The Next Generation of Smart Hardware in Residential AV

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to ProAV today. I am your host, Ben Thomas. If you know anything about me and you've ever watched to show, you know that I'm passionate about not only the commercial side of the ProAV world, but also the residential and so many other places that our technology exists. And You know, when we when we think about that residential side of the world and we think about shows like CDa, you know, it's all too often, it's easy for us as a community to kind of stay with the folks that we know and stay with what's familiar and talk about the integrated technology side of the world, but I love having conversations even beyond that. And one of the folks that I brought on today for our show, we're gonna talk a little bit about that and talk about how window shades and other different peripherals in in in the home have actually become part of that integrated technology world. So my guest today, Scott Stephenson, from hundred Douglas. Scott, thanks so much for coming on the show. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. You're very welcome. And, Scott, I'd be remiss if we didn't point to, the great work that Hunter Douglas has just done at Cedia. I had a chance to go out there and and a ton of folks in my network had a chance to go out there not only see some of the great work that y'all were doing, see some of the great advancements in in, residential technology. And I wanna start there. Right? Before we kinda dig into some of the specifics of the hunter Douglas world, you know, how have you seen some of that that I almost hate to call it dumb technology. Right? That's that's an oversimplification and a little bit rude. But how have you seen maybe some of these trid non traditional peripherals like blinds and thermostats and and even lighting in some cases really find its way into a fully integrated system in our residential worlds. Yeah. You know, it's I've I've been in the, I don't know, CD, CI World, whatever you wanna call it for, like, seventeen eighteen years now. And it's it's been really fun to to see the evolution. I think that, you know, even if you were to go back you know, five, six, seven years ago, something, you know, a category like, automated shades, you know, is that you had some dealers who were really into it, and then a lot who were just really shying away from it. And now I mean, most of the dealers that I talked to are just they considered an absolutely integral part of their business. They can't imagine not offering it to their customers. And in fact, I just, I saw an interesting statistic recently that was talking about that once shades have been automate shades have been, you know, proposed into a project, they're the They're the least likely of the technologies to to get removed if the customer starts, you know, starts to worry about budget and and things like that. You know, and, of course, I think in instance, well beyond beyond shades, you've got, you know, integrators getting into lighting and not just lighting control, but the delights themselves. And and, you know, even some of the energy management stuff that's going on, I mean, it's just the the industry continues to evolve. And it's it's it's always fun to see see where we're gonna go from here, I guess. Well, one of the things that I I love about the residential technology side of the world is that it actually pulls from the hospitality side of the world, right, where you're talking, you know, automated shades are not even remotely a new thing in the hospitality side of the world, and and they they historically been ultra premium. And then their point of entry into our market was a little bit more into the, you know, multi million dollar houses, some of the larger installation the larger installations, multi family installations, things like that. But it's been really cool to see how not only shade technology, obviously, but But other technologies have found their way down to the individual homeowner level, even on a a a micro scale. Right? And and that's one of the things that I think is driving the conversation forward in our collective industries is that you now have end users demanding some of these technologies. Right? There there isn't an installation that I could go into right now and and I know a handful of integrators down here in Dallas residential integrators. They're they're doing, you know, motorized shades and and automated lighting systems much as they're doing home theater systems. Oh, absolutely. Home audio system. So it's cool to see, that integrate. How have you seen that trickle down really to that that micro user level? Yeah. You know, it's it's interesting. I mean, I think you make a great point about the fact that, a lot of the residential dealers, I mean, I know a lot of dealers these days who are making way more money on selling lighting and shades than they are on selling AB. And in fact, that's they now lead with it, because they realize that it's it's part of, yes, it's technology and it's integrated and all the stuff that we all love. But fundamentally, it's it's part of the home. I mean, it's part of, you know, you you're going to have window shades. You're going to have lights. These are not things that are, you know, when when, you know, if somebody starts going, oh, you know, we're we're spending more on this house than we should, they're they're not gonna say, you know what? We don't need lights. Or or we don't We're gonna take that sun right in our face at six thirty. Exactly. Exactly. So I I I know a lot of dealers that that truly are leading with it. And then, you know, when you start get talking about it, getting down to, like, the like the individual customer and the individual consumer and stuff. I mean, even when I look at our our non integrator, our, you know, we have a lot of you know, of course hundred Douglas dealers that are, you know, just traditional window coverings dealers. They've been selling window coverings for forty years. And, you know, the number of them that tell me today that, hey, you know, most of the customers that walk into my showroom are walking in because they want an automated solution. That's it's not even like me having to tell them about it and sell them on it. No. They're coming into the store asking for it. And I think that's been a huge shift just in the last several years. Well, Scott, with that in mind, I wanna transition into something that that, I'm really excited about. Right? And one of the cool