The single biggest complaint I hear from really smart custom electronics integrators is: “Every time we try a new system, it looks great at first but then we find its limitations.”
Next thing from their mouth is usually “…and they don’t seem to care about what we are asking for.”
Welcome to NIH Syndrome (Not Invented Here).
While I do provide product consulting services, I’ve found that most manufacturers don’t even want to hear what you have to say–even if the advice is free and presented as a solution, complete with value proposition and market need!
Money won’t even give them pause. I offered to pay RTI Corp to develop a 2-way driver interface for their remotes to our systems. The sales manager did not even consider it.
That type of behavior usually means a company is being downsized, sold, or run by people who do not want to ever hear from a customer.
I called Crestron, they had options.
Ultimately, this behavior demonstrates exactly the valuable service Systems Integrators provide. We prevent our clients from buying equipment that will not meet their needs, and save them the anguish of suffering with a solution that does not “hit the spot”.
