A fully customised control system can greatly enhance the end user experience but sometimes, what comes with the product might be best. Geoff Meads looks at what to use and when.

It’s amazing how far we’ve come in system control. Back in my days working for a manufacturer we were all impressed with in-wall keypads. Then came the awesome (though hardly intuitive) ‘learning’ remotes before the influx of touch screen devices from the commercial world. The real step change though was the introduction of smartphones and tablets. The cost of a system control dropped from thousands of dollars to hundreds overnight.

Having affordable control hardware is one thing. Designing software interfaces that can be used quickly, reliability and without the need for a huge manual is something else. The likes of Apple and Google have set the bar for interfaces incredibly high. There’s no need for a manual at all with their smart devices. Using them has become second nature thanks to millions of hours of research and development and millions of devices deployed.

Not only have smart device interfaces become ingrained in our muscle memory but their use has set standards for terminology, layout and iconography. For example, no matter what smartphone you pick up, you can expect the primary user’s most often-used apps to be found at the bottom of the screen.

All this leaves the average installer with a question – “how can I make the systems I supply as user-friendly as possible for the client who is used to a smartphone?” One answer is to rely on their smartphone to be the system control device. While the advantages are obvious, the disadvantages are more compelling. Smartphones and tablets are personal devices that move around with their owner. System control devices need to be near the system they control, or the system becomes useless.

Once we’ve chosen a control device, it’s time to choose the interface. Many control systems come with a pre-installed operating system with very little choice in terms of control layouts. Others allow a fully customisable experience to be built. So, which is right for the customer?

The out-of-the-box solution

There are clear advantages to an out-of-the-box solution. Firstly, much of the hard work has already been done for you by the manufacturer. All the controls are there, you just need to configure the ones that apply to the specific installation you’re working on and you’re home and dry.

There are clear cost advantages here for the customer. In addition, if another company has already installed a system in one property for the client you can simply use the same system in their next house, and they will be familiar with the operation of your system right from the start.

Finally, the manufacturer has probably (actually, almost certainly) committed a lot of time and resources to make sure their interface is as right as possible before you ever install it. It’s in the manufacturer’s interest that the user has a great experience with their devices because their brand name is right on the front of it.

As for downsides, well a stock interface is just that – stock. You can’t easily customise its look, change icons, colours or typography. While a chosen system might offer 80% of the experience even the most demanding of customers expect, it won’t make everyone happy. That’s just life.

Fully customised interfaces

So how about a fully-customisable interface? One that you design all the graphics for and position all the controls exactly as you’d like them to be? Well, there are plenty of advantages to this approach.

Firstly, you can completely craft the user experience. From initial greetings to feedback on actions, you can deliver exactly what’s needed. If you want the screen to show an actual picture of the room being controlled, you can do that. If you’d like to show shades raising and dropping in real-time or have darker control screens for media rooms and lighter ones for living spaces, you can do those things too. Whatever you need to create, you can do it.

A secondary advantage, one some folks don’t think about, is that you can remove little or no used controls. It was Steve Jobs that said: “Focus isn’t about the things you do it’s about the things you don’t do.”

Out-of-the-box interfaces must cope with any given control requirement. To achieve that they often include buttons and other controls that may never be used. These get in the way of a clear, concise user experience and can often serve to confuse the user.

Budget considerations

Clearly, out-of-the-box interfaces are cheaper to deliver. There is no cost for graphical design, far less testing time is needed and the install team will probably be already used to the controls (assuming the company uses the chosen control system often). This means the commissioning process will usually be simpler.

That said, the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” can also be a worry. The more familiar a technician is with an interface the more likely they are to make assumptions about the system, particularly if certain elements work or not.

Custom designs will usually be more costly. They will require graphic design, coding, testing and usually a longer commissioning cycle to get just right. However, if you have complete control of the interface then post-install customer upgrade requests can often be easier if you are working with a custom design. That’s assuming it’s coded in a modular way…

Finally, custom design requires additional skills that you may or may not have within your company. In addition, a good graphic designer may not be a good interface designer and vice versa. They are different skill sets. Once designs are agreed and coded then a proper testing regime must be used to ensure a trouble-free roll out and these are additional skills you may not have in your current team.

What’s the verdict?

So how do we decide on the best approach? Well, we simply can’t ignore the budget. It’s often the deciding factor for simpler installations. However, an unusable system represents the poorest value of all and, if a custom design is needed to ensure 100% client satisfaction, then that might be just the way you need to go.