Blog
5 Ways That Shure Enhances The Customer Experience Through Strategic Partnerships
Because people today expect technology products to not only work well, but also to work well with other products they connect to, Shure has forged several partnerships with key technology companies to deliver exactly that experience.
August 03, 2016 |
Shure has been creating innovative audio products for more than 90 years. Our goal has been to make the best products possible to serve our customers' needs. But, the age of digital audio and mobile devices has expanded technical possibilities and customer expectations.
Products — both wired and wireless — now exchange not only audio but information. This has made connections between components much more important and complex than when a microphone was plugged into an analog mic input. The emergence of standardized protocols for digital audio and system control has created new opportunities for AV manufacturers to get creative.
Audio-visual products are increasingly dependent on each other. It's no longer about how well products work; it's about how well products work together. No manufacturer is an island, and our success in the marketplace depends more than ever before on how our products work with other brands and other types of products.
One way that Shure has embraced this trend is by forming partnerships with other companies. Some of these are well-known players in the retail, music, or pro/AV industries, while others reflect the ongoing convergence of AV with IT and telephony. For us, the emphasis is on adding more value for our customers rather than simply selling. To gauge whether a partnership makes sense, we consider the following five qualities and the degree to which the potential partnership can deliver them to our customers.
Through decades of relationships with system integrators and professional AV technicians, we've heard time and again that one of the most frustrating and time-consuming challenges is simply getting products with different inputs and outputs to work together. In the old days, companies even created proprietary audio networking protocols to ensure compatibility within a brand, but ultimately that limited your options. Our partnership with Audinate is a good example of how adopting an open connectivity standard makes our products even easier to deploy in larger AV systems. Audinate's Dante® digital audio networking protocol enables multiple channels of audio to be distributed between devices on an existing enterprise Ethernet network.
During live events, a streamlined workflow helps the audio engineer deliver a better show. Yamaha has designed control and monitoring of Shure ULX-D® wireless receivers directly into their premier CL and QL series digital mixing consoles. This allows the engineer to see what each wireless system is doing and make necessary adjustments without turning away from the mixing console.
Today's customers expect products that can be molded to suit their specific needs or preferences. In partnering with key suppliers, the Shure Design Studio allows vocalists to create a customized design for their Shure BLX® or GLX-D® wireless microphone handle, with unique colors, text, and graphics. Likewise, our membership in the Apple "Made for iOS" program ensures that Shure MOTIV™ microphones work seamlessly with iPhones and iPads. Plus, the ShurePlus™ MOTIV app on the user's iOS device lets them adjust performance parameters to get the best recording possible.
Whether a commuter is plugging Shure earphones into an iPhone, or a system integrator is combining a Microflex® Advance™ ceiling array microphone with an elaborate videoconferencing system, we want them to be confident that it's going to work. Through technology partnerships with Apple, Chief, Cisco®, Polycom, Rycote® and Tieline®, customers are assured that Shure audio solutions have been thoroughly tested for compatibility and will deliver the performance and reliability they expect.
In every business, saving time means saving money. We look for opportunities to save our customers from doing simple, repetitive tasks — especially if a minor error can result in hours of troubleshooting. As a Crestron partner, we offer plug-and-play microphones for Crestron group collaboration solutions, and we include interface command strings that enable Shure products to be quickly interfaced with Crestron room control systems.
Through strategic partnerships, we enhance the value of our products to our channel partners, resellers, installers, and customers. Making our products work seamlessly with professional AV equipment, enterprise IT networks and Unified Communication systems, and cutting-edge mobile devices builds the Shure brand and our reputation for innovative features, top-notch performance, and legendary reliability.
Products — both wired and wireless — now exchange not only audio but information. This has made connections between components much more important and complex than when a microphone was plugged into an analog mic input. The emergence of standardized protocols for digital audio and system control has created new opportunities for AV manufacturers to get creative.
Products That Work Well Together
Audio-visual products are increasingly dependent on each other. It's no longer about how well products work; it's about how well products work together. No manufacturer is an island, and our success in the marketplace depends more than ever before on how our products work with other brands and other types of products.
One way that Shure has embraced this trend is by forming partnerships with other companies. Some of these are well-known players in the retail, music, or pro/AV industries, while others reflect the ongoing convergence of AV with IT and telephony. For us, the emphasis is on adding more value for our customers rather than simply selling. To gauge whether a partnership makes sense, we consider the following five qualities and the degree to which the potential partnership can deliver them to our customers.
#1 Connectivity
Through decades of relationships with system integrators and professional AV technicians, we've heard time and again that one of the most frustrating and time-consuming challenges is simply getting products with different inputs and outputs to work together. In the old days, companies even created proprietary audio networking protocols to ensure compatibility within a brand, but ultimately that limited your options. Our partnership with Audinate is a good example of how adopting an open connectivity standard makes our products even easier to deploy in larger AV systems. Audinate's Dante® digital audio networking protocol enables multiple channels of audio to be distributed between devices on an existing enterprise Ethernet network.
Control
During live events, a streamlined workflow helps the audio engineer deliver a better show. Yamaha has designed control and monitoring of Shure ULX-D® wireless receivers directly into their premier CL and QL series digital mixing consoles. This allows the engineer to see what each wireless system is doing and make necessary adjustments without turning away from the mixing console.
#3 Customization
Today's customers expect products that can be molded to suit their specific needs or preferences. In partnering with key suppliers, the Shure Design Studio allows vocalists to create a customized design for their Shure BLX® or GLX-D® wireless microphone handle, with unique colors, text, and graphics. Likewise, our membership in the Apple "Made for iOS" program ensures that Shure MOTIV™ microphones work seamlessly with iPhones and iPads. Plus, the ShurePlus™ MOTIV app on the user's iOS device lets them adjust performance parameters to get the best recording possible.
#4 Confidence
Whether a commuter is plugging Shure earphones into an iPhone, or a system integrator is combining a Microflex® Advance™ ceiling array microphone with an elaborate videoconferencing system, we want them to be confident that it's going to work. Through technology partnerships with Apple, Chief, Cisco®, Polycom, Rycote® and Tieline®, customers are assured that Shure audio solutions have been thoroughly tested for compatibility and will deliver the performance and reliability they expect.
#5 Convenience
In every business, saving time means saving money. We look for opportunities to save our customers from doing simple, repetitive tasks — especially if a minor error can result in hours of troubleshooting. As a Crestron partner, we offer plug-and-play microphones for Crestron group collaboration solutions, and we include interface command strings that enable Shure products to be quickly interfaced with Crestron room control systems.
Through strategic partnerships, we enhance the value of our products to our channel partners, resellers, installers, and customers. Making our products work seamlessly with professional AV equipment, enterprise IT networks and Unified Communication systems, and cutting-edge mobile devices builds the Shure brand and our reputation for innovative features, top-notch performance, and legendary reliability.
Stephen Kohler
Stephen Kohler is Senior Director of Strategic Planning at Shure. When he's not working, he loves to play fast notes on the guitar, chase his two children around the house and smoke selected meats in his monstrous BBQ smoker. He has a first-degree black belt but is too nice to ever use it. He also hopes that ABBA and Ozzy Osbourne will one day share the stage.