MARKET A N A LYSI S
THE EVOLUTION OF THE INTEGRATOR The rise in smart homes is often credited to consumers becoming more tech savvy, but it’s time to recognize the role the integrator plays in ensuring the home technology industry thrives.
E
BY JESSICA GUYON ach year, CEDIA conducts an
AV) and gradually added from there based
Integrated Home Market Analysis
on resources, consumer demand, and cur-
of the residential electronic sys-
rent trends.
tems industry to quantify, segment, characterize, and forecast
Luckily for integrators, the home technol-
the market at large. The 2022
ogy industry is the sum of many parts – AV,
results, published in partnership
lighting, security, shading, home theatre, and
with leading market research firm
more – so, even when one category may be
Ancrage Consulting LLC, consist
experiencing a slower rate of growth, there
of 65 pages of research indicating the home
are a multitude of others thriving.
technology industry is strong. Not only that: it’s growing.
The same cannot be said for installers of a singular form of technology.
The upward momentum from the past two years has been largely attributed to the
When asked about changes they see com-
COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home or-
ing over the next few years, one integrator
ders that caused people to re-establish their
noted, “More and more homeowners will
work and social lives from home. While that’s
‘cut the cord’ and go to streaming-only
certainly played a large part, the historical
subscriptions, such as YouTube TV, Hulu TV,
data proves the residential technology market
etc., as opposed to cable TV and satellite
had been growing steadily even before the
subscriptions.”
pandemic – so steadily, that from 2012-2018, the annual market size grew consistently by
For cable and satellite installers, this sounds catastrophic. For technology integrators, this is simply a new way of doing business.
almost $2B per year. Some might say technology has become
Integrators’ Competition
more present in our everyday lives than it
Technology integrators’ ability to adapt with the onset of each new
was even five years ago. But technology has
technology doesn’t mean they lack competition. Most notably, the
always been there, it’s just evolving, as are the
DIY segment has provided an alternative way for consumers to ac-
people who install it.
cess smart home technology. But what sets integrators apart is their ability to build upon existing knowledge to create an entirely new
The Integrator Life Cycle
experience. It’s also what keeps this industry exciting.
Most integrators will tell you that they didn’t
One integrator commented, “There has been a lot of growth in the
start off with the laundry list of services they
mid-market that many integrators serve. In fact, the benefit of DIY
offer now. Many broke into the industry through
devices is that integrators have more choices and the ability to scale
one or a few specialised categories (often
systems to meet a range of budgets. Dealers and integrators need to
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