Whether you’re working primarily in commercial, residential or security integration, it’s more important than ever to find new ways to generate steady streams of income as product margins continue to shrink.

Although that seems like common knowledge for many who read CI and sister publications CE Pro and Security Sales and Integration, a panel of experts at the Total Tech Summit in Atlanta said not everyone has realized the need for recurring revenue—and too few do it well.

Yorktel earned CI 2015 Integrator of the Year honors by developing a recurring revenue model few others in the industry could even envision. The company generates about half of its annual revenue from service contracts, often leading with service in its pitches to customers of all sizes. (continue reading)