Question of transparency - Help or Harm?

[MountainGuy]

Note: My goal with this specific thread is constructive and not destructive. I am truly rooting for Devialet to succeed.  

I would love to get a sense of what those of us who own Devialet products feel.    Love to your comments - whether agree or not. 

I would like to hear whether you think that Devialet should be more transparent/forthright regarding customers' concerns such as those who post here at Devialetchat.  By being forthright, interacting with customers' public postings and include dialoguing on some bugs that they are may not have fixed yet - but are working on. 

Here the key question:  Would being more transparent HARM or HELP Devialet?  

1. At first blush, I thought Devialet amps were simply overpriced 'artsy' looking amps but noticed that reviews were on the whole pretty amazing.   As I encountered my first Devialet product in the Phantoms, I came to be increasingly to the conclusion that Devialet are really technology visionaries, excessive claims notwithstanding. (i.e. "Best Speaker Period")

2. However, there are also a lot of problems as noted by a number of threads where the conception is wonderful but the execution is problematic.  I myself spend many hours trying to get the Phantom to work fully. 

3. I realized that some of my time investment would not have been necessary if Devialet were more responsive and more forthright in some of the things I would need to get the system up and running.  In effect, the devialetchat community became my tech support - but imperfectly in part because we are not the manufacturers and do not have inside information.  This came to a head when I was told some things that I needed when I called up tech support - and yet it was not publicly documented. They could have done that easily.   I really felt unhappy about having to take more time to resolve issues than really necessary. 

4. I ended up having a sense that Devialet is more insular than necessary. It is possible that there is an image to maintain - a cutting edge, paradigm shifting, aesthetically superior company that has it all together.   In other words, striving for something of the likes of Apple.   Or perhaps even more in that it's a brand with high cache - and provides luxury that performs. 

The reality is that some of that image is probably apt but they do not have it all together.  One challenge may be that they are really pushing the bleeding edge.  Their vision and ambition are remarkable but may stretch their resources beyond their capacity to troubleshoot since they do not have resources of a company with multi-billion in the bank.

5.  So my thought is that Devialet should be more transparent which includes, for example: 
a. Having a representative participate, at least occasionally, in this forum to respond. 
b. Acknowledge specific problems that the public already raised up. 
c. And have better communication from their tech support. 

I note that some companies like Apple is incredibly secretive and maintain an absolute monolithic control of what information is provided to the public.  Apple has enough clout and resource to do that.  But even Apple publicly acknowledge some things that need to be fixed.  Other companies are very open and have forums that their representative participates in to solve issues, AND includes the user/client base to help them to troubleshoot.  I think these tend to be smaller companies that really do depend on a supportive consumer based. 

Question - IF Devialet were to be significantly more transparent and participate in forums such as Devialetchat, and actually share what they are working on, what some challenges are, and enlist forum members to help answer questions, would it actually HARM or HELP the Devialet enterprise as a whole?  

Is it worth giving up some of the illusion of having it all together (if that is one of the desires) in order to have its user base feel that the company is transparent and listens to its user base?  Or do you feel that Devialet already does so? 

Love to hear some thoughts.  I really am rooting for the company to succeed wildly beyond their imagination.

[Jean-Marie]

I would love to get a sense of what those of us who own Devialet products feel.    Love to your comments - whether agree or not. 

I would like to hear whether you think that Devialet should be more transparent/forthright regarding customers' concerns such as those who post here at Devialetchat.  By being forthright, interacting with customers' public postings and include dialoguing on some bugs that they are may not have fixed yet - but are working on. 

Here the key question:  Would being more transparent HARM or HELP Devialet?  

1. At first blush, I thought Devialet amps were simply overpriced 'artsy' looking amps but noticed that reviews were on the whole pretty amazing.   As I encountered my first Devialet product in the Phantoms, I came to be increasingly to the conclusion that Devialet are really technology visionaries, excessive claims notwithstanding. (i.e. "Best Speaker Period")

2. However, there are also a lot of problems as noted by a number of threads where the conception is wonderful but the execution is problematic.  I myself spend many hours trying to get the Phantom to work fully. 

3. I realized that some of my time investment would not have been necessary if Devialet were more responsive and more forthright in some of the things I would need to get the system up and running.  In effect, the devialetchat community became my tech support - but imperfectly in part because we are not the manufacturers and do not have inside information.  This came to a head when I was told some things that I needed when I called up tech support - and yet it was not publicly documented. They could have done that easily.   I really felt unhappy about having to take more time to resolve issues than really necessary. 

