LoxHome24 and 1Home stepping together [interview]

1Home is proud to announce a partnership with LoxHome24 as the next step on our mission to make more smart homes smarter and integrate them with voice control. This cooperation is strengthening our ties to the Bavarian Market and spreading the word of the most intuitive of all interfaces there is.

Joining our strengths with this team of seasoned Loxone installers—they have been with Loxone almost since day one—will bring comfort to more homes than ever, and help us on our mission to provide users with quick and easy voice controlled experience.

Dejan Bukovnik (1Home COO) shared a coffee and a couple of words with Florian Schertler (LoxHome24 CEO) with hopes to shed light on the mutual benefits of such collaboration:

1. How did you come in contact with Voxior and became part of the Voxior Alliance?
Florian: At first we had our own system which enabled the implementation of voice control, which was, at first, very well received by our customers. Unfortunately, the setup turned out to be too complicated for non-technical users. Every now and then there were also system interruptions and users had to set up the devices time and time again.

Then I stumbled upon Voxior through social media but was hesitant to offer a cloud service to some of my most security conscious customers.

Later, when Voxior Box came to the market, we at LoxHome24 tested it and found it incredible. The features that convinced us? The benefits of voice control, saving a ton of time and the simplicity of setup. It’s a plug&play box in the fullest sense of the word.

Dejan: Exactly as Florian said, we noticed the same trend amongst other users, voice integration that was available was too complicated to set up for many of them. At the same time, more and more people that were technical and interested in tinkering with their smart homes as a hobby later started to enjoy their weekends differently, with family, work or other hobbies. Apart from these converted DIY enthusiasts, there was also a large unserved market of non-technical people that greeted the idea of a plug&play box open-handedly.

This is where Voxior was made to be a winner - it minimises the amount of time needed on home DIY projects as it auto-detects devices and lets you control your home with your voice in a matter of minutes. There is of course, a team of experts behind to provide customer support and not to mention constant updates of the system.

2. How is voice automation helping your business?

Florian: We try to remain one step ahead of our competitors and are on the constant lookout for innovative companies. LoxHome24 is thus always breaking new ground, offering expertise, knowledge and smart solutions!

In our company, there are hardly any switches needed or used. Everything works fully automated and powered by voice. Once you try this solution, you don’t want to go without it anymore. Thanks to Voxior, we can offer our customers a professional, future-proof smart home solution. I appreciate the support from Voxior in the form of promotional videos, graphics and help with marketing and development when needed. They are together with us on our goal to deliver the best solutions to smart home owners.

3.  How do you use voice control?

Florian: Of course I use it in my own home! We have also implemented it in our brand new showroom where you can experience it in all its glory, even starting a fireplace with voice. It is a large space where switches cannot be placed all around. It has a tremendous value in comfort. And is packed into a sleek box with many possibilities for tailoring our every need.

Dejan: The newly opened LoxHome24 showroom in Marktschellenberg truly looks breathtaking. It gives an authentic impression on what’s it actually like to command devices with voice in a smart home. Not to mention it has an amazing view of the Alps.

4. Which smart devices are the most popular?

Florian: Firstly, I like the fact that Voxior can connect to any popular smart assistant, so the customers can use all of them. Most of our customers at the moment own Amazon devices, some 90% I would say. This is similar to the general picture in the German market where Amazon will continue to lead. We look forward to see what will Amazon’s competition such as Google and Apple deliver. It will be very interesting, especially in Germany in my opinion, because we have so many smart home companies which expect a lot of from the future developments in the industry.

Dejan: It’s true that the Amazon Alexa assistant is still the most widely used, probably because it has been on the market the longest. But the other ones are approaching very fast and it will be very interesting to see what the industry will look like a year from now. Not only from the voice point of view but smart home functionality in general. Those platforms are already much more than just about voice control but the market isn’t aware of that yet.

We noticed that the most awaited amongst LoxHome24 customers is our upcoming HomeKit integration. It’s currently in beta and we expect the Apple certification to go through in a couple of weeks. And they’re not the only ones buzzing with excitement for HomeKit integration.

5. What do you think smart home market will look like in the future?

Florian: The possibilities for innovation in the smart home industry are tremendous and today we’re only at a fraction of those possibilities.

I think Loxone will continue to grow as a leading manufacturer of smart home systems here in Germany and abroad. There are many reasons for that. With AutoConfig you can easily create a Smart Home project and adapt it at any time. Another reason for their success is the incredible simplicity of the so-called ‘tree system’.

The development of this market will remain to be very exciting and the competition is far from being asleep.

As for the far future, I believe a smart home in 2030 will have barely any switches or control pads. It will be able to do a lot of things autonomously and won’t require much human intervention. For everything else, voice control will be the interface.

As a LoxHome24 company owner, I rely on both Loxone and Voxior. I strongly believe that these two companies are on the path of shaping the best smart home of the future for my customers.

Proof that we are one step ahead of the competition is the fact that at the moment, everyone thinks voice control is just a gadget. But consider this: Who would have thought that we would one day lay network lines to our buttons or control the whole home with a screen? 😁

We plan to remain at the forefront of innovation in this segment of premium smart homes and support partners in sales, marketing, innovation while maintaining great relationships with partners around the globe. Our gaze is focused into the far future, we expect the industry changes with open arms and will keep you in the loop as we go on.

If you are interested in being a part of the 1Home Alliance, send us a message at partners@1home.io.

If you'd like to use voice control in your Loxone smart Home, get more information on how to connect:
Amazon Alexa with your Loxone smart home
Google Home with your Loxone smart home