CE Pro February 2023 - 27

like a consultant helping an integrator look
at his or her business with fresh eyes and
possible change some behaviors.
" We don't want to change their product,
we just change their approach so it's
consistent with the other companies we're
acquiring, " he adds.
Flexible Autonomous Home Solution
The Unify acquisition also laid the groundwork
for Hi Solutions' repeatable packaged
solution. At Unify Smart Home, Medley
created an Apple HomeKit/Amazon Alexa-based
system using technology from Lutron,
Ring, Yale, Sonos, Sonance and others.
" It really rivals high-end systems, but it is
all done naturally through HomeKit and Alexa.
From there, we transitioned into a much
higher-level system called the Autonomous
Home, which takes touch, voice, motion and
timing, and integrates it into the way customers
live. We combine that solution with
an operational process that starts with an
interview of the customer and a deep dive to
identify how you live in your home, the way
you want to live, and then building a system
that integrates in your lifestyle naturally
through voice, touch, motion and timing.
We believe our Autonomous Home solution
addresses the customer needs across a very
wide income demographic, including the very
high end of the market as well. "
The Autonomous Home solution is built
around technology from Josh.ai, Sonos,
Sonance and Lutron.
" When you leave your home, things just
turn off because the system knows what
time it is, and it knows you're the last one to
leave. When a person comes home during
the day, it may be open shades. When the
first person comes home at night, it does
something different, " says Medley.
" Our solution is designed so that I will
be able to walk into my living room and say,
'Good morning,' and have the system respond
back to me and do what I want to do
because it knows who I am, it knows what
time of day it is, it knows what I want it to
do during that time. That's what we're calling
the Autonomous Home. "
The solution is also flexible enough to
incorporate various designs and change
based on the client's preferred smart phone
cepro.com
brand, for example.
" If you're someone that doesn't love voice
control, that's OK. Then we'll do motion,
timing and touch. If you're someone that
doesn't want keypads on the walls, then we
will design a system with voice and motion,
using geofencing with the mobile phone
perhaps. We can also have motion sensors
that trigger routines and certain times of the
day. If you are an iPhone user. We are going
to use HomeKit to do a lot of the triggering.
If you are using Josh, then we will build
the whole platform around Josh. That's the
essence of what we're doing, " he adds.
The flexibility of the system enables Hi
Solutions to create suitable voice, touch,
motion and timing solutions using different
products if necessary. That enables
the company to respond to the needs of
different homebuilders, ranging from a
$5,000 solution for a production builder or a
$500,000 solution for a large custom home
with lighting and a home theater.
Medley adds, " As the price of the home
and the intricacies of the architecture
increase, we will install different products,
but the way we design the system and the
full-discovery process with the customer is
identical whether it is a production home or
a multimillion-dollar custom home. It's not
product-driven... it's experience driven. "
Delight to Take Care of Service
On top of the system design, Hi Solutions is
developing a multilevel, high-touch service
plan dubbed Delight with the tagline " Stay
connected, stay current, and stay custom. "
The service plan ensures the system will be
kept updated and can be changed based on
the changing needs of the homeowner.
" We don't make it mandatory, but the way
we've set it up almost every customer wants
to be a part of that because we also have an
app called Higgins that we're putting out, "
says Medley.
Higgins will enable customers to see the
health of their system and contact a service
rep through a Zoom call quickly if necessary.
The basic-level service plan will be free to
clients and the service plans will graduate
upward from there in terms of deliverables
and monthly costs for customers, ranging
from no cost to about $1,200 a year. CE Pro
February 2023 CE Pro | 27
" If you are
an iPhone
user, we're going
to use HomeKit
to do a lot of
the triggering.
If you're using
Josh, then we will
build the whole
platform around
Josh. That's the
essence of what
we're doing. "
-Darrin Medley,
Hi Solutions
http://www.Josh.ai http://www.cepro.com
CE Pro February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro February 2023
