In what might be one of the more ambitious projects ever undertaken within the custom electronics industry, consulting company VITAL — led by industry veterans Matt Bernath, Paul Starkey, Steve Firzst and Jeremy Burkhardt — has put out a request to have 1,000 custom integration companies spend 20 minutes of time each discussing their current profit situation.
The resulting information gathered might provide some of the most insightful information the industry has ever gathered related to where profits come from, how they can be increased, and where the biggest problems.
Starkey personally issued the industry-wide challenge, noting, “Every insight in how the model can be optimized is now known and catalogued. And we want you to know about it. If you have 6 employees or more, the model should be part of your core belief system. We are asking 1000 custom integrators to take the challenge.”
Starkey says the discussions will help “reveal the essence of the CI business.”
In the conversations, VITAL will share with dealers some of the benchmark data it has gathered over the years related to the average percentages for payroll, margin, operating expenses and profit.

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