4. I ended up having a sense that Devialet is more insular than necessary. It is possible that there is an image to maintain - a cutting edge, paradigm shifting, aesthetically superior company that has it all together.   In other words, striving for something of the likes of Apple.   Or perhaps even more in that it's a brand with high cache - and provides luxury that performs. 

The reality is that some of that image is probably apt but they do not have it all together.  One challenge may be that they are really pushing the bleeding edge.  Their vision and ambition are remarkable but may stretch their resources beyond their capacity to troubleshoot since they do not have resources of a company with multi-billion in the bank.

5.  So my thought is that Devialet should be more transparent which includes, for example: 
a. Having a representative participate, at least occasionally, in this forum to respond. 
b. Acknowledge specific problems that the public already raised up. 
c. And have better communication from their tech support. 

I note that some companies like Apple is incredibly secretive and maintain an absolute monolithic control of what information is provided to the public.  Apple has enough clout and resource to do that.  But even Apple publicly acknowledge some things that need to be fixed.  Other companies are very open and have forums that their representative participates in to solve issues, AND includes the user/client base to help them to troubleshoot.  I think these tend to be smaller companies that really do depend on a supportive consumer based. 

Question - IF Devialet were to be significantly more transparent and participate in forums such as Devialetchat, and actually share what they are working on, what some challenges are, and enlist forum members to help answer questions, would it actually HARM or HELP the Devialet enterprise as a whole?  

Is it worth giving up some of the illusion of having it all together (if that is one of the desires) in order to have its user base feel that the company is transparent and listens to its user base?  Or do you feel that Devialet already does so? 

Love to hear some thoughts.  I really am rooting for the company to succeed wildly beyond their imagination.

You are asking the million dollars question that every leadership team within a company is asking itself, and if there was a single winning recipe, everyone would apply it. 

Objectively it is hard to argue that Devialet is not very successful, especially with respect to the industry it is in, so their formula cannot be that bad. This being said their is always room for improvement. 

I suspect that a forum like this one is not representative of the majority of their customers: this is what I would call 'power users'. And it is always a open question whether addressing the information thirst of that community would tip the balance for the rest of your market segment. 

I would also think that all the setup and optimization phase would be handled by a serious dealer. This is a significant investment in time and effort and is best done near the customer.

[ozthepoz]

Interesting thoughts. My view, FWIW, is that a bit more transparency wouldn't hurt at all.

I have never had any problems with my 250 (apart from a busted AIR card, which was replaced FOC under warranty by the dealer). I listen to it nearly every day and really enjoy it.

I know that not everyone has the same experience as me, and I think this forum has become the focus of a lot of dissatisafction. Though, in fairness, who posts just to say - "yep, everything is good, thanks"?

Perhaps the root cause is the lack of an informed dealer network; if I go to my hi-fi dealer and ask about some new speakers, for instance, I'm confident I will come away with the info that I need. By contrast, I've spoken to a few dealers who told me that they know very little about what's happening with Devialet - the company, the product lines or future developments.

They are a very fast growing company, and no doubt experiencing some growing pains as they find an operational/business that works for them. Nevertheless, a professional Comms and Marketing function seems to be lacking, and I suspect this is something they will need to address before too long.

[Confused]

The way I look at it, the problem with Devialet is not their communications as such, it is the problems they are having with software and basic planning.  Don't get me wrong, the nature of their communications, which is basically "Devialet are perfect, are engineers are working very hard on your issue to achieve even higher levels of perfection", annoys the hell out of me sometimes, but this is not the main issue.

It has been said many times before that Devialet are geniuses at hardware, but somehow utterly underestimate the software side of things.  This factor needs to be combined was what appears from the outside as a complete inability to plan their projects correctly.  Diaglog compatibility with Expert in January 15?  No, delayed to March.  Actually, make that summer 2015 , well maybe Christmas 2015.  No, actually we meant some time in 2016, possibly, assuming this project remains live.  (add issues with AIR, SPARK, etc. as you wish)

So lets look at the comparison with Apple.  I have owned a number of Apple products over the years, and they have all pretty much worked flawlessly.  So there is no comparison with the issues with AIR or similar.  I think if Devialet got the same amount mainstream of press attention as Apple they would be utterly torn to shreds.  Think about it, you get a 20 stone IT bod who sticks his 5mm thick iPhone 6 plus in his back pocket, sits down and his 'phone bends, he posts a bog, and then this becomes national news.  Literally national news, I can recall seeing stuff about this on the BBC and in the UK national press.  Imagine this level of scrutiny on Devialet!

