Strategy in TECH...
Today, Savant Systems launched its latest remote control, the Pro Remote X2, which it says offers users “an unprecedented smart home experience from a hand-held remote.” Along with this, the company is simultaneously launching an aggressive new advertising campaign targeted at consumers and designed to drive business to Savant integrators.
A new day, a new year, a new DECADE – think of the possibilities! The last decade began in 2010 on the tail end of a major recession that affected all industries, but especially the housing industry – which was hit harder than most. This meant that, for those of us in the custom integration space, our opportunities were limited at that time, as housing is a significant driver of demand for the types of products custom integrators sell and install. However, the resulting long, slow economic recovery – which is still continuing – set new records and many would argue we enter the 2020s poised for even greater success.
Yesterday, I attended a memorial service even though I had no personal relationship with the person who had recently passed. In fact, I had never had the pleasure of even meeting this person. Yet I chose to pay my respects because I’ve known the family for years and am especially friendly with certain specific family members to whom I wanted to demonstrate the depth of my care and support. Out of respect for their privacy during this difficult time, I’ll not name them here – but I’d like to share some lessons I took away from such a poignant event.
Some would say a death at this time of year – during the holidays – is an especially tragic event…and there certainly was a lot of sadness shown there. Sadness is an unavoidable element of an event such as a memorial service. But there was also a lot of stories, laughter and most importantly…love.
Always one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving is one of the few times where it is socially acceptable to completely stuff your face with a big, delicious meal, and veg out on the sofa watching football all day long. What could be better than that??
PS Audio, a specialty manufacturer of affordable audiophilia, announced today that it is suspending sales of its products through local specialty retail stores and online retailers to focus on direct sales only. While the company has always sold products directly to end-users, it had a complementary channel of approximately 65 local specialty dealers, and a few online retailers supporting the brand as well.
When Strata-gee broke the news last week on Bravas Group being sold to a private equity firm, a buzz erupted around the industry as different constituencies tried to digest the meaning of this development. While other groups of integrators have made similar efforts in the past, this type of roll-up has usually failed. If this attempt by Bravas works, just what would that mean for the CI industry in general. And is this an emerging competitor to buying groups?
I surveyed top buying group executives to get their take on just what this move by Bravas meant for the industry…and for them.
Have a Happy Memorial Day and take time to remember all those who sacrificed so much to preserve and protect the freedoms all Americans enjoy…
KB Home, one of the largest home builders in America, has unveiled a concept home of the future they call KB Home ProjeKt: Where tomorrow Lives, that features both smart home and integrated health and wellness technologies. Originally shown at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, KB is announcing that many of the features of this futuristic home is available now at a new community in Irvine, CA called Genoa at Orchard Hills.
Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. (NYSE: EEX), owner of the CEDIA Expo and many other shows, reported their fiscal 2018 fourth quarter and full year results on Thursday and it was a dramatically mixed picture that suggests the company is still working through problems on many of its largest shows. Revenues in both periods increased nicely, largely thanks to acquisitions – but the company reported a large net loss as it was forced to take an impairment charge against earnings to write down the value of some of their shows as carried on their books.
