CSIA 2025: SI Experts Share Thoughts on Digital Transformation and more

Speaker A: Welcome to the Rivergate Marketing Podcast. In this episode hear from Darren Deleman of Interstates, PC Romano of Avid Solutions and Travis Miller of Miller Resource Group. We discuss digital transformation, remote collaboration, talent challenges and economic uncertainty at the 2025 CSIA Conference. Please introduce yourself, name, title and company.

Speaker B: All right.

Speaker C: I'm Darren Dieleman. I'm um, with Interstates. I'm the vice president of operations. So I basically oversee our automation operations. I'm also a member of the board of directors of CSIA as well.

Speaker A: What does Interstates like to do for automation work?

Speaker C: Um, so we've been involved with CSIA in doing system integration work. We've been doing system integration work really since the 80s. Our company's been around 70 years. We originally just doing electrical work and then we got into power engineering and then eventually back in the 80s when control systems and things started coming around, we got into that. So we've been involved with CSIA really from the early days back in the 90s. We've been certified I think eight times. So what do we do? I mean we're based out of the midwest of the U.S. we've got 13 or so offices based in central U.S. and then we have a smattering of remote employees. We even have a German entity actually and some employees in Germany servicing some clients over there. So we, we do a lot of traditional industrial automation stuff. We do industrial networking, cybersecurity, data and analytics, mes, um, a lot of those sorts of things. And yeah, having our kind of headquarters, if you will, in the central U.S. a lot of our markets are kind of agricultural based food and beverage and do a smattering of other markets as well.

Speaker A: I didn't realize you're international. Congratulations.

Speaker C: Yeah, thank you.

Speaker A: What are their biggest trends or challenges you're seeing in the industry right now? Anything come to mind?

Speaker C: That's a good question. I think everybody's really trying to figure out what to do with data and new technology. Right. Everybody's talking about AI, uh, and where that's all going. I think that's kind of a trend and a challenge at the same time to know how much to invest, how far. So trying to really make that real for clients and beyond just buzzwords and things like that. I know we've been talking about that at the conference here this week a little bit as well. I think an uh, ongoing trend or a concern is aging infrastructure in these facilities. Right. There's a lot of modernization stuff that needs to happen while also trying to figure out how, you know, you digitize and be able to take information off of machines and use it in ways that maybe you haven't before. And so those are just some trends I think we see and ah, some challenges that are kind of coming along with it.

Speaker A: Are there any other technology innovations you're excited about?

Speaker C: There's a lot of interesting. For one, as a system integrator, there's a lot of different companies popping up with different tools on how to make the work we do more efficient and done more easily. So I think that's pretty exciting. We've got a dedicated innovation team that does R and D stuff to try out some of these new technologies. So I think that's a, uh, that's something that we're kind of excited about and we're kind of seeing. Yeah, I think, you know, AI, right. It's what everybody's kind of talking about. And so how do we use that to even again make our internal processes more efficient? How do we use certain tools to help extract better value out of data for our clients?

Speaker A: I know it's early in the CSIA conference. We're just finishing up day one here. Well, first of all, I'd like to say congratulations to you and the CSIA team for a wonderful conference in beautiful San Diego. Everybody I've talked to is just loving this year. Great lineup on the speakers. I love this morning. I loved how it was just so actionable and real people being vulnerable. So congratulations on that.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: Are there any insights or takeaways you've had so far or anything you're especially looking forward to?

Speaker C: You're right. Still, we got a ways to go in the conference. We have a big transition going on. So I'm on the board of directors. Right. With obviously Jose moving on and be announcing, uh, our new CEO, Adrian Myers coming in. So I'm really excited about the future of CSIA and just kind of that, you know, appreciating all the work that Jose has done and then really what we're excited about, what Adrian can bring to the future as well. And for me, like the connections, right, making connections both in my role at Interstates and as a board member. You know, to me that's what has been so far the most valuable and what I'm really looking forward to. I look at forward to the economic update tomorrow as well. So that's always a highlight.

Speaker A: I love that. Yeah, I love Alex. Anything else you'd like to share?

Speaker C: It's an exciting time to be doing what we're doing and there's a lot of challenges out There. But, um, to me, that's what I would like to share, I think. How do we get, continue to get younger people in school into the type of work that we're doing? I mean, I studied accounting and finance. I didn't study engineering. So just this was like a whole world that I really almost didn't know existed until like about 15 years ago. And so I think that's something that we all need to try to do to get younger folks, get them excited about engineering, get them excited about technology and how to then apply that to real world problems. We all see that in the kind of the more consumer space, but the industrial space. There's just a lot of opportunity to kind of transform things here the next couple of decades. And I think we're just, it's an exciting time. So.