things about my show Pro AV today is that we don't do any paid sponsorships. We don't do ad placements or anything like that. I get to have conversations about products and stuff that I actually love. Right? And and I think it's so cool. You know, One of the things that that jumped out to me at CDa was was the the illuminated shades and automatic shades that you have that could, basically recreate certain environments through LED light technology that's integrated in the shades. Right? We haven't even scratched the surface yet of the value of that for Cadian rhythm, wellness, general, you know, sleep schedules, and things like that. But I love to see that technology that that might be considered historically, oh, this is a shade. Right? This is just kind of a boring technology. Yeah. They go up and down or side to side whatever. But embracing a lot of kind of what you talked about is that that technological and AV side with the LED technology, being able to change color temperatures and things like that. You know, how does how does something like that come on your radar from a product development standpoint? And how do you find maybe that balance of merging the the hyper technical side with maybe some of that traditional technology. Yeah. You know, it it is really interesting how this all came about the with the aura, eliminated shades. Honestly, it started I mean, this is something we've been working on for a number of years now and and to really get it right. But it started with the idea that Okay. We've got these window shades. They, you know, our customers spend a lot of money for these very expensive textured fabrics that look absolutely beautiful when the when daylight is shining through them. And then at night, that effect kinda goes away. You you don't you know, that now it just becomes this dark part of your room. And so the the idea really started out is just how do we recreate the experience of you know, what the shades look like during the day, but but have that happen at night. And then as the product evolved and got better, then it came, whoa, this is this is actually more than what we initial initially thought. This isn't just recreating light coming through. It's actually generating light and enough light that, you know, that you can be in a room with just, you know, two or three of these shades, and it just lights up the room in the most pleasant, awesome way. And then it became much more of a, oh, wow. Okay. Now how do we make sure that not just that, hey, we're, you know, trying to get some light, you know, make it look, like, make the fabric look better. But now it's got to be a full part of the the lighting of the home. So, yes, so it has to be color temperature controllable. You know, we we've we had conversations about should it be RGP and and went back. No. You know, we really still are trying to recreate natural light. That's what we're all about. Is controlling natural light. And so, but, you know, it just continued to evolve. And then suddenly, hun, we were talking to lighting designers. We've never talked to lighting designers before. The lighting designer saw it and we're like, hey, we need to we wanna talk to you about how do we incorporate this into our lighting designs? And especially when you think about, like, a lighting designer, a lot of times, you know, they're really trying to avoid that that harsh overhead light shining down and do things like, you know, washing the walls with light. But, of course, in a lot of modern construction, You've got lots of glass and not a lot of walls. So now they were starting to say, well, how do we wash a wall with light when there's no wall there? But now they've got a way to actually, you know, generate light from from the space. So it's really interesting just how it evolved over time from kinda one idea to something that's turned into a whole lot more than what we thought it would be. Well, I I really love that you mentioned working with the lighting designers of the world because at a very basic level, shades are designed to manipulate light. Right? Or block or, you know, literally shade from light. Right? You know, and one of the things that we see a lot of times with with the holistic AV community is this idea that we have to shoehorn technology in places that it shouldn't be. Right? And then I almost call it gimmicky, right, where it's like, oh, the this this this I don't know. We'll say this lamp can strobe, and it can do all these other things. You talk about RGB integration. Right? There's a lot of different ways that people will create technology that exists and a little bit more of a gimmicky. Oh, this is fun to have, you know, nice to have type of world, but I love, you know, when you talk about focusing ex explicitly on replicating that natural light, it's done with a purpose. Right? The the technology exists inside of the shade. To serve a larger purpose. And and one of the purposes that that is near and dear to my heart is is there are quite a few folks in in my family, my extended family who are nurses and doctors and work really weird hours. Right? So I know more about the circadian rhythm than probably many people in AV, which is strange and weird, but that's a that's an, a purpose where something like this really creates a lot of value for somebody, and it's not a, you know, hey, light up green whenever the Dallas Star Score, which is awesome and cool, but there's a lot of intentionality and purpose with these. Am I correct? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. You know, one of the the absolute use cases we've heard a lot about is the one you just talked about of, you know, somebody who works a strange schedule. You know, getting up at three o'clock in the morning so that they can go off to work or, something like that. And that idea of, hey, you know, you could, you could now have the have your shade basically start to recreate what would be like waking up to natural light, would be huge. And then, same thing, you know, maybe you're working late into the night. That, you know, that ability to to have that adjust and make it feel like I'm, you know, I've I've got natural light coming in when I don't. It's interesting. So my wife is a is a photographer, and she does a lot of you know, photo editing at night. And she's very careful when she does that about, you know, what what's the, you know, what is the lighting like in the room? What's color temperature of the light because you don't want it to influence your your perspective of of the photos. And, we we