Making the Connections: Liaison Technology Group’s new Fort Myers Design Center showcases how seamlessly technology can integrate into everyday living

When Steve Weber was building a mountain house in Colorado, it took years to find a company that could suc- cessfully install the integrated technology he wanted. He drew on that experience when he was looking to transition out of the medical field and into the business world, founding Liaison Technology Group to help give clients a better experi- ence than he had.

“I’m a builder and fixer by nature,” says the former general and vascular sur- geon. “I saw something that was broken and could be fixed.”

Liaison Technology Group operates under the principle that technology should make life easier, not more complicated. “The system needs to be simple to control and use,” says Weber. “And it needs to be reliable. When you give it a command, that command needs to happen.”

Customers often first come to Liaison looking for one solution, like home audio or motorized window treatments. Then the company takes that opportunity to show them all the other possibilities, from automated lighting to security ac- cess and surveillance.

“We want to wow you,” says Weber. “Basically, you can control anything that has an electron going to it from a single app.”

All those different technologies are designed and installed to work together seamlessly, and it is Liaison’s ongoing job to ensure that they do. The company tests all its equipment and solutions before installing them, then monitors firmware updates, software updates and upgrades. “We’re the people who have to fix it when it’s not working, so we have to stay on top of it when those changes happen,” says Weber.

A FOCUS ON FLORIDA

Liaison has locations in Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and Wyo- ming. Southwest Florida is a major  a retirement area (often for folks with a healthy disposable income) and a place where people have vacation homes. Adgrowth market for the firm, as it’s both ditionally, the area’s sunshine and warm weather make it a popular place for au­tomated window treatments. ­

At Liaison’s new Fort Myers Design Center, homeowners and business own­ers can experience firsthand the many options for automation available from the company. Customers can see and touch different keypads for lighting control and fabrics for window shades, or observe how a TV lift functions. A fully functional home theater includes a projector, screen, theater seating and acoustic treatment, and it can all operate with the push of a button.  

“We really want to portray more of an experience,” says Weber. “It’s not just shelves of TVs or various products.”  

Another area demonstrates the dif­ference between good lighting and bad lighting. “We design lighting around the different elements of what you need, such as safety and tasking, so that the lighting actually accomplishes more than just throwing out lumens,” says Weber.  

He also points out that if you’ve spent money on high-quality countertops, flooring and cabinetry, you’re not get­ting the full value of that purchase if you don’t have the right lighting. “We work closely with interior designers to enhance what you hired them to do,” he says. “I like to tell clients it’s like walking into a Motel 6 versus a high-end hotel such as The Ritz. You go in there and the feeling is totally different.  

“When we can show people less desirable lighting versus good lighting, they get it,” continues Weber. “They understand why there’s a difference.”  

That ability for customers to experi­ence the technology firsthand, rather than just imagining what it could do, is a key element of the new design center. “It opens their eyes and helps educate them on what’s possible,” says Weber. “Most people have no idea all the dif­ferent things we can do. We want to use the space to be able to educate them on what the possibilities are, and then they can make informed decisions.”  

Liaison works with homeowners to learn how they live and the solutions that would be helpful to them. That could be creating automated lighting scenes that  transition from task lighting during the day to safety lighting overnight. Or for a home theater, a single button could control the blinds, lights and entertain­ment options.  

“It’s figuring out from the home­owner how we can take their regular tasks and put it into one button to do that task,” says Weber. “We still give them control and ways to change it if they have a special circumstance. But it’s all ways to make your regular tasks simpler.”  

The company also creates integrated technology solutions for corporate offices, hospitality spaces, houses of worship, multifamily developments, entertainment venues and other com­mercial spaces. That can include meeting technology for conference rooms, audio-visual systems and digital signage for bars and restaurants, and lighting systems for apartment complexes.  

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS  

Liaison wants the new Fort Myers Design Center to serve as a resource for Southwest Florida builders, architects, designers and developers. “We touch every one of the different trades,” says Weber. “If we can help the other trades on a project understand what it is we’re doing, it’s going to be much easier for them to integrate with it.”  

A lot of people might think of integrated and automated technology as something that comes at the end of a project. But it’s actually much more  budget-friendly and efficient to think about it as early as possible.  

Take automated window treatments, for example. “There are a lot of different ways we can hide shades; they can come out of the ceilings or from recessed pock­ets,” says Weber. “If that is not planned ahead of time, it either can’t be done or ends up costing a lot of money.”  

Technology decisions can influence electrical plans, lighting placement and other elements of the overall design of a home or commercial space. “It’s better when we’re in on a project when it’s in the planning stages,” he says. “The earlier we get in, the better.”  

Aesthetics are as important to Weber as they might be to an interior designer. “We don’t want the technology in your face,” he says. “We want it to be there and not seen unless you’re going to use it. For lighting control, it’s more important to me that the keypads and dimmers fit in with the decor than it is which control system I use. If it doesn’t fit in with the aesthetics, you’re going to be regretting that constantly.”  

The customer experience is impor­tant to Liaison, which is one reason why there’s a training center attached to the new Fort Myers Design Center. Hands-on training will focus predominantly on lighting installation, which is becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, but the company will also offer training  on other technologies, especially for its less-experienced technicians.  

Though Liaison Technology Group has grown significantly since its 2014 founding, it strives to provide a concierge style of service for customers, with the same technicians serving the same clients as much as possible. Quality assurance is also key.  

“We want to make sure we’re deliver­ing what we say we’re going to deliver,” says Weber. “We have a client journey that goes all the way through servicing the project. We’ve defined every step of the way how we do things.”  

It all goes back to making technol­ogy easy to use, convenient and reliable. “We’re always finding ways to do things better,” says Weber. “We’re listening to our clients. We’re listening to their pain points and to what didn’t go well, and we’re fixing that. And that’s allowed us to just continually improve.”