Speaker A: You know, it's funny you say that we were having a conversation at lunch today how manufacturing is kind of an invisible industry among young people. We don't have a lot of people who are aware of it. It's not on their career radar and we. I'd love if that were changed because it's so vital to our country.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I studied business and accounting, but I went to work in manufacturing right at. When I got out of school, I actually thought I'd work at a bank or I'd go get my CPA or I'd, you know, those were the things that, that I thought about. But when I got working in manufacturing, like for one, it's working with people. It's, you know, people are in, in every industry and so if you like connecting with people, manufacturing is a great place for that. And just the challenge, the pace, I don't know, it's just something I would have never thought that I would have spent now 20 years of my career this spring in kind of involved in manufacturing one way or the other.

Speaker B: So.

Speaker A: Yeah, how can people connect with you?

Speaker C: Uh, you know, hit me up on LinkedIn. Darren Dieleman. Happy to connect with anybody that's out there that wants to talk. Either for my role at Interstates or as a member of the board of directors and wants to kind of learn more. We want to hear from partners, from members on how we can keep having the association and events like this conference adding more value.

Speaker A: Great. Well, thank you so much.

Speaker C: Thank you very much.

Speaker A: Please introduce yourself. Your name, title and company.

Speaker B: Yeah, my name is PC Romano. I'm president of Avid Solutions. I'm the owner. Avid Solutions has been doing work in the Process Industries for 37 years now. Nice.

Speaker A: Is There a geographic region that you work in? Are you all over the country?

Speaker B: Yeah, so a lot of our work is in the Southeast. Uh, we're headquartered in North Carolina and then we do a lot of work in the Houston energy area. Um, and then about a third of our folks are in Brazil.

Speaker A: What are the biggest trends or challenges you're seeing in the industry right now?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think long term, certainly, uh, labor, you know, finding great people has always been a challenge. Just this year, I think there's been a lot of uncertainty around the economy and around tariffs and how they're going to impact our manufacturing clients. And so we're seeing a little bit of softening. I think our clients are unsure as to how or whether or when to spend their capital, uh, dollars. So a lot of wait and see. But, but overall things are going okay.

Speaker A: Understood. Are there technology innovations that you're excited about in the future?

Speaker B: Well, a lot of them just have to do with, uh, communications and remote work. We've come so far since COVID Most of our people are mostly remote. Uh, we have people in 10 states in the United States. And so just the technology that enables a lot of those things for our employees and our customers have been the biggest, biggest game changer in the last, uh, few years. At the same time, being mostly remote has its own challenges. And so we do spend a lot of time thinking about ways to make sure that communication is happening proactively and that the collaboration is happening.

Speaker A: Do you have any tips on that you want to share?

Speaker B: Well, I think it means putting a lot of effort into it in a lot of different ways. One, uh, thing we've been doing is we have clusters of people in different areas and we try to get them together three or four times a year face to face, uh, some kind of social activity or charity event. That's one thing. We're also doing lunch and learns, virtual lunch and learns. Uh, those have been well attended and it's a good way to share information as well. And then lastly, we did our first AVID day a little over a year ago where we brought all of our US employees and their significant others into North Carolina uh, to spend, uh, a couple of days. And so I think just a combination of things to get people together.

Speaker A: Those are some good ideas. Rivergate Marketing has always been, uh, remote. And we are concentrated in New England now. So we're at least able to get together, you know, once every few months in person. But what we've also implemented is a retreat, a once a year retreat for a couple of nights. We're all together, go through some in depth strategy sessions, but I'm going to adopt some of your ideas as well.

Speaker B: Yeah, in fact, I've been thinking about retreats recently. Uh, a peer group I'm in does an annual retreat and in that case we rent a house, we cook our own food altogether. So yeah, maybe we'll do something like that.

Speaker A: Oh, peer groups. I heard there's m a peer group going out on a cruise tonight. I had no idea. Sounds like fun.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'm in a peer group within csia. There are eight large integrators in North America and we get together once every three or four months and we've been doing it for 12 or 13 years now.

Speaker A: Oh, that's great. There's a lot of benefits to being in csia. I know it's early in the conference, but are there any insights or takeaways or is there a session you're particularly looking forward to from the conference this year?

Speaker B: Unfortunately, I'm going to miss the hot stove, uh, session. That's always my favorite. But it's the networking. You know, I did the speed networking for the first time this year and uh, it was actually really good. Met a lot of folks, made a lot of connections.

Speaker A: I agree. I love speed networking. Anything else you'd like to share?

Speaker B: I'll just say that, uh, it's been about 23 years that I've been coming to the conference and been really engaged with CSIA that whole time. And we've certainly gotten a lot more than we've given. And so I would encourage folks, if you haven't been to the conference, come next year. That's where the magic really happens. And those relationships, those connections, whether it's with partners or other, uh, system integrators, they can carry throughout the year. But it has to start somewhere and I think this is the right place to do it.

Speaker A: I agree. I love coming to the conference every year. How can people connect with you?

