In a wide-ranging discussion with David Humphries, chairperson, CEDIA, covered everything from the new headquarters to future education plans. He also addressed the Amazon Home Technology Pro Engagement Program, which has been off to a slow start. Here's what Humphries had to say:
CE Pro: Last year CEDIA announced the Amazon Home Technology Pro Engagement Program that would act as a referral service for integrators. What feedback have you heard from the members of the program?
Humphries: To take a step back … CEDIA wants to try out new opportunities and new ideas for our members. If we don’t, we are just doing the same old things over and over again. The Amazon Home Technology Pro Engagement Program is one of those new ideas.
So, at the end of 2017, we pulled together a certification roadshow as an excellent platform to connect with home technology professionals who would qualify for this program. We wanted to work with our members, try it out and see if the members found value in it.
We hear from a lot of our members that they don’t know what to make of the program with Amazon yet. We’re trying to do some outreach to get it elevated so more integrators want to take part in it. Right now, we have not gained the momentum and critical mass to fully launch the program.
What that means is our members either don’t understand it or haven’t found any interest in it, but we are working on that and we’re going to continue to promote it. I’m sure we’ll be discussing this with the group at the CEDIA Business Xchange in May as well.
We’re going to continue to promote it and see if we can clarify it for our membership.
Tell us what you think about the Amazon Home Technology Pro Engagement Program and its future.
