From the Chairman Peter Sealey, Chairman and Senior Executive
I’m less happy to report that member numbers have now dropped to just below 400. Although I should point out that 20
Welcome to the 2024 edition of Feedback, it’s hard to believe it’s been 12 months since I last wrote my review of the year, time has really flown past. I hope you find this issue as informative, interesting and useful as ever. As always, we’ve included the Evolving Connectivity 2024 Show Guide in this issue, and I really hope to see you all there this year. The show remains very popular and once again we had very positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors after the 2023 event.
years ago, we only had 250 members, this reduction is now a worrying trend – although we’re not losing members any more quickly than in previous years, we’re not adding new members at the same rate as before. Obviously, I wouldn’t want you to think that the Board has been sitting idly-by while this is happening, we established a small Development Committee in early 2023 who’ve been taking evidence from across the industry throughout the year, and who reported their recommendations to the wider Board in January. I’m confident you’ll see changes, new initiatives and essential developments in 2024, and beyond, to make membership more useful and beneficial than ever.
Once again in 2023 and early 2024, issues affecting all businesses continue to make the headlines, especially around the state of the economy, energy prices and inflation. CAI is, as are all businesses, impacted by these factors, but, despite this, I’m happy to report that the Board have opted against an increase to 2024/25 membership subscriptions, which we hope all members will support and appreciate in the current economic environment. This means there will have been no increase in 3 of the last 5 years as we do everything we can to manage our costs and keep the (sometimes still sadly essential), increases to Membership Subscription rates to a minimum.
Although it’s not a completely new issue, one of the topics we’ve been particularly grappling with in the last 6 months, is that of developers
opting to install data only networks in new developments, including sites that were originally specified as requiring IRS. Although this is by no means the most common situation with developments, it is a growing
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CAI Feedback Spring 2024
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