Speaker B: Well, uh, certainly on LinkedIn that's probably the easiest way. There aren't a lot of PC Romanos running system integration companies. Otherwise, uh, you can go to our website, avidsolutionsinc.com and connect with us that way.

Speaker A: Thank you so much.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: Please introduce yourself. Name, title and company.

Speaker D: Hey, I'm Travis Miller. I am the president of Miller, uh, Resource Group, an executive search firm that specializes in industrial tech, automation and manufacturing. Uh, companies are turning to us when they need to be certain that they are interviewing the absolute best candidates for their most critical needs. I am Also the host of Hired the podcast, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker A: Yes, big fan of your podcast. What are the biggest trends or challenges you're seeing in the industry right now?

Speaker D: That's a great question, Christine. I'm seeing two camps. There are companies that are still waiting to see, and this has been a trend for a lot of companies for a long time. There are always this list of wait and see excuses. Uh, we gotta wait and see what's gonna happen with inflation. We gotta wait and see what's gonna happen with the election. Gotta wait and see what's gonna happen with tariffs. And there are other companies that are just saying, screw it. What happens, happens. What happens to me is gonna happen to my competition. So I can't wait around. And I have heard so many companies this week at CSIA say that things are looking really good. They've got a great backlog of projects that are coming, they're busy now, they're growing. And then I talk to other companies, are like, well, things are okay. We're just kind of, um, unsure of what's going on. We're gonna kind of wait and see what happens. And so the two trends I see are companies kind of standing still and companies taking advantage of their competitors standing still and making the move and really pressing forward on growth and advancement and investment.

Speaker A: That's an interesting insight. Are there technology innovations you're excited about for this industry?

Speaker D: It's probably a cop out, but to see the continued growth of AI and how organizations are using it is really incredible. I mean, there are just so many ways to utilize this new technology to make our jobs easier, to make them more enjoyable, to take the busy work off of our hands. This analogy is a couple, probably about a year old. I feel bad that I can't attribute it to the person who said it because it is so great. But for so much of AI, it's not going to replace your job. It's not going to replace you. AI is $17 an hour intern who occasionally shows up on mushrooms. It can take a lot of those tasks off your desk and that's crass. I mean, I use AI for so much programming capabilities and data and sales analytics capabilities that I would never be capable of doing. But occasionally it's really dumb and really wrong. So to see what it continues to advance to and what it continue to do for the industry, I'm really excited to see.

Speaker A: I agree. You do have to look over its shoulder all the time and you have to be able to know, you know, what's a reasonable answer. And what isn't?

Speaker D: That's a great point. How are you using it in the, in the marketing world these days?

Speaker A: It is like that intern. Uh, we use it to streamline our content creation. You don't use it to write content because it's really bad at writing content. It's very generic. There's a lot of words that just come up over and over and over and over, unlocked, you know, leverage, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker D: So many EM dashes. Why are there so many EM M dashes?

Speaker A: I know, I know. I use it for preparation for content interviews, to help me, you know, a little background and the information, write a few questions. Uh, I'll tweak. So no, it doesn't give us finished work, but it does streamline the content creation process. It's early in the conference. I know we're just finishing up day one, but do you have a valuable insight or takeaway or something you're looking forward to?

Speaker D: I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I think, uh, day one is really about getting people into the conference. There's a lot of networking, there's speed networking, there's the expo, and we've really only had two pieces of intellectual content. And tomorrow it's almost all industry information and knowledge. And that's what I'm really excited for because I think that's what so many of us are here for along with the networking and industry growth. But it's to be able to try and look into the future to see what the industry is probably going to look like and six months, a year, two years so that we can get ahead of the curve. And I think so much of that is going to come tomorrow. Uh, day one almost feels like a warm up for day two.

Speaker A: Agreed. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as well. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Speaker D: Uh, no. The only thing that I'd like to add, I don't mean this to be self serving coming from a recruiter, but I hear so many companies here and at every other conference I go to saying that people is their most important resource. And it makes me sad when I hear so many talk to so many candidates, talk about their companies not investing in them as a resource. I guess that's my last message is to the people who are out there who are saying that their people are their most valuable resource. It can't be lip surface. Your people know it. And if you truly do value the future of your organization and the people who choose to work for your organization, because in this market. That is a choice. They are choosing to work for your, uh, organization. Value them, value what they do, value who they are, and value who they want to be and how they become a part of the future of your organization.

Speaker A: How can people connect with you?

Speaker D: LinkedIn is probably the easiest place. Uh, I'm all over the place. Travis Miller on LinkedIn. You, uh, can also find my contact information on our website, Miller Resource.

Speaker A: Thank you so much.

Speaker D: Thank you.

Speaker A: Founded in 2009, Rivergate Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency serving small to mid sized B2B companies trying to reach technical and engineering buyers. We are passionate about building strategic and data driven marketing and PR programs to help our clients compete and be found in a crowded digital space against much larger companies with seemingly endless marketing dollars. For more information, visit us online@rivergatemarketing.com.