By Jason McGraw, CTS

It has long been thought that residential and commercial technologies and their respective markets were separate entities not meant to overlap. Over the last decade, we have recognized a shift in that mindset. After the 2008 financial crisis, many residential integrators were challenged to find residential homeowners willing to invest in technology for their homes. They turned to commercial installations, ranging from corporate and education to houses of worship and hospitality. A decade later, the coronavirus pandemic shuttered corporate workplaces, campuses and many in-person facilities. Many commercial integrators took on residential installations as many consumers upgraded their home technology to support their remote and hybrid work, distance learning, entertainment, security, and health and wellness needs.

Today, the convergence of residential and commercial technology, coined resimercial, has provided an opportunity for crossover between manufacturers, integrators and many other business facets. Today, professional AV manufacturers are designing and manufacturing solutions that can be utilized in both commercial and residential applications. The crossover of residential integrators doing commercial projects and commercial integrators doing residential and mixed-use projects is accelerating with the growth of home and hybrid offices, flex spaces, and the redevelopment of commercial spaces into resimercial office, residential, retail and mixed-use facilities.

Integrators are incorporating more robust, enterprise-grade solutions into residences, while creating more flexible, user-friendly spaces in commercial offices. Notably, unified communications and collaboration technologies have emerged in the residential space as business professionals and students have established home offices and flexible workspaces. Users require high-quality and professional-grade technology to facilitate their hybrid work and learning needs. Additionally, there’s a growing commercial market filled with boutique hotels, co-working coffee shops and other niche projects requiring solutions more unique than a traditional corporate boardroom. These evolving requirements drive new trends in lighting, audio and video, conferencing and collaboration, networking and security technologies and provide increased business opportunities for systems integrators, designers, distributors, architects, home builders and contractors.

While the design, applications, processes and technologies can differ between commercial and residential integrations, many of the foundational principles of both channels remain the same. Most importantly, the goal remains to provide end-users with intuitive solutions that enhance their lifestyle and meet their business and personal needs.

The growth in systems integrators, designers, distributors, architects, home builders and contractors tackling the resimercial market has created a unique opportunity to deliver professional development and business networking to accelerate business growth. Industry professionals need access to see new AV products and participate in education and training opportunities supporting today’s expanded convergence of commercial and residential systems integration opportunities.

As a result, CEDIA Expo and Commercial Integrator, which are owned by Emerald, will host a new, focused event, Commercial Integrator Expo. Commercial Integrator Expo will be co-located with CEDIA Expo and take place September 6-9, 2023, in Denver, CO. The co-located events will provide unique educational opportunities, peer-to-peer networking and an expanded show floor to meet the industries’ growing needs of resimercial integration.

To learn more about CEDIA Expo, please visit cediaexpo.com. To learn more about Commercial Integrator Expo, please visit expo.commercialintegrator.com.Two Channels, One Expanding Opportunity

Jason McGraw, CTS, is the group vice president and show director for Emerald.

This sponsored content was created as part of a partnership with Commercial Integrator Expo The contents of this article are entirely independent and solely reflect the opinion of Commercial Integrator Expo.

To stay up-to-date with the latest show news, click here to visit our Commercial Integrator Expo 2023 hub.