Articles and whitepapers

20/9/2003

Realising Dreams: The Need for Systems Integrators

By Jonathan Margolis

Most people, architects included, barely know what a systems integrator is. That is why Kevin Andrews, of Sound Ideas, one of the biggest custom installers in the UK, describes himself on his passport as a lighting designer. "It's easier that way," says Andrews, whose company employs dozens of staff in an old oast house outside Faversham, Kent. "Sometimes, for a change, I might explain what we do by saying I put entertainment in walls."

It is often by a process of word-of-mouth recommendation then, that architects and interior designers discover the kind of thing Sound Ideas and other custom installers can make happen. But once they do so, they tend to call on a trusted systems integrator the moment a (usually) wealthy client starts dreaming about having something a bit special, a bit unusual - and occasionally a bit quirky - in his or her house.

So what is the actual process by which the slightly mysterious path from ambitious idea to practical reality is paved? As Andrews explains, "It starts with an architectural designer, or sometimes a client, saying 'There is this project going on - would you come and talk to us about some of the things that you do and see if there's anything that we can usefully gain from talking to you.' I will go and have that conversation, and from that we will get together a brief and a wish list."

Andrews continues, "There's no point in my selling them a music library system if they only have two CDs, or a cinema system if they don't watch films. But there may be something that we talk about that might fire their imagination and they can envisage themselves doing that. We also need to establish a budget cost. It sounds ridiculous to work back from the budget cost, but that's what we do. You can plan all sorts of systems, but, because people have never done anything like this before, they have no concept of how much it is going to cost, and what value it represents to them. Few of these clients are cost-related. If they want it and it's a million pounds, they'll buy it. If they don't want it, even if it's only a fiver, they won't buy it."

The proposition of clients with unlimited money but very little idea of what they want has obvious attractions for anyone selling a professional service, but there are some other rather unusual aspects to the client/professional interface in the systems integration business. For one thing, the identity of many of the clients remains secret at their request throughout the project, to the extent of refusing even to speak to the installer. This can leave Andrews having to work out clients' requirements through third parties - architects, agents, even lawyers.

A second unusual side to the business is that frequently, the client will almost never actually live in the house, meaning that his/her requirements can be subtly different from what he/she thinks they are. But Andrews will still be expected to work out that, for example, installing a cinema in the Wimbledon home of one his clients is a waste of time and money, since the house is only ever occupied during Wimbledon fortnight. Thirdly, the demands of both clients and imaginative architects can be extremely individual and contain within them problems only an experienced installer can foresee.

"Very often, clients think they have a small problem that we can easily solve," says Andrews, "but for us, because we go through the process so often, the key objective is to describe to them the problems that we think they may have, and offer solutions." Andrews goes on, "We did one project at a medieval-style Scottish castle on a loch that required hidden access to a bowling alley below the bay window seating in the snooker room. We needed to create a mechanism whereby the seating would fold out of the way and reveal a staircase that led you down to the bowling alley. But obviously this had all sorts of non-obvious integration criteria. The seating couldn't fold down if you were in the bowling alley, or if you were coming up the stairs. On the other hand, anyone above would also need to see if someone were down there - and you would also need pressure devices on the seats, so that if someone were sitting on them, they wouldn't fold away. It was a challenging problem, and a unique project. It was also unusual because the client hadn't asked for it - we were realising an idea by the architect."

Andrews notes, "The reason we get repeat business with architects - and why working with architects and designers is our strength - is that they know they can come up with something which seems impossible, and can ask us, 'Can we do that?' The answer is always yes - it's just a matter of cost."

Security is, as all systems integrators know from experience, an overwhelming concern of most clients - far more important to them than entertainment or unusual contraptions such as the castle staircase. But again, there are different levels of security, and it is at the critical installer/client or installer/architect interface that the true requirements are teased out.

As Andrews explains, "We need to find out the things that are important to our clients and then attach some budgets to them. Someone might say, 'I want to feel secure,' and I will say, 'Does this make you feel secure? It is going to cost one million pounds' They might say, 'Well, I don't feel a million pounds insecure, I feel one hundred thousand pounds insecure, what can you do for that?' At this point, you are starting to get bottom line figures."

"We did an installation at a house in North London," Andrews recalls, "where the client and his wife were very, very nervous about their children being snatched or attacked. So they have eighteen cameras there. When you go to the touch screen upstairs, it gives you perimeter drawings of the house and grounds. The client travels a lot, leaving his wife in the house with the children and the nanny. So we have made it so that when she goes to bed, she can look at the screen, and see that every door and window in the house is sealed. It's an enormous house with nine external doors and 46 ground-floor windows. To go round and check those each evening would be an hour's work."

Even once the tricky business of assessing and costing the client's requirements are over, the process of installing integrated systems also requires an inordinate degree of refinement and logicality. "We will typically be going backwards and forwards for anything between two weeks and two years to integrate stuff on a project," says Andrews. "It's a fine balance between the various trades and professions working on a site. There obviously needs to be perfect coordination between architects and electrical engineers, but we will also be talking to the plumber because we will be doing the electronics for monitoring problems in the boilers and sumps, the shower control and all points between. To put it mildly, it helps if everyone is working to the same pace."

Jonathan Margolis is a freelance journalist for national papers such as the FT, Mirror etc.

This article appears courtesy of CEDIA UK (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association).

www.cedia.co.uk