Interview with Sébastien Perrissoud, Product & Innovation Manager
A leader in the home building, renovation, and home buying markets, the Hexaom Group, formerly the Maisons France Confort Group, is making a smooth transition into the smart home market with its Hexaconnect project. We took a moment to look back on this shared adventure with Sébastien Perrissoud…
Hexaom has evolved at an increasingly faster rate over the past two years. How have you gone from homebuilder to connected service provider?
We started developing our Services business three years ago, with the creation of our online customer area and its partner specials portal. On a broader level, we think about smart technology a lot at Hexaom. This current Hexaconnect project involves our Construction business, with the goal of connecting at least 1,500 new homes per year for the next three years. But single-family homes are only the first piece of the puzzle. Smart homes and their associated services will eventually play a role in all our divisions, including promotion and renovation.
What led you to choose Overkiz to design this first piece of Hexaconnect?
Hexaconnect was born out of a desire to develop an application in our colors that is as open as possible, without equipment-level restrictions. With our commitment to our local community, we absolutely needed a solution that could adapt to the specific needs of our local markets. Heating systems are not all the same in different regions, for example, so it is impossible to require a single service provider across the board. What’s more, the Group has always given its subsidiaries a great deal of freedom, and the choice of partners is up to them. We choose Overkiz for these same reasons, for its customization, compatibility, scalability, agility, and more.
Where exactly is the Hexaconnect project at the present time?
We wanted the option of a rapid deployment without having to start from scratch. We were able to accomplish this in just two years with the Overkiz white-label solution. However, with big volume comes big risk. We are therefore moving forward cautiously, with the establishment of 15 test sites throughout France. At the same time, we have a unifying role among manufacturers, taking advantage of the Overkiz hub to forge strong partnerships with brands like Atlantic, Aldes, Schneider, and Somfy.
After this pilot phase, when will the commercial launch happen?
We’ll be ready in early January. This timing fits perfectly into the new RE2020 system, which features the deployment of smart roller shutters and improved comfort across the board.
“What is a smart home? A place where you feel good and do nothing!”
What will the Hexaom smart home look like in the future?
Until now, our offering was limited to smart roller shutters connected to a gateway, with the customer being responsible for pairing. Our goal with Hexaconnect is to make smart homes accessible to all through the standardization of a turnkey system, including a one-hour setup with the Hexaconnect app for professionals.
We believe that a smart home is a place where you feel good and do nothing! This means that the temperature feels comfortable in both summer and winter, and the home is visually comfortable with lights you can manage with your fingertips from the comfort of your couch.
Finally, our surveys have shown that security is a top priority. This includes not only the security of video surveillance and fire detectors in smart homes, but also data security. Most of our first-time customers are about 40 years old. They are very sensitive to privacy. The Hexaom model does not exploit data, and for even more peace of mind, the Overkiz servers are based in France.
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