Innovation and Digital Transformation Should be the Way Forward for the Industry
Laxman Tari, Head – Brand and Communication Group, Legrand India during an interaction with Nitisha from BISinfotech talks about its ELIOT program. He says that Eliot, which stands for Electricity + Internet of Things, is a program that aims to inject the power of communications, advances in connectivity and intelligence in the digital infrastructure, which enhances the value of the connected products to improve user experiences. Since, two decades Legrand has progressively developed product ranges for wiring devices, home automation, door entry, lighting management systems, cable management and structured cabling to add to its core offerings of circuit breakers and distribution boards.
Kindly elaborate on Legrand India’s business journey so far and highlight its special offerings.
Legrand is a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructure. In India, we have been a leader in the protection business for over two decades, and leverage global knowledge to customize offerings locally, delivering end-to-end solutions across categories and sectors, from residential and commercial, to hospitality and industrial.
Legrand offers a comprehensive, high-performance portfolio dedicated to electrical and digital infrastructures in buildings—including controls and command products and systems, energy and data flow distribution, cable management and installation components.
Globally, Legrand is a leader in wiring devices and cable management with a global market share of over 20% and 14% respectively. It holds leadership position in protection/modular devices and is a strong challenger in wiring devices.
Legrand has progressively developed product ranges for wiring devices, home automation, door entry, lighting management systems, cable management and structured cabling to add to our core offerings of circuit breakers and distribution boards. The company now holds a leading position in Home Automation, MCCBs and Cable management systems. Our products enjoy undisputable brand equity in India because they have a clear advantage which reflects in the design-engineering that works, in the simplicity of use and in the simplicity of installation.
The acquisition of established companies like Numeric and Valrack further strengthens Legrand India’s promise of complete solutions and makes us a preferred partner across segments. The company is fast emerging as a leader in its core business by extending products and services that suit every segment in the local market.
How does ELIOT work and in what way is it beneficial to your clients?
We, at Legrand, are trying to build an environment where various devices can seamlessly be connected and combined with analytics to improve the performance and interoperability of the devices. This is where our IoT program known as ELIOT comes into play.
Eliot, which stands for Electricity + Internet of Things, is a program that aims to inject the power of communications, advances in connectivity and intelligence in the digital infrastructure, which enhances the value of the connected products to improve user experiences. Eliot also supports the development of suitable digital infrastructures for buildings and provides interoperability.
In India, the Eliot premium product offerings include solutions in the following categories:
- Residential: Arteor With Netatmo, My Home Up, Classe 300 IP Door Phones, Nuvo for Audio Systems.
- Hospitality: Neat for Integrated Assisted Living, and Flex
- Commercial: Power Distribution Unit, and Energy Distribution.
Our products and services are equipped with the power to communicate, as they touch lives in a much more meaningful way. The power of IoT through the ELIOT program, breathes intelligence into our offerings, bringing unparalleled simplicity, comfort and security for users. Launched in 2015, the ELIOT program aims to inject the power of communication into Legrand’s products and services, wherever the Internet of Things can improve the user experience. ELIOT also supports the development of suitable digital infrastructures for buildings and is doing everything it can to promote interoperability.
What was your agenda to start this ELIOT program? How is it going to help the industry people?
India is at the cusp of technological advancements, and it is the right time for IoT to become mainstream. Customers have evolved and millennials are already using app-based services. India has the ecosystem ready in place for connected devices. Internet penetration is at its peak, people have befriended technology as a part of their daily life and demand for voice-controlled devices (Alexa, Google etc.) is strong. The success of IoT products requires proximity to both the people who are the users of IoT devices and to the power and data connectivity that will enable those IoT devices and services. The development of smart homes and the increase in government initiatives for smart city projects have also given a tremendous boost to the demand and adoption of next-gen IoT products and devices that enhances and modifies real-time smart living for families.
Legrand believes in constantly innovating and coming up with next-gen solutions and products that can help enhance the way of living for our audiences. Keeping in mind the growing acceptance and demand for connected living, we as global specialists in the electrical and digital building infrastructure, saw this opportunity and wanted to explore it. While trying to build an environment where various devices can seamlessly be connected and combined with analytics to improve the performance and interoperability of the devices, our team of experts chalked out the ELIOT program.
Eliot, which stands for Electricity + Internet of Things, is a program that aims to inject the power of communications, advances in connectivity and intelligence in the digital infrastructure, which enhances the value of the connected products to improve user experiences.
The Eliot IoT program is based on three cornerstones: connected solutions, interoperability, and sustainable digital and electrical infrastructure for buildings. With our premium solutions we provide a triple focus on digital trust for end consumers and partners through our IoT Eliot program, i.e., advantage in using the brand relationship satisfaction, ensuring security where no one else can access the data and ensuring privacy where no one else except the consumer can access their data.
How was the business during pandemic situation and what are your future strategies to cope up with such situations?
