Home Technology Specialists Nationwide (HTSN), part of the Nationwide Marketing Group’s stable of dealer/integrator buying organizations, announced today that it is rebranding its group, signifying an all-new image and an expanded mission to welcome an underserved class of dealers as part Nationwide’s “path to 1,000” members. HTSN will now be known as Oasys Residential Technology Group (ORTG).
Learn more about Oasys and Its expanding role
I first told you of Nationwide’s plan, called the “Drive to 1,000,” in my coverage of Azione Unlimited’s Spring Members Conference earlier this month. Azione, like HTSN another of Nationwide’s brands, is part of the bold strategy for the drive to 1,000 members. At that time, all we knew was that Nationwide was targeting growing the collective total of all of their groups membership to 1,000 members…making them one of the largest buying group collectives in the business. But no details were given as to just how they would get there.
Now, with this new announcement, we learn part of their game plan. First is a rebranding of HTSN to Oasys Residential Technology Group. This is a logical and, frankly, long overdue initiative. Years ago, Nationwide had devised a partnership with HTSA, an unaffiliated group of integrators and dealers, to work with a subset of Nationwide members whose profiles were more consistent with integrators and installing retailers.
More a Rebirth Than a Rebrand
As part of that initiative, they named the Nationwide subset as Home Technology Specialists Nationwide (HTSN) which dovetails nicely with HTSA (Home Technology Specialists of America). Unfortunately, that partnership failed and the respective organizations parted ways. But this left the HTSN group with a somewhat confusingly connected name.
Now, with the Drive to 1,000 initiative, HTSN breaks that curse and embraces an all-new and unique branding image, Oasys Residential Technology Group. In some ways, this is more of a rebirth than a rebrand, as Oasys emerges with a bigger mission and clearly defined purpose – to utilize the collective strengths of the Nationwide universe to attract a new group members from what Nationwide says is a large untapped, underserved pool of unaffiliated integrators around the country.
Between our Azione Unlimited team and the core CI offerings at Nationwide, our members continue to thrive, and they represent some of the strongest and most successful integrators in the industry. But we believe there’s an opportunity to take what we’ve built and provide an even greater service to those businesses just starting out or those who have struggled to get their feet under them. It’s a segment of the industry, frankly, that has been ignored and underserved for too long.
Andy Orozco, Nationwide’s Senior Vice President of Custom Integration
A Strong Portfolio of Benefits
This new group offers a strong portfolio of benefits, many unique to them thanks to the association with Nationwide. Oasys members, like HTSN members before them, not only gain all of the traditional benefits that a buying group association brings, but also gain free CEDIA membership – sort of a two-fer (two for the price of one).
Also included in an Oasys membership, is access to the Oasys Learning Academy, which includes an expansive catalog of CEDIA education as well as vendor-specific training. Members also gain access to Nationwide’s best-in-class business and financial services. According to the group, these services allow an integrator to streamline their businesses and to stay focused on providing excellent customer service.
CEDIA Data Says Total of 11,000 Integrators, Only a Small Percentage in Buying Groups
On top of all of this, members gain free access to all Oasys Summit and Nationwide PrimeTime events, which all bring more education and opportunities for face-to-face interactions with key vendor partners. And of course, these events offer abundant opportunities to engage in highly beneficial peer-to-peer best practice sharing.
The formal announcement of Oasys notes that CEDIA’s data from the recent Integrated Home Market Analysis, shows there are approximately 11,000 integration companies operating in the U.S. Notably, only a small fraction participate in buying group organizations, according to CEDIA. Especially in the case of integrators with revenues of $2 million or less – making up fully two-thirds of the industry – are, according to Oasys, “exceedingly underrepresented in buying group membership.”
An Interesting Element
In many cases, these integrators are likely too small to be considered for membership in some of the existing buying groups. And it is this large, underserved pool of integrators that Oasys is reaching out to introduce to the benefits of group membership.
This Nationwide initiative is interesting, as the organization is striving to offer a home to all sizes and types of integrators. New or smaller integrators are now welcomed into Oasys, while larger more seasoned dealers are better served by Azione Unlimited. And all of this is under the Nationwide umbrella organization.
Offering ‘Targeted Services’ to Have ‘the Biggest Impact’
It’s likely that these businesses think joining a group is either not a viable financial option or they simply don’t understand the benefits of membership. That’s where we have the opportunity to extend our hand, work directly with them to identify where they need the most support and offer targeted services that can have the biggest impact on their business.
Hank Alexander, Director of Oasys
Oasys was first announced at PrimeTime, taking place right now in Dallas, TX. And now we learn that the first Oasys Summit will take place in Nashville, TN on May 15-17, 2023. The group says that many more details on the group’s plans “and other strategic changes” will be revealed to dealers and vendor attendees.
Members can register for free registration by visiting the Oasys Summit registration website.
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