Earlier this month, Nice North America CEO Emanuel Bertolini published an open letter “Pledge to Partners,” that subtly contrasted Nice’s dealer/manufacturer service relationship with the SaaS rollouts from control and automation competitors in the custom integration channel. RTT was offered an opportunity to interview Bertolini, who joined Nice in August 2023, to learn more about the company’s motivation for its Pledge.
Bertolini, whose letter reflected on how “the growing implementation of customer-direct cloud-based services can disrupt the value our partners bring to their customers,” and that “the growing implementation of customer-direct cloud-based services can disrupt the value our partners bring to their customers,” acknowledged in a video interview that with SaaS already being rolled out across many different industries, it was not a surprise seeing them appear in the CI industry.
“I definitely applaud some of these moves and decisions,” he said. “Everything that makes this industry better moving forward I think is a great step.”
Bertolini said that Nice was motivated to issue their Pledge after receiving “a lot of questioning” both internally from their existing partner network as well as from competitors’ dealers about what they “were going to do or not do” regarding SaaS and direct invoicing of clients.
“I interact almost every week with people coming here for training, so I do hear a lot,” he noted. “What I felt was important was for us to be very open about and frank about what our position is.”
So, the company “spent a long afternoon” exploring the situation and came to the conclusion that their position was to “stand behind” their partners and customers and stay the course with their existing market strategy.
“Every time you introduce something new in an industry, waters need to settle,” Bertolini said. “We’re going to know six months from now, one year from now… We felt that in this point for us, to keep the course action that we have, for Nice as a company.”
With still very new branding as Nice North America and new executive leadership, it’s clear that Bertolini is more focused now on building or maintaining trust with dealer partners first and foremost, rather than making waves (to follow the “settling waters” analogy) with SaaS at this point in time.
“We’re going to keep listening to our partners,” Bertolini added. “I always say when I shake hands and meet them, ‘Guys, we’re not perfect. We strive for excellence. If we’re in business, it’s because you’re in business. If you’re successful, then we’re going to be successful. That’s our course of action.”
Specifically, Nice North American is working to help their partners become more efficient and more successful and business owners while investing in new products and improving the quality and reliability of their technologies and the way they train, service, and interact with their integrators.
“We just opened a Peabody, MA, training center for the Northeast, increasing our training team and staff, investing in our Nice University, and our Partner Portal,” Bertolini said. “We are not a large company, but what I like about that is that we’re doing things that I’m not hearing happening around other companies. Next, we’ll be launching a new OS 8.8.601 following our major feature release of OS 8.8 in June 2023.”
When asked how Nice communicates with and works with its partners on new software updates, Bertolini said that some integrators do ask that Nice proceed with updating systems as soon as the updates are ready, while some prefer to select the timing for an update to avoid unexpected truck rolls if they would need to be on-site to adjust anything with their customer’s products/systems. Because of this, Nice communicates with its partners before they install an update to make sure the process is seamless and the timing is right for each customer.
For Nice, the Home Management OS 8.8.601 software update delivers improved user experience, enhanced performance, and introduces new drivers for more integration across utilities, video, security, climate, and lighting.
Specifically, new drivers that offer integrations across security, climate, and lighting, include the DSC PowerSeries Neo Security Panel, AprilAire S86WMUPR Thermostat, and Xfinity IP driver with voice control via the Nice HR40 Multifunction Smart Remote, allowing users to search across all channels and streaming services enabled on the Xfinity box. They also include Lutron Palladiom Climate Control, Lutron LEAP: Phantom Buttons, Button Press & Release Support – QSX, RA3 – WarmDim Support – Lumaris, and Tunable White Support – DALI, Lumaris, Lutron Vive for the Lutron commercial line, and Schlage Wi-Fi Doorlocks.
Utilities integrations with include BlueBOLT-CV3 Interface Card Support; NETGEAR AV power over ethernet (PoE) driver with Powerlink for the M4250, M4300, M4350, and M4500 series; Wattbox PDU driver with Powerlink for 300/700 and 800 series; 300/700: WB-300-IP-3, WB-300VB-IP-5, WB-700-IPV-12 / WB-700CH-IPV-12; and 800: WB-800-IPVM-6, WB-800-IPVM-12; and Enphase Solar Inverters gives end users the ability to review the power production from their solar panels.
The upgrade, which is available for all Nice dealers who service customers with a Nice Home Management system, also provides support of Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) for an optimal streaming experience.
“We keep expanding the Nice environment, Bertolini concluded. “If I look at Nice versus others, again we’re the small kid on the block, but we have something that not everybody has when I look at a house. You’re going to have a gate, you’re going to have a garage door opener, you’re going to have a home management system, you’re going to have an automated house, and we have that portfolio and capability. The next step for us is making that a seamless experience from an app standpoint and user experience.”
