Jasco IoT
Jasco has supplied products into numerous lifestyle categories during the past 40 years, with a real focus on home automation over the last decade. As the smart home and IoT space threatens to become inundated with product and hub choices, Jasco is focusing even more on customizing and simplifying at the same time.
Take Jasco CEO Cameron Trice’s comment on protocols such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth. “We have a full ecosystem of Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Bluetooth lighting control and home automation products,” he said. “Many people don’t know what wireless (protocols) are running in the background, and they really don’t need to know unless they just want to. Our job as a supplier is to make things work, easier to use, and to simplify people’s lives, not complicate them.”
Trice’s point is well taken. Setting up a smart home should be as simple as choosing the devices you need to automate your whole home or maybe just a few lights, and then downloading an app on your phone or tablet. However, in some cases, consumers have become increasingly confused, despite the fact their overall familiarity with home automation is growing. Part of the solution, Trice feels, is for manufacturers to focus on product categories that suit their expertise and then work with the right platform providers to connect those products.
Jasco Takes a New Direction
“Our primary focus in the connected home space is controlling and automating lights and providing enhanced energy savings and security through switches and sensors, an area where we have demonstrated long term leadership with the GE brand,” he explained. “We haven’t strayed from our core competence.”
Indeed, Jasco has built its business through powerful collaborations and partnerships. “We have a philosophy of collaboration,” Trice said. “We partner with some of the most advanced players across platforms, from industry behemoths to upstarts. We’re not going it alone or straying from what were good at; we’re using our credibility and scale to partner with some of the best brands and technology providers in the world to bring solutions that people really want and are easy to use to the connected home.”
Which brings up customization. With consumers seeking more customized solutions, the pressure on manufacturers to differentiate is huge. “We’re agile enough to do that customization,” Trice said. “We know an electronic superstore or online shopper is looking for something different than a wholesale club or mass merchant shopper, and we know that a professional installation has very different needs from a quick DIY project to automate a few lights. We customize our product solutions and content by channel.
This is especially important with small things, which connect your home and are the foundation of the Internet of Things. We’re very good at the small things that have a big impact in your home.
Photo Credits: www.freeimages.com/Chaleerat-Ng.