Devialet, much like Apple, appear to have a "speak no evil" communication policy, they know they have problems but will not allow this to be communicated outside of their operations.  As far as I am concerned, if you are going to do this you need to make sure your products are as near as possible to being faultless.  With Devialet's current level of performance, many customers are beta testers.  Quite literally beta testers, the latest version of AIR which has been on their website since April 2015, is designated "beta4".  Devialet ask for feedback from users, and offer absolutely zero communication back in return, and this is over an eight months period.  At one time, Devialet were sending me beta versions of AIR, they requested very specific feedback, which I gladly provided.  In return, utter silence.  They would not even advise how useful my feedback was, all I ever got was "thank you, we will provide your feedback to our engineers".

If we accept Devialet are somehow on the cutting edge, and hence will be in this semi beta testing environment, then it is essential that they engage with their customers, I believe this will be of massive mutual benefit.  If they want to continue in Apple "We are perfect, speak no evil" mode, then they need to get their act together and start performing to Apples standards.  This is not likely to happen any time soon I think, therefore I believe some carefully managed engagement and communication with customers is necessary, and if they could do this correctly, I think this would be good for the brand.

[G51]

So I hope next firmware update would focus, not on new functions, but to fix the Air issue and further up SQ.

[IanG-UK]

The way I look at it, the problem with Devialet is not their communications as such, it is the problems they are having with software and basic planning.  Don't get me wrong, the nature of their communications, which is basically "Devialet are perfect, are engineers are working very hard on your issue to achieve even higher levels of perfection", annoys the hell out of me sometimes, but this is not the main issue.

It has been said many times before that Devialet are geniuses at hardware, but somehow utterly underestimate the software side of things.  This factor needs to be combined was what appears from the outside as a complete inability to plan their projects correctly.  Diaglog compatibility with Expert in January 15?  No, delayed to March.  Actually, make that summer 2015 , well maybe Christmas 2015.  No, actually we meant some time in 2016, possibly, assuming this project remains live.  (add issues with AIR, SPARK, etc. as you wish)

So lets look at the comparison with Apple.  I have owned a number of Apple products over the years, and they have all pretty much worked flawlessly.  So there is no comparison with the issues with AIR or similar.  I think if Devialet got the same amount mainstream of press attention as Apple they would be utterly torn to shreds.  Think about it, you get a 20 stone IT bod who sticks his 5mm thick iPhone 6 plus in his back pocket, sits down and his 'phone bends, he posts a bog, and then this becomes national news.  Literally national news, I can recall seeing stuff about this on the BBC and in the UK national press.  Imagine this level of scrutiny on Devialet!

Devialet, much like Apple, appear to have a "speak no evil" communication policy, they know they have problems but will not allow this to be communicated outside of their operations.  As far as I am concerned, if you are going to do this you need to make sure your products are as near as possible to being faultless.  With Devialet's current level of performance, many customers are beta testers.  Quite literally beta testers, the latest version of AIR which has been on their website since April 2015, is designated "beta4".  Devialet ask for feedback from users, and offer absolutely zero communication back in return, and this is over an eight months period.  At one time, Devialet were sending me beta versions of AIR, they requested very specific feedback, which I gladly provided.  In return, utter silence.  They would not even advise how useful my feedback was, all I ever got was "thank you, we will provide your feedback to our engineers".

If we accept Devialet are somehow on the cutting edge, and hence will be in this semi beta testing environment, then it is essential that they engage with their customers, I believe this will be of massive mutual benefit.  If they want to continue in Apple "We are perfect, speak no evil" mode, then they need to get their act together and start performing to Apples standards.  This is not likely to happen any time soon I think, therefore I believe some carefully managed engagement and communication with customers is necessary, and if they could do this correctly, I think this would be good for the brand.

This is one of the best crafted posts I can recall on DevialetChat. 

Excellent.

+1

[GuillaumeB]

I almost find the comparison with Apple a bit ludicrous. Apple are the world's largest company by market cap and their products are ubiquitous. They've been around for 40 years and have 115k employees v Devialet which is barely 5 years old and has under 100.