As a philosophy, health, and safety are key paramount for Legrand and all our stakeholders. The key challenge faced was to bring each one of us to the level of adapting to the new normal. The second wave of the pandemic was unlike the first wave, which has impacted all the businesses and our loved ones. The first wave of pandemics focused on reviving the businesses whereas, the second wave had unprecedently impacted our customers and team members.
Owing to the ongoing pandemic, we understood the sentiments and did not believe in rushing to revive the business. In the current situation, health & wellbeing is our utmost priority. Once things went back to normal on the personal front for all our stakeholders, is when we started reviving our business slowly and steadily. We did not hustle into business immediately, in terms of orders and new customers. Our main aim right now is to maintain track of the recovery of our impacted team members and to ensure that our employees are fully vaccinated.
On the business front, the manufacturing and the supply chain have continued to work under the Government Safety guidelines. We had increased our inventory during the lockdown owing to when the markets will open, we would be able to serve our customers better. The back end has been working steadily within the limitations to ensure that the supply chain is not impacted. But on the customer end, we will go slow and steady and serve them as and when required.
Is there any new announcement related to IoT sector? Kindly elaborate.
Legrand India recently launched its new range of wiring devices ‘Myrius Next Gen’, the premium product assortment. Myrius Next Gen is created to build great value and strengthen Legrand’s presence in the premium segment with its modern technology. This new range of products has been developed using the intelligence of IoT which includes wireless technology, controlling it remotely (even when away from home), voice control, app control, can monitor electricity usage & get alerts. With this launch, we expect to do the following things for our customers: savings, safety, convenience, control, in addition to comfort and peace of mind.
The product range (Myrius Next Gen) is targeted at the residential and commercial segment with also a focus on architects, builders, electricians, consultants, contractors, developers, system integrators and retailers. Also, the IMD technology has been used here, which is a breakthrough as it’s the first in this category. This technology adds to the finesse and durability of the products and goes with the latest style of home décor.
We are also working on a few other projects in the IoT sector, and we will share some exciting updates on the same very soon.
What kind of challenges is the industry facing right now and how can they be resolved in your opinion?
The pandemic created various challenges for almost every business, sector, industry in India as well as globally. Businesses came to a standstill and all the operations moved to digital working. Remote working was not the best option for many industries, including manufacturing and the logistic operations were also stopped due to Covid19.
However, we have come a long way since March 2020 and have successfully fought many challenges during this time. The industry during the last one year has seen a great shift in the demand and supply dynamics, consumers were now looking at buying connected / safe solutions for their homes and workplaces. They are exploring digital channels to get more info about this product and even buy online. Vendors and Suppliers too had difficulties due to the pandemic and various norms. Eventually, the sector overcame these challenges and started working on reviving the business.
In my opinion, innovation and digital transformation should be the way forward for the industry. Businesses are now back on track and are hopeful about the festive season. The home automation solutions market is constantly growing and the demand for connected living is on the rise.
How IoT adoption can reinforce toward offering customers best features and programs?
We have already stepped into a world where virtual communication exists. IoT means a network of physical devices, vehicles, electronics, sensors, software, and every other object around you that are digitally connected and assists the collection and exchange of data. IoT technology refers to the Universe of devices with in-built sensors that provide data for further transmission in a much more convenient way. In today’s time, all the latest technologies are simply for survival. The latest technologies have impacted all industries, from logistics to manufacturing to healthcare – and we are about to enter a connected world. Not just organizations, IoT has also led to massive empowerment of the consumers by providing greater control of household systems and appliances and made their lives much easier and more convenient.
And not just IoT, but even AI is a very useful advanced technology that can help enhance our products and solutions in order to provide the consumers with the best features and programs. AI (Artificial Intelligence) helps in ‘machine learning’. For data to be useful it must be analyzed, which is exactly what AI does. AI makes a huge volume of data meaningful. It tries to imitate human brains, how the human brain thinks, behaves, and react to the respective actions. AI provides results as per consumer behaviour, for example, Amazon will suggest movies and books based on your last buy. It brings in ‘intelligent connectivity’ to the users of IoT since mere connectivity of devices will do no good until the data from those devices is analyzed in terms of what is relevant and what is not.
Any flagship offering you’re willing to highlight under Legrand India flagship?
Myrius Next Gen
- Motifs Collection – Designer and Colour plates inspired by the hues & patterns in India.
- IOT Products – Intelligence of IoT Technology can help central command of switches & sockets, monitor the energy consumption & get notifications in case of power failure. It can be controlled by traditional touch, smartphones & voice commands to live your life in comfort.
- Antibacterial solution – Silver Ion infused switches & plates that inhibit the growth of bacteria for a safe environment.
MyHOME Up – Automation
MyHOME_Up is a home automation solution designed to meet the different needs of:
- Comfort, to control lights, shutters, temperature and music in any environment in a personalized way;
- Security, to avoid unwanted intrusions, by integrating the alarm system and the video camera;
- Consumption and power control, to obtain energy savings and to avoid overload blackouts.
There are endless choices in types of commands to control the system: from digital commands to smartphones, from the touch screen to voice commands.
