Amazon’s Alexa-enabled products will undoubtedly be on many Christmas lists this year. We spoke with Daniel Rosales at Telguard to share advice for dealers to capitalize on Amazon’s marketing and his take on the smart home.
With over 10 years of experience in the industry, Daniel is now the Sr Director of Technical Service and Support in charge of the Telguard division. He played an important role in the deployment of the first Commercial Fire Sole Path communicator as well as the successful transitions that came from the Analog, 2G, and upcoming CDMA sunsets. As a technology-minded member of the industry, Daniel has been able to facilitate multiple lectures and in-depth educational sessions on broad topics relating to NFPA72, Cellular Evolution, and more specific training sessions with focus on Telguard product installation.
Have you seen an increase in popularity of the FlexHub Controller? How do you think this is playing into the smart home trend?
TELGUARD: The SmartHome trend has been overlapping the security industry for quite some time now. As the lines between life safety and life style continue to blur, the introduction of the FlexHub gives our customers (the security dealers) the capability to say yes when asked about providing smart home features, and allows them to offer a product that is exclusively available to the security industry, which not only blends with the security system interface, but lives within it. This, coupled with the fact that the HomeControl Flex approach allows most end-users to keep their existing—sometimes older—security systems and just add the new technology, is what is driving the success of the FlexHub controller.
How have adding home automation services to the security offer impacted the businesses of your dealers?
TELGUARD: There is a lot of competition to the security industry, and a lot of it comes from the newer technology hitting the market every day. Having the ability to add home automation services, helps our dealers offer more complete packages. It gives them the ability to say “yes we can do that for you”, when customers naturally gravitate toward home automation as a pseudo-segment of home security.
How does the home automation+security offer make a stickier customer?
TELGUARD: The more you interact with something, the least likely you are to get rid of it. 20+ years ago when I got my first old-fashioned cellular phone, I could very well have terminated the service and be content during the first couple of years, because it was mainly used for calls when I needed to make them, and games. In 2018, there is no way that I could be as productive in personal or professional life without a smart phone. I think the same concept is what makes the offering a success. You only really think about the security system when you leave the house, and a lot of the times only when on extended vacation. With home automation now being a part of an integrated security system interface, you area always interacting with it, even for non-security reasons, which makes the system more of a necessity than it would otherwise be.
How can dealers leverage all the mass marketing of titans like Amazon — but add the professionally installed and integrated perk —using Telguard’s FlexHub?
TELGUARD: I think it all comes very natural, as it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. The more products Alexa can interact with the more use their system gets, and with Alexa users, for example, the question will naturally come up. Today’s security dealers should never shy away from embracing technology questions, and should in fact drive the conversation. Taking advantage of not only the FlexHub , but also the ability to interact with the Security Panel via the HomeControl Flex voice commands (to arm the system) is the key offering. What our dealers offer that is unique is leveraging the security installation expertise to professionally install the device that control the client’s smart home, as well as the ability to host both the security and the home automation features within a single app, and voice commands.
Millennials seem to be a BIG market for smart home sales. They, however, have trended toward renting. How can dealers capitalize on renters with Arlo?
TELGUARD: Arlo has a wide range of products that can satisfy a very diverse customer base. For renters specifically, the ability to have a video system that does not require permanent mounting or a connected power supply for each camera is huge. The basic arlo setup consists of a base station that connects to the router, and wire-free cameras that connect to the base via WiFi. They are labeled as wire-free because not only do they have a wireless connection to the internet, but they also don’t require to be plugged in to work, as they can use rechargeable batteries that can last months in between charges. This setup is ideal for an owner that will look to relocate the cameras or the entire system, and that can be done as easily as unplugging from the old router and plugging into the new one at the new location.
What is the operational impact? How difficult is the integration?
TELGUARD: These products were designed with a DIY mindset—make it as easy as possible for anyone to install—but with the robust features that one can expect from a leader in the security industry. Installation is easy, but the integration into the HomeControl Flex system is even easier. It’s as easy as logging in one time, and letting Telguard’s back-end do the rest.
This content was provided by Daniel Rosales, Sr Director of Technical Service and Support, for Telguard. For more information on Telular and its flagship security brand Telguard, please visit https://www.telguard.com/
