It seems illogical that we still find projects without the respective advice of integral specialized companies, with the ability to carry out a complete project that benefits the final client 100%.
By Lucas Valencia González*
Whenever we hear the word home automation, the first thing we think of is that it is expensive and unnecessary. But I think those thoughts are part of the Latin American culture of always waging a price battle with our advisor or seller.
Let's begin to understand this word. On its own it is poorly understood; means domus, in Latin house, and autonomous (from Greek: αὐτόνομος; "who governs himself"). Of course, I took the definition from Wikipedia.
I have been in the home automation industry for 13 years and I have understood that getting to a real house and making it have all the technological ones is a real challenge, and more because today there are many self-taught, or curious people who have sold to the market that this is a matter of little professionalization.
And it is done with little knowledge. But the truth is that when we understand in depth each and every one of the scenarios that a good system entails, we begin to take projects seriously.
Systems Integration
Electrical engineering, lighting, lighting control, audio, home theaters, video switching, data networks, structured cabling, electronic security, air conditioning irrigation, cortínas, are the systems that we consultants touch directly, totally independent specialties that can be integrated into a single system.
But we should never forget that there are other specialties that are fundamental to take into account for the project to be successful, for this case you should always think about civil engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering; each and every one of these is part of home automation.
Based on the above, it seems illogical that we still find projects without the respective advice of integral specialized companies with the ability to carry out a complete project that benefits our final client 100%.
With the above, I have defined 3 types of houses as follows, each with different scopes and budgets: automated houses, smart homes and, now, understood the moment in which we are, the houses 4.0. This is going to start giving us a route in understanding the industry and not only that, but also our customers; 3 types of customers, 3 types of needs or problems, 3 types of budgets. These 3 types of houses can be defined more in depth at the time.
Final conclusions
We can never assume that a client may or may not take any of the three options. What we must do is explain what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these.
The most important thing however is not assume that our client will buy something without understanding or awareness as to what you are going to deliver. At the end, he can be very surprised when you promise a lot and deliver little; or if the scope and budget are high, while the real needs or problems of the client are modest. By delimiting the scope of the project well, you can avoid conflict with other specialties.
No project will make it perfect when you finish it, you will always know that you could have done something better, but the truth and at the end of it all is that your client can live the experience as he dreams it and not as the seller wanted to sell it.
*Lucas Valencia González is the CEO of Ultimate Technology SAS.
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