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 CSIA's Connected Community goes mobile
CSIA's online community website, controlsys.org, has attracted over 3,700 active members, 3,476 discussion posts and 229 library entries since it was launched in 2012. Members connect daily using the online member directory and Open Forum discussion pages. While much of this activity is done on the computer, wouldn't it be nice if you could do all this in an easier-to-navigate, streamlined way through a mobile app? Now you can.
Introducing CSIA's new Connected Community mobile app. Now it's possible to post questions and connect with colleagues and peers in just a few clicks. No zooming. No maneuvering. No searching for controlsys.org in your browser. Just touch the app icon on your mobile device and you're in!
The free app is available for download from the Apple and Android app stores. Once it's on your device, log in and you'll see your name at the top of the navigation. Under your profile, you will see Discussions, People, Inbox, Announcements and a list of communities to which you belong. It's pre-populated with all of your contact information to save you set-up time.
Now you can:
- Reply to discussions and post new discussions without having to "pinch-to-zoom." All of the community groups that you are subscribed to on controlsys.org are available via the CSIA Connected Community Mobile App and can be read in a single feed.
- Get quick access to your fellow CSIA members. Search the directory by first name, last name or company. Easily add them to your personal contacts. With a couple of taps on your screen, you can send an e-mail or make a phone call to another CSIA member.
- Access messages and announcements.
- See what's coming up on the CSIA Calendar: webinars, conferences, partner events.
- Find CSIA's Twitter feed and Open Forum directly in the app.
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 Project management training back for 2018
CSIA and ISA are again partnering to deliver this live, web-based project management training, specific to system integration companies and consistent with CSIA Best Practices©. The course is designed to prepare attendees (
managers/engineers with freshman to mid-level project management experience) to deliver on their daily project management responsibilities. Content coverage includes project initiation, definition/planning, execution, controlling, close out, and related phases. Roles and requirements are also discussed, along with the techniques and sample tools needed to work with project managers of the client's organization.
The course will be conducted remotely by a live, experienced instructor in short sessions over several days leveraging distance learning web technology. This delivery approach allows attendees to continue to work on their normal job duties and at the same time apply the newly gained knowledge on their work projects between sessions. The dates for this course are October 2, 4, 9, and 11, and the course runs from 10:00-12:00 CT each morning and from 1:30-3:30 CT each afternoon.
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Message from the Chairman of the Board
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Planning for seamless staffing transition underway
It has been a busy quarter, with lots of buzz after the wonderful annual Executive Conference in San Francisco! For those of you who were able to attend, it was a pleasure meeting many of you in person. And, I hope you found it very informative and were able to take some ideas home to better your business. What a great venue we had this year to hold the conference and you came out in record numbers! Thank you for your support in attending, and I hope you mark your calendars for next year now, so you can attend again in 2019. The dates are April 30 - May 3 in Asheville, North Carolina.
The board and Jose have been very busy. AMPED Association Management has been a vital part of our organization for 10 years now, but it has been decided that it is time for both AMPED and CSIA to make a change. We have appreciated very much the service AMPED has provided us and our members over the past decade, and we wish them the very best as they take on new clients. From CSIA's perspective, Jose is leading the RFP process to bring on a new Association Management Company (AMC).
Read more.
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Reflections from 2018 Executive Conference - and a look ahead
to 2019
I would like to share my thoughts on our most recent Executive Conference, now that I've had several weeks to reflect on it. San Francisco is a very special city and a very desirable destination for many of our members, as indicated by the input we have received over the years through surveys and conversations with members. This year we were finally able to make it happen. I admit that I was a little concerned because San Francisco is an expensive location. I was afraid that this could impact attendance. However, I was proven wrong, and the 2018 Executive Conference was a resounding record breaker, with 599 participants, 61 more than our previous record set in 2014 in San Diego.
Read more.
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M&A corner
This is a regular section in our quarterly e-Newsletters, as well as on our website. We would like members to share information that has been made public. Our goal is not to be the source for breaking news, but a place to get caught up on recent deals.
