The longer I drive the technology business of Acuity Brands, it becomes clearer to have a flexible framework for partnership levels and classifications as a strategic imperative. That’s because the strategy needs to be evaluated and tweaked as the space evolves to include new technologies, new companies and partner expectations.
That stated, some of these partners may have an ideal solution that helps your business expand, but falling short of partner expectations is a common pitfall. Prior to onboarding partners, there should be a service where the partner understands the full value of the agreement. Retail partners are expecting:
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Tailored commercialization, training and technical support services from onboarding to deployment
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Convenient developer portal access with self-service to APIs and SDKs
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Rich data access for IPS, people flow analytics, asset tracking and others
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Services and solutions to rapidly build, deploy and maintain their client application
In the retail space, the AtriusTM IoT Partner program has been consistently and strategically adding to the partner portfolio to maximize our solution services for big box customers. Some recent partners for retail include Verve, GISinc., LocusLabs and Phunware. But the latest is Spatial DNA. Our 5-step qualification program ensures that the partnership makes good business sense for our partners to rapidly build, deploy and maintain client applications.
President, Acuity Technology Group and Executive Vice President, Acuity Brands, Inc.
Leading the technology business for Acuity Brands requires a strong foundation in the convergence of new technology for an evolving market being transformed via digitalization. Laurent Vernerey has spent over 30+ years in this space, bringing his experience in transforming from product- to solution-focused and from industrial- to technology-driven at Schneider Electric. He is currently the President of the Technology Group for Acuity Brands.
