Software Partnership Helps Lighting Designers & Reps
Sourcery and OASIS Sales Software have announced a partnership connecting Sourcery’s lighting specification platform with OASIS, the operating system behind many lighting-focused rep agencies in North America.
The partnership links Sourcery’s specification workspace – where lighting designers discover products and build project schedules – with OASIS, the operating platform behind a majority of lighting-focused rep agencies in North America. The goal is a direct, traceable path from design intent to quotation, submittal and order.
The first step digitally connects reps and specifiers during selection and budgeting. The integration work targets the emails, phone calls and waiting that surround product information, samples, budget pricing and availability at the moment of design.
Linking both platforms lets the exchange happen inside the tools each party works in, with the request reaching the agency that carries the line in that territory. Released schedules then move into the rep’s quoting and submittal workflow without manual re-entry. Integration work is underway and both companies will work directly with reps, manufacturers and design firms to validate detailed workflows and permissions while piloting initial versions with trial customers this fall. Beyond this first phase, further workflow improvements and several larger breakthroughs are already on the drawing board.
The second step is to support and reinforce channel partnerships. This new partnership is designed around rep and factory participation. Specifiers keep full control of their project data and decide what to share and when. Product recommendations stay driven by project requirements rather than commercial placement. And the territory rep – who manages project pricing, availability, samples and customization inquiries – remains the party who responds.
“Designers spend precious time exploring and validating product specs and budget pricing, and with project timelines and fees increasingly compressed, that time – plus the downstream cost of incomplete or inaccurate information – is costlier than ever,” said Paul Boken, co-founder and CEO at Sourcery. “While building our third generation of tools, launching later this month, we kept looking for ways to reduce that friction. Once we saw the depth of information and connectivity OASIS has developed, and how many reps already work in it, it was obvious they were the right partner to build fast, effective end-to-end workflows that really change the game.”
Added Brian Howard, founder of Ingen Software and developer of OASIS, “We have spent more than a quarter-century in a marketplace that is both unique and complex, and that makes us thoughtful and purposeful about who we partner with. Two things matter to us. Whether a partner shares how we think about taking care of the customer, and whether they bring something new to the customers we serve. Sourcery does both. The work they are doing on the specification side opens ground we could not open alone, and we are looking forward to what comes of it.”
Apex Insight Group, which advises manufacturers and their reps on software solutions specific to the lighting and electrical construction industry, fostered this partnership and will continue to support the effort through market education and adoption as it rolls out.
“With prior experience as both a manufacturer and a lighting rep, I’ve seen or tried nearly every idea for working more closely with design professionals: digital catalogs, remote lunch and learns and hospitality events, custom websites and portals, and countless marketing and promotional concepts,” said Lance Hollner, managing director at Apex Insight Group. “What has never fully existed is a seamless way to reach everyone inside the tools they already use, at the point when they need the information. Allowing these two platforms to integrate at the direction of the specifier and rep involved can remove a great deal of that inefficiency and open new ways of collaboration. That’s what makes this one worth paying attention to.”
Representatives from all three organizations are at ArchLIGHT Summit in Dallas, September 15 and 16, and will discuss the partnership during a live podcast recording at the show on Wednesday, September 16, from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. CT. Visit futureoflightingsoftware.com to follow the work, request early access, and find the link to listen live or hear the replay.
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