do I mean by contracting strategy? I mean, literally, the way in which a company processes the contractual terms that accompany each and every project that it implements. I would divide the world into reactors, exchangers, reviewers and proactives.

The Exchange
A message from Tony Veroeven, Exchange community manager:
A CSIA Certified member and Exchange subscriber told me just last week, "No other integrator guide refers as much traffic to our site as the CSIA Exchange does."
 
I am reminding you to include the Exchange in your marketing efforts. You've already invested in it; now put it to work for you. When you post content like videos, articles and case studies to your profile, they get posted on the Exchange homepage. Google indexes the site extensively. In fact, the same article you posted on LinkedIn, Twitter or your website will not rank as high in Google results as the one you post on the Exchange. Whether you post once a week or once a month, do it regularly. What does this mean for you? If you want website traffic, post content to the Exchange. Here are a few suggestions for what to post:
  • Have you been interviewed by an industry magazine, or do you have a guest blog on an industry website? Post the link to the article with a short description.
  • Did you just finish a successful project? Tell everyone how and why it went well by posting a white paper about it on the Exchange.
  • Do have a press release or new product you want to unveil? Post about it on the Exchange.
And, if you need a refresher on the Exchange and how to maximize your exposure there, contact me so I can help you get noticed.

Top ten tips for maximizing exposure on the Industrial Automation Exchange
In September's newsletter, we introduced the first of top ten tips for maximizing your profile on the Industrial Automation Exchange. Tips 2-4 were featured in last month's newsletter. Here are tips 5-7 (click the buttons below for more info)!

Get more Exchange tips and best practice ideas at csiaexchange.com.
Our newest Exchange subscribers. Join them!
Committees
Just released: Slide template for end-user clients
The CSIA Client Marketing Committee has developed and released a five-slide PowerPoint file that explains what control system integrators do and the value of hiring a CSIA member and CSIA Certified integrator. CSIA integrators are encouraged to add the file to their proposal presentations or incorporate the content into their own slides.

Download the client slide presentation and many other marketing materials, flyers, guides and news releases from the Marketing Resources - All Members library of the CSIA Connected Community.

Videos
Webinars







Demystifying Smart Manufacturing: Getting past the hype to reality
Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. ET
Mike Yost, President, MESA International









The Automated Edge for Control Panel Builders 
Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. ET
Presented by Pentair-Hoffman

For Partners

Technical webinars are unique opportunity for partner members

Last fall, we launched the first of our Partner Technical Webinars, a unique program in which CSIA partner members are invited to host online programs in partnership with CSIA. It's been a huge success! Learn how you can take advantage of this unique opportunity to educate integrators about technical topics of interest to them. 

Read more.


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