put one of these aura shades in her home office And now most of the time, it's the when she's working in there at night, it's the only light that she has on in the room because she can control the color temperature. And it just creates this really nice light in there that isn't the harsh glow of overhead lights. So it's it's been pretty cool. Yeah. And and I wanna ask as kind of a follow-up to that too is, you know, we talked a little bit about the end user at a micro level driving a lot of these demands and making requests for specific features like this. You know, what are some of the ways and we'll get to the dealer distributor channel in just a second, but specifically focusing on the end user. What are some of the ways that you make end users aware of this technology? Is it primarily through the dealers? Is it primarily through Training thought leadership, being at trade shows, and referrals, what what does that typically look like and how does that process typically happen for for an end user? Yeah. You know, I think we're a bit unusual, especially within, you know, the the custom install, space there aren't a lot of manufacturers that do significant consumer marketing. And and and we do. I mean, we do television advertising. We do, radio advertising. We do podcast advertising. We do a lot of advertising and, you know, publications like dwell and architectural digest and and things like that. So and then, of course, all, you know, lots of, of social media, type stuff as well that that's very directed at the at the at the consumer level. And, so that's I think it that's definitely something that we bring that I mean, yeah, there's, you know, there's a handful of the big brands, like, you know, a Sony or an LG that that do the same thing, but, obviously, with a very different type of of technology. But but you don't see a lot of the, let's call them, you know, the light companies or the shade companies or whatever doing the kinds of consumer outreach consumer marketing that that we do. And I think, that does help to drive that overall consumer awareness of just the technology capabilities as a whole. And I think that that then It's like what I said earlier about just customers walking in the door asking for it because they probably saw, you know, saw something on TV in which the shades were just magically going up behind the person, and it's like, wait a minute. I didn't know that was possible. That's cool. You know? No. You're you're exactly right. And and especially in the residential side of the world too, the end user is the decision maker. Right? That's not always the case in traditional commercial installations. Right? The decision maker might be a little bit higher up. But in residential, typically, the decision makers is is the buyer in the which is which is really cool. But one of the things that we've seen, and we see this across a lot of different B2B industries right now, as a whole, but you know, this idea of I can go on Amazon and buy an Alexa or I can buy, shades or I can buy whatever integrated piece of technology. I want sticking into my home and it'll work. Right? That has impacted our traditional dealer channels. Right? You talked about custom installation being one place that really has has done a good job of of kinda carving its own path there. But, you know, the role of the integrator has changed. The integrator installer dealer has changed in the residential world, have you seen that happen? And what are some of the ways that that you are actually seeing a lot of value still created through that dealer channel? Yeah. I mean, in some ways, I think it's it's changed dramatically in in other ways, maybe not so much. I think that, the, you know, the ways that it hasn't changed is that the the integrator is still truly the, you know, the the I'll call it trusted technology partner for the for that consumer. You know, when you're building a house, there, I, you know, I've I've built a house in the past. It certainly wasn't to the level that's, you know, many of our, of our dealer customers are doing, but it's overwhelming. You know, the all the decisions you have to make. And I think having that and and and, you know, also it comes to technology, you know, even though you might have awareness that something's possible, most consumers have no idea how to make it happen. And so I think the the industry has continued to do a really good job and actually I think gotten even better at you know, being a sophisticated trusted technology partner for for the consumer. But I think in the ways that it changed is that they've they've had to become even more sophisticated, more aware of all of these different categories. I I'm oftentimes, when I'm talking to our dealers and or even just wondering around a trade show, wondering around something like Cedia, and looking at all the the different you know, categories of products. And, I mean, the stuff that that, you know, a residential, you know, technology dealer or custom integrator has to you know, have awareness of knowledge, you know, know how to make it work with all these other things, know what to recommend to their customers, maybe what not to, It's an incredible amount that they've got to to know these days, and it just continues to expand the, you know, just because we're getting new category, doesn't mean the old categories are just going away. They might, you know, they might be taking up a little smaller percentage of the budget, but they're still part of it. So The the industry has had to get a lot smarter, a lot broader, and and I think, you know, just more sophisticated in how they approach they they they overall business. Well, and to that point too, one of the things that I've really enjoyed seeing at least down here in Dallas is over the last ten to fifteen years. On the new build side is where we're having a lot more of those conversations, whether it's energy efficiency, whether it's smart home technology, integration, power integration, putting silly things like USB plugs into your bedroom. Right? There those are conversations that are happening now that weren't happening really ten, fifteen years ago earlier than that. So, you know, a lot of the conversation, even a lot of the questions that I've asked today, probably exists more on the retrofit side, where there's already existing home, maybe you have something already in place, that new build side, there's a lot of opportunity, not only from a dollar standpoint, but from just a holistic integration standpoint. When you look at that