Distributors are becoming more vital to the integration industry that goes well beyond their ability to provide integrators with the products they need for their projects. Distributors have truly become partners with integrators.
They provide greatly needed training services by hosting various manufacturers for certifications as well as conducting important training on key products and new areas.
They bolster dealers’ cash flow by allowing integrators to purchase equipment just in time for their installations versus purchasing products too early and have them collect dust on the shelves waiting for the project to be ready and most importantly tying up valuable cash.
They act as a feedback mechanism for integrators. Either on the phone or at the counter, distribution personnel are able to share best practices and ideas with the entire integration community, like which products are easier to install and which ones are getting positive reactions from integrators and their customers.
Some distributors, like Blackwire Designs, are even providing design assistance and even pre-configuration services for integrators. Blackwire Designs writes control system drivers for dealers, offers a linear lighting configuration tool, helps configuration AV-over-IP distribution systems, and provides a networking provisioning service for dealers.
Cody Crossland, vice president of sales at Blackwire Designs, and Seth Johnson, software development manager, joined the October 2024 episode of the D-Tools ‘What’s the Buzz” podcast to discuss how these various services work, the turnaround times and what the response has been from integrators.
The linear lighting configuration tool, dubbed the Blacklight tool, exists as a free service on the Blackwire Designs website.
Crossland says it was created because the Blackwire team wanted a way internally to be able to quote faster and more accurately so that the tape light conversation did not turn into a lengthy one with integrators.
“We rolled up all of those lighting guidelines we learned about power supply, overhead percentages and maximum with the run tape into a utility with an easy-to-use interface that now a dealer can go to our website and crank out a linear lighting system design for a house and they've never done it before. They could get a quote done for a house in probably 10 to 15 minutes,” he says.
