Tune in to Keith Kranepool, Vice President of Strategic Partnership at SureBright, as he joins the Connected Design Podcast to discuss why whole-system warranties are emerging as a smarter way for integrators to boost recurring revenue and deliver lasting value.
Watch the full conversation here-
Rob Stott: All right, we are back on the Connected Design Podcast. And I, you know, people might see the name. I they gotta just start listening because I’ve said this before on podcasts and you know, warranties, Mr. Keith Kranepool, not the sexiest of topics. We’re just gonna say it up front. But I think when you dive into them, it’s what’s underneath the skin of the warranty industry that is a lot of fun to talk about. There’s a lot of great stuff to dive into and you guys are doing it in a way that, you know, I’m really excited to explore today. So first of all, thank you for taking the time and wanting to get into this topic with us that I know you guys are you know, very well versed in and just have some really cool things going on.
Keith Kranepool: Well Rob, thanks for having me. And I couldn’t agree more. you know, we’re a technology company first and foremost, and we use that capability to come up with you know new ways in which to provide value, you know, to customers, but also provide incredible revenue streams and profit opportunities for our partners that today maybe they’re not offering and it’s an untapped you know stream that quite frankly they really need to help support their business. You know, costs are going up.
Rob Stott: Yeah.
Keith Kranepool: Margins are getting, you know, smