Alan Chow caught up with Connected post-Integrate to talk Chowmain Software, the state of the industry and of course, what it was like to win the Golden Paul. Simeon Barut reports.

With another Integrate done and dusted, it would be criminal to not cover arguably the most important event that took place over the three days – the announcement of the 2018 Golden Paul Award.

For those of you who don’t know, the Golden Paul is an award given to the person who is deemed to be the most influential in the industry, according to their peers. Connected editor Paul Skelton thinks he is the most influential person in the industry but fortunately is ineligible for the award so instead he stuck his face on the trophy and named it after himself.

Alan Chow, founder of Chowmain Software, was the deserving winner for 2018 in a pool that saw a plethora of exceptional nominees.

So, who is Alan? And why was he voted as the most influential in the industry? Well, for those of you who don’t know, Alan is a software and driver developing machine. It wasn’t always like that though, with his skill-set coming about accidentally.

“A lot of what is today came about totally out of the blue,” says Alan.

“At university I studied a Bachelor of Information Systems at La Trobe in Victoria so I always intended to go into IT. However, one day when I was scrolling through seek.com.au, I came across an ad for a role at Convergent Technologies that was to manage its Control4 portfolio; technical support, training, hardware repairs and development. That’s how I got my start in the industry.”

While the role loomed as a massive challenge for him, Alan already had a background in support, so he quickly found his feet and made the most of the opportunity.

“In hindsight it was a big step in. I had to learn a lot about home automation but since it was a support role and I had been doing technical support since the age of 14, I felt a bit like a veteran. On the other side, I was extremely new to home automation technology so that was certainly a huge hurdle,” says Alan.

“Despite that, as a hobbiest, I loved to tinker with technology. It was always a passion of mine to play with new toys and gadgets so it turned out to be a bit of a dream job – and it still is.”

Alan began in the role in 2006 and stayed there for four years until Convergent lost the Control4 distributorship. At that point, Recluse AV offered him a position as its Control4 programmer and project manager.

“While at Recluse, I did some driver development but it was nowhere near a full-time gig like it is now, it was once in a blue moon between programming for projects.  It is something I really enjoyed and funnily enough it’s what I do now every day.”

It wasn’t until Alan was offered an energy management project that involved him monitoring and optimising the energy usage of a major utility in Auckland that the Chowmain Software business idea actually found some traction.

“While I was working on the energy project, I started up Chowmain as a side business. Our intentions was for it to be a gap filler when there was downtime in the energy business but it turned into our primary business over time,” Alan says.

“Chowmain started off as a Control4 developer and it was like that for the better part of two or three years. In that time we built up a dealer base of about 2,500 worldwide – we had a huge piece of the pie. Then other home automation companies like ELAN and URC started approaching us – all thanks to the team at QualiFi – and from there Crestron, Q-SYS and RTI were added to the pack.

“We love to help the industry by either adding solutions that fill in gaps in the marketplace or by helping manufacturers reach new markets through integration to the systems we develop for.  In the end everyone wins – product manufacturers sell more hardware, home automation manufacturers sell more systems and dealers provide a broader integrated solution.”

From his first job at Convergent to being the back-bone of the flourishing Chowmain, Alan has been around long enough to gain a grasp of the ins and outs of the industry and, more importantly, where it’s headed. His experience working for a distributor, an integrator and a developer has meant he’s seen just about everything the industry dishes up.

“From a technology standpoint, I think a lot of the big brands are starting to embrace home automation so you’ll find people like Sony and Samsung embedding home automation features into their products.

“I think Internet of Things (IoT) has also added a lot of value to the industry. It’s brought a lot of recognition to home automation and a lot of AV devices. Consumers are using technology more and more today so that acceptance of technology in people’s lives has been a great thing, for integrators especially.”

Alan has zero concerns for the smaller businesses coming up against giants like Samsung and Sony and suggests to those trying gain exposure to be innovative.

“As one of the ‘little guys’, I don’t really think you need a lot of money to stand out. It’s all about innovation. If you’ve got a good product and it’s doing something that’s different then you will shine and things will progress. I’ve seen so many smaller companies grow purely through innovation – the key is to not do what other people are doing, but do something that you feel will really benefit the market.”

Upon reflection of his Golden Paul win, Alan couldn’t help but feel humbled by the recognition he has received.

“It’s a real honour to win the Golden Paul award. All jokes aside, the award means a lot to the industry because it’s a symbol of the recognition I’m receiving from my peers whether they’re dealers, integrators, manufacturers or distributors.

“From a personal standpoint, winning it means the things I set out to achieve in the industry many years ago are actually working. I always feel like I’ve got room for improvement but my goal is to always give back to the industry and help dealers integrate more products and offer the best user experience to home owners.

“I’m really thankful because it shows that what I do and what I contribute to the industry really matters and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”