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During a recent conversation, Michael Short, a representative from Crestron, discussed the role that the company plays in the future of smart homes. Crestron has been around for 50 years and has always seen itself as a pioneer in the space, with a strong focus on innovation and achieving new goals.
One of the key factors that has contributed to the growth of Crestron is the accessibility of IoT devices and the DIY smart home market. This trend has created new opportunities for the company, particularly in the high-end professional market, as it has opened up people's eyes to the possibilities of what a smart home can be. Even though products like Amazon, Google, and Apple offer DIY solutions, people are beginning to realize that professional equipment and services are necessary to create a true smart home.
Crestron stays on the cutting edge of technology by continuously researching and developing new products. The company works years ahead of time and does extensive in-market research to ensure that it stays ahead of the curve. The team speaks directly with clients and customers to understand what they want and need from a smart home solution.
Crestron has two ways to support its customers. The first is through custom-programmed solutions, which are unique to each client. This approach allows Crestron to integrate with any product or solution on the market. The second solution is the Crestron Home Operating System, which provides every customer with a fantastic user experience that is replicated on every device. This solution is open, which means it can work natively with other solutions in the market, and users can create drivers to connect to anything that is not native to the system.
One of the things that sets Crestron apart from its competitors is the ability to manufacture a full smart home solution. The company manufactures lighting solutions, shading solutions, audio, video distribution, keypads, remotes, and touchscreens, all under one roof. This allows Crestron to provide a complete user experience that is unparalleled in the industry. Crestron's products are all built to work seamlessly together, providing a premium luxury end of the market that stands out from the competition.
Crestron is always looking for ways to improve its products and services, and the company is opening a new flagship showroom in New York City early next year. Crestron also takes part in a number of industry shows, such as CIA, which is happening in Denver in September. This show is focused on professional integrators, but it's also a great opportunity for anyone who loves smart home technology to see what Crestron has to offer.
Interview transcript begins below:
Welcome to "Luxury Living", the podcast that celebrates the world of high-end living and technology. I'm your host, Alvaro Sandoval, marketing director at AVIR, a Luxury Home Automation integrator in Palm Desert, California.
In today's episode, we're joined by Michael Short, Senior Director of Residential and Hospitality Marketing at Crestron, a global leader in advanced home automation systems. Michael will be sharing his insights on the latest trends in luxury home automation and how Crestron is driving growth and pushing the boundaries of technology to enhance the living experience for their clients.
We will be diving deep into the positive aspects of the industry, discussing how new developments and innovations are shaping the future of automation. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this fantastic conversation about the bright future of luxury living. Michael, it's great to have you.
I'm sure our audience has heard that name, Crestron, so that's why I'm so excited to have you. Share just a little bit about your current role, what you find most exciting about it personally and how that ties into your love for technology. I'll let you take it.
Michael:
Well, like you said, I'm the senior director of marketing here at Crestron, and my focus is on our residential hospitality and actually in the marine division as well, where we look after these beautiful soup yachts. My role really is to take our technology, our messaging, our really complex engineering from a smart home standpoint and find ways to talk to customers, talk to you, talk to your clients and consumers about what we can do and how we can improve. People's lives at home through incredible technology and it, it's a super exciting role. We work in an incredible industry, something that is booming and has continued to boom over the last sort of 3, 5, 10 years, and I absolutely love.
What I do here, we get to work with incredible and talented people like yourself who are going into these homes and making magic happen. And we work with the best homes and the biggest super yachts in the world. It is a really super exciting role that I have. And the industry itself that we're working in is, is really exciting.
So, in a nutshell, that's pretty much what I do. I try to tell great stories and get our messaging across about what it is we can do. For your customers and for you in this space?
Alvaro:
I find that so many people in the industry are very, very passionate. And so it's, it's great when I have the opportunity to meet somebody that also understands the marketing side.
You touched on this a little bit already, but what role do you see Crestron playing in the future of the smart homes?
Michael:
We've always seen ourselves as pioneers in this space. Crestron has been around for 50 years and one of the first areas that we touched on within our team was working in homes.
So we've always seen ourselves as pioneers and we've always really looked to the future and what we can do and what we can achieve. When you look at that evolution and how we can continue to do that, it's quite interesting to also look back at how we've evolved and what's contributed to that growth.
Right now when you look at the accessibility. IOT devices and the diy, do-it-yourself, smart home market. That really has been for us in the high end professional market, a huge explosive area for us because when you've got products from the likes of Amazon, Google, apple, it really is great for us on the professional side who have been doing this for years because it really opens other people's eyes up to what a smart home can be.
The more people that understand what we do and how a smart home works, the better. Many people might go through that process of maybe getting in Phillips Hue Lights or using Google voice control, and then they start to research more about what a smart home can be. They realize that actually to make this happen, you need professionals and professional equipment to create a true, smart home.
We've seen that explosion and we've tried to stay on the edge of pioneering technology like that. So I mentioned voice control as one area. Even though I don't know about you, I still find it really awkward talking to my Crestron smart home. I, I don't know what you feel about voice, but I still, I still can't get over that barrier of controlling my home with my voice.
But how do you feel about that?
Alvaro:
No pun intended, I'm pretty vocal about my usage and my desire and to use voice control devices. It still feels a little unnatural And sometimes I do wonder if it's just my personal habits or if it's the technology itself, and most likely it's a little bit of both.
There's always room for improvement. I'm glad that you're, you're bringing this up. It's something that I think about a lot. I want to use it more! I know that a lot of our clients and a lot of my colleagues here use it regularly and, even their kids.
Michael:
Voice is one place where we've seen Evolution and we've really tried to stay on the, the precipice of where that was going. Other things have forced us to look forward and change. You think about Covid it was such a terrible time, but it fueled this huge change to work from home. For us, that meant adapting very quickly a number of our products and solutions to let people do that.
There have been market changes as well as technological advances. We quickly brought out a tabletop home conferencing device for the smart home. So that everyone working from home could very easily have incredible meetings and calls and, and control their home from that device.
Things like lighting during covid as well. When you think about more people working from home, having tuneable fixtures for circadian lighting to help their energy levels as they work. I's the market and the environment and, and the world that changes and we really have to adapt quickly.
There's lots of things going on for us and, and lots of growth happening.
(Interview continues in the video)
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