On the heels of a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription rollout by Snap One’s Control4 brand last month and a similar program launched by Savant in 2021, it appears that that Nice North America is looking to contrast its service approach from its competitors.
In an open letter “Pledge to Partners,” CEO Emanuel Bertolini’s references to competitors are opaque, but the context seems to be aimed at contrasting Nice’s more traditional dealer/manufacturer service relationship with the SaaS rollouts, which, in Control4’s case, involve direct annual billing from the manufacturer to the end user.
Bertolini’s letter begins by reflecting on how “the growing implementation of customer-direct cloud-based services can disrupt the value our partners bring to their customers.” The Nice NA CEO then writes, “While such resources expand the possibilities in how we serve our end-customers, the growing implementation of customer-direct cloud-based services can disrupt the value our partners bring to their customers.”
Clearly reflecting on the rumored pushback from some dealers following the Savant SaaS rollout and now from a collection of vocal Control4 dealers who are pushing back on Snap One’s new service approach, Bertolini then states, “In these situations, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to our valued partners whom, without your trusted expertise and collaboration, the experience of our collective customer would be greatly impaired.”
The letter goes on to say that Nice’s “collective customers depend on their integrator relationship for quality installation and ongoing support to ensure optimized and reliable performance; you are the best resource to address and understand customers’ needs. It is important to collaborate closely with the partner community to identify how we can leverage new technologies for mutually beneficial growth.”
It’s an affectionate message to Nice North America’s integration community but also one that seems to play up unsubstantiated concerns from Control4 dealers (as reported here by Strata-gee’s Ted Green) that Snap One’s direct billing of clients for a mandatory service program for new installations is an attempt to cut out integrators from future sales. This claim has been refuted by Snap One executives and the dealer council who helped create the program.
Read the full letter here and learn more about Control4’s responses to its SaaS rollout dealer questions in this article.