that that channel, you know, what are some of the things that you're seeing on the new build side of the world versus maybe a lot of that traditional retro stuff? Yeah. I think, I mean, certainly, I think one thing is builders are more aware. Of of the possibilities. We, you know, we participate in a lot of of stuff that is, you know, designed to help builders become you know, not just aware, but embracing these kinds of technologies. And I think, you know, I think there has been a shift. If you go back ten years, a lot of a lot of builders just to them, it was like, oh my god. I don't wanna have to deal with that. Plea y'all, please you know, I hope my customer doesn't ask for it. I don't even know how to talk to them about it. And now you see a lot of the builders out there really embracing it because they they understand that they have to. And and I will say in some cases still reluctantly, and that a lot of us are still scared of it. But I think that's where the you know, a a, a CID dealer can be such a huge value to those those builder partners, and and we've made a real effort to try and you know, partner up our our build, you know, our custom builders with our custom integrator dealers because they're a they're a natural fit for each other. So I think, you know, that's one thing. But and then the other thing I would say is, like, I think in the past, you know, maybe fifteen, twenty years ago, yeah, you know, technology and and prewiring meant, okay, I was doing Yeah. I was putting some cat five, pulling cat five into each room, probably some coax and speaker wire, and that was probably about it. And now that pre wire conversation is involving a lot more things about, you know, a a especially, like window coverings is one great example of that, but the number of builders that are contacting us and saying, okay. How do I how do I plan for automated shades at the window so that my customers aren't having to deal with changing batteries all time. And then they're, you know, just the thinking about things like, okay, how do I plan for a smart doorbell? Whereas, you know, in the past, that might have been something they've ever been considered before. So I I do think there is that level of awareness that in a new build There's things you can do even if you're not gonna provide the specific technology to the the customer of of the builder that at least the builder can make sure that the home is prepared for it. That is, incredibly insightful and and really took me to a place I didn't even think of, right, is is builders almost having a reluctant sometimes because there's not always the understanding because they're really good at buildings. Yep. But, you know, that that prefab process is so important, especially you know, obviously, you talk about audio, whole home theater systems, not only power to projectors and and speaker wiring, things like that. But now, to your point, having to manage signal flow to, power shades and, you know, all kinds of sort of different applications inside the home that that historically may not have been motorized. And, I'm not building a new house anytime soon, but I'll tell you what, I'm gonna take that advice the next time I do because it really is so important, from the builder's side to have those conversations. And and I wanna give you the last word here, Scott, you know, when you think about it could be it could be Hunter Douglas specifically. It could be the residential industry as a whole. But when you think about maybe the next five, ten years of evolution, in the residential technology world, what do you see coming down the pipeline and what are some of the things you hope to see? You know, I I think that we're gonna continue to see a trend of, you know, the there being more emphasis on, lighting, shading, the the the things that are maybe not the traditional AB type stuff. I I don't see that trend going away. And especially, you know, as, you know, as we have a little bit of a softer economy here, back to the there are things that get value engineered out of projects. And, the, you know, oftentimes it's the the the home theater that's gonna get value engineered out, not the shades or the lights. So I I don't see that trend changing. I do think that, we there's you know, still over time, there's gonna be more awareness, especially at the consumer level of the wellness technologies and how they play into things and think people think a lot. And at a consumer level right now, I think there's a lot of, you know, awareness of wellness, but not necessarily a translation to my home environment is involved in my wellness. And I think I think we're gonna see that trend continue. And, you know, honestly, I I just I think that the all of this technology just gets better. You know, if I think about our stuff, specifically, you know, a cheaper, better, faster, quieter, whatever you, you know, whatever you wanna call it. And and it and it happens fast. I mean, the the evolution happens faster and faster. I think there's there's a lot more companies to the manufacturers that are seeing the value of the the custom integration space and having those dealer partners. I think, you know, there's been a a number of of companies who kind of maybe started out thinking, yeah, we know we're gonna go straight to consumer and and sell the technology, you know, off of our website and very quickly figured out they they can't do that. The the the the the consumers don't have unless you are a true enthusiast who is willing to dive in and spend your time on it. That, no. You you need those dealer partners to to for, you know, to provide the the great solutions that that we all know are possible. And and I think it's, you know, it I like I said, I've been in this industry for seventeen, eighteen years now. And I'm sure looking forward to the next five as well. It's it's always fun. Well, I was secretly hoping you were gonna say we were about to get speakers in shades. But I don't know. Maybe that's ten years down the road. Maybe it exists. I don't know. I'm I'm not giving anything away because I don't know anything. So but, Scott, we appreciate you coming on the show today. We we always love having conversations about, different verticals and different app different applications inside our, our world of technology. And I appreciate you joining us today and, hope to have you back on soon. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And thank you all for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe and join us again next time for ProIV today.