June 11, 2018
PTC and Rockwell Automation announce strategic partnership to drive industrial innovation and accelerate growth. PTC is the parent company of Kepware, a CSIA vendor Partner member along with Rockwell Automation. View a full multi-media press release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180611005469/en/
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Another quarter full of activity in the region
We congratulate Kamati Ltda from Colombia for receiving the CSIA Certification. They are the fifth Certified company earning the distinction in the region. Congratulations, again! Our partners and members continue to support our growth efforts in Latin America. On June 5th, we had our Q2 event sponsored by Bosch Rexroth, with an attendance of 24 people from 14 different integration companies. We had a great discussion panel led by Roberto de Hoyos and Ricardo Vázquez, Project Directors for Gersa and ECN, two of our Certified integrators in Mexico.
Read more.
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"You said what?" Tips for sanitizing your company's e-mails
One of the takeaways from Lessons From Touching a Hot Stove: Legal Edition, a webinar Brian Clifford and I recently did for CSIA, was the importance of sanitizing your employees' e-mails. Integrators, as technically-minded as they are, typically don't think much about the effect of their correspondence until they find themselves on the business end of, say, a subpoena. But, like all lawyers, I like to be on the winning side-and what my automation clients put down in their e-mails can greatly affect whether a win (however you define that term) is even possible.
Here, in a nutshell, is the issue. Because what people are saying in correspondence and memos at the time the events are happening has great credibility, these materials are the focus of considerable attention if there is litigation. E-mails, in particular, are popular targets of lawyers because they tend to be more informal-and less well thought-out-than formal correspondence.
So, what's an automation company to do?
Read more
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Understanding the difference: Claims made vs. occurrence coverage
CSIA offers its members a unique insurance program that combines professional liability insurance coverage with general liability coverage in a single insurance policy. This combination presents a number of benefits to system integrators. One of those benefits is that it avoids an expensive coverage fight between two insurance companies over whether a claim should be covered under a professional liability policy or a general liability policy. One consequence of combining the two coverages into a single policy is that the policy has two different coverage bases, as the professional liability portion of the policy covers losses on a claims made basis and the general liability portion covers losses on an occurrence basis.
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Thank You 2018 Executive Conference Sponsors
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Click on ads for more information:
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It has been busy in CSIA's Open Forum
Check it out,
and while you are at it, chime in on some of the ongoing discussions, such as this one:
Experience with student loan servicing/planning services?
Through an HR Professional's organization our Office Manager (LaShell Mingo) discovered a new service offering to help employees with student loans, which includes: contribution directly to loan repayment, access to better rates, and access to expert consultation. She found an organization called "CommonBond" that has a platform for direct contribution to loans, providing the employee consulting for the myriad of pay-off schemes, access to lower refinancing rates, and planning services for senior employees with kids. The trick is they said our company is not large enough (we need 100 people+). We're still researching options/providers, it's a new industry, does anyone have direct experience with a service/benefit platform like this? I saw a presentation on this topic and the stats are jaw-dropping on how this topic is affecting recent college graduates.
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Seven capabilities to look for when partnering with a cybersecurity firm
The is the second in a three-part series on the imperative and value-add opportunity for system integrators to add cybersecurity to their toolkits when servicing the industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Very few SIs are integrating cybersecurity into their offerings even though doing so creates a lucrative opportunity to expand their company's role. Partnering with a cybersecurity specialist firm is the most seamless route to take, but in a saturated market how do you find the right fit? Here are seven vendor capabilities to look for when serving your ICS clients.
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Check out this podcast episode with Tom Burke, President of the OPC Foundation!
Tom shares why it is essential for the industry to consider the interoperability demands of end-users, what the OPC Foundation is doing to solve the software development challenges they face, and how the problems system integrators face today are different than they were before Industry 4.0.
Enjoy getting to know Tom Burke from the OPC Foundation.
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presented by Stratus Technologies
Tuesday, July 24, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (ET)
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Partner members: Host a webinar in 2018 and connect with SI members
Partner members, did you know as part of your membership you can host a Partner Technical Webinar? Need ideas on what to present? Educate our SI members and their clients with a white paper or case study. Highlight a challenge or trend in a certain industry.
One Partner member recently reported that they received phone calls from attendees immediately after their webinar! Email
Tony Veroeven
to get one of your own scheduled.
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