Missed Our Open Day Digital Home?

If you missed our Open Day, you missed out on one of the most exciting revenue streams available today. The Digital Home is fast becoming the buzz word of the day. Having the ability to have all your music, films, photos or even work documents at your fingertips no-matter where you are in your home is becoming the latest demand. Tablets are great as portable items, but their limited storage space causes problems. At the Target 2011 Open Day we showcased a fully fuctional Digital Home with Microsoft's latest Home Server 2011.

What is the Digital Home?

Digital Home, what’s it all about? We hear the term used in the press and IT magazines, but do we really understand what it actually is?
As increasing numbers of electrical products come with chips in them and more products are inter-linkable, the more we see this phrase being used. Remember when we all carried our mobile phones round like a briefcase? Now look at them, they are more mobile computer than phone. We can keep in touch, update social networks, let people know our thoughts and fears, set the Sky box to record, read the news and even order our shopping from the local supermarket. However, as with all these expensive pieces of software and hardware we carry, we all want the latest and greatest which means that ofter products are from different manufacturers. We may have an Apple iPhone, a Sony TV, a Gigabyte PC and an Acer laptop and herein lies the problem. You have photos on your phone that you want to see on your laptop, you have music on your PC that you want on your phone, you have a video your sister has emailed you, but you want to see it on your TV.

The digital home brings all these products together by creating a network of technologies that are all connected. Imagine walking through the door after a night out with friends and you can immediately view the images from your phone on your TV. Remember that tune from the last club? Play the audio from your laptop through your Wi-Fi enabled Hi-Fi. The digital home makes all this, and more, possible.

How can it make me money?

You are no longer selling a concept or a glimpse in to the future. You are selling products available now. In fact most people will already have most of the equipment they need.
So what else can you do to make money if our customers already have the equipment? You can sell them your expertise in bringing together all your customers products, ensuring they all communicate effectively together and giving the customer the “digital home” they have dreamt about.
There is ften no wiring, drilling or pulling up of carpets to worry about, meaning that it has never been easier to get the job done.
Charges can be made on a flat fee, time spent or even a product-by-product basis. Imagine charging £50 per product to link - it can soon add up. Mobile phone, pc, laptop, Hi-Fi, digital TV and printerand you're already looking at £300 for half an hour of work.

How do I sell it?

The easiest way to sell anything is by reproducing and showcasing its abilities. Set up a network display within your own shop to allow customers to use their own mobile phones to connect to your network and offer a free download or keep the network live after hours. Extending your offering in to Near Field Communication (NFC) could also get you more customers. Remember, you're not only selling products, but your services too. Planting the seed of desire is the first step to winning a customer for life. Make yourself the local authority on Digital Home set ups. Write articles for your local paper offering helpful tips and reviews on the latest technologies. Don’t just think that it will be gamers or people with the top end PC’s that will want Digital Home.

How do I install it?

No two installations will be the same, but we have documented our installation process for you to see how easy it was. To make sure we didn’t cheat, we had one of our marketing guys do the set up- we thought that if one of our non-technical colleagues can install it, then anyone can.

The Digital Home away from home.

The Digital Home is no longer limited by the 4 walls within your home. It now extends beyond the traditional home. The phrase home is 'wherever I lay my hat is my home', has now been re-worked to - 'home is where I take my smart phone'. Everything can now be controlled from your phone, from setting your digital TV recording to accessing security cameras that can monitor your home 24/7. Forgot a file and already on the train to London? Not a problem, connect to your home network and retrieve the file, from on your mobile. Mum coming round? Quickly login and change the images on your photo frames, unless you want her to see your last trip to Ibiza? Running late and you know your partner will be watching TV? Simply login and change the TV to show the message you want it to.
You no longer have to be sat in front of your computer to access it.