Apple I would imagine gets access to the world's greatest software engineers and can certainly afford to pay stratospheric salaries to the right people. The talent pool at Apple must be extraordinary! And they are in Silicon Valley where there is the greatest concentration of high tech businesses in the world; the Bay area has something like nearly 400k high-tech jobs!

Devialet on the other hand are basically a startup (probably) still trying to become profitable and having to make difficult decisions with very limited resources. Not only that but I imagine they (probably) have a tough time hiring decent software engineers who are no doubt enticed by greater opportunities and earning potential Stateside (not to mention much lower taxes!). Salaries for software engineers in France are nowhere near the levels seen in the US. 

Personally I think Devialet have been very successful in achieving what they have to date. I have often felt however that their communication lacks an element of joined-up thinking, as is evidenced in the multiple discussions on this forum. I attribute some of this to the decentralised nature of some of their interactions, what I mean by this is that different individuals at Devialet communicate on a daily basis with dealers, distributors and consumers however their messages aren't always consistent and are sometimes contradictory. I think what is absent is at Devialet is a spokesperson for the company - someone that has an understanding of the technical and commercial issues with access to senior management and a mandate to formulate a communications strategy. I actually see this as a strategic role, in many companies this would be a CMO or Head/VP of communications. It's easy to think that this is just about posting on forums and issuing press releases but it's also understanding how to position the Devialet brand in the minds of customers, and the types of communication that will support this objective. In my mind this is a full time job.

Guillaume

[Zappydev]

I would have thought that EU15M of LVMH investment would have allowed them to hire at least one software engineer to fix AIR!

Plus, there is no need to work in France to be a SW engineer for a French company. How about all the thousands of skilled programmers in India, for example ?

Devialet have created some amazing products, but their attitude to delivering on some of their pre-sales promises sucks, big time.

[GuillaumeB]

I would have thought that EU15M of LVMH investment would have allowed them to hire at least one software engineer to fix AIR!

Plus, there is no need to work in France to be a SW engineer for a French company. How about all the thousands of skilled programmers in India, for example ?

Devialet have created some amazing products, but their attitude to delivering on some of their pre-sales promises sucks, big time.

I'm not saying you are wrong however in his Les Echos video interview on 27/2/15, Quentin Sannie speaks about the importance of having tightly integrated R&D teams based in France, given the fact that they are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with technology. So it would seem that the "made in France" principle is very important to them.

Guillaume

[MightyMart]

I almost find the comparison with Apple a bit ludicrous. Apple are the world's largest company by market cap and their products are ubiquitous. They've been around for 40 years and have 115k employees v Devialet which is barely 5 years old and has under 100.

Apple I would imagine gets access to the world's greatest software engineers and can certainly afford to pay stratospheric salaries to the right people. The talent pool at Apple must be extraordinary! And they are in Silicon Valley where there is the greatest concentration of high tech businesses in the world; the Bay area has something like nearly 400k high-tech jobs!

Devialet on the other hand are basically a startup (probably) still trying to become profitable and having to make difficult decisions with very limited resources. Not only that but I imagine they (probably) have a tough time hiring decent software engineers who are no doubt enticed by greater opportunities and earning potential Stateside (not to mention much lower taxes!). Salaries for software engineers in France are nowhere near the levels seen in the US. 

Personally I think Devialet have been very successful in achieving what they have to date. I have often felt however that their communication lacks an element of joined-up thinking, as is evidenced in the multiple discussions on this forum. I attribute some of this to the decentralised nature of some of their interactions, what I mean by this is that different individuals at Devialet communicate on a daily basis with dealers, distributors and consumers however their messages aren't always consistent and are sometimes contradictory. I think what is absent is at Devialet is a spokesperson for the company - someone that has an understanding of the technical and commercial issues with access to senior management and a mandate to formulate a communications strategy. I actually see this as a strategic role, in many companies this would be a CMO or Head/VP of communications. It's easy to think that this is just about posting on forums and issuing press releases but it's also understanding how to position the Devialet brand in the minds of customers, and the types of communication that will support this objective. In my mind this is a full time job.

Guillaume

I agree with you on this 100 % G! Too many people on this forum are complaining about this-and-that not working, instead of either selling their Dev's or just relaxing and realizing that when it comes down to music, the Dev's quite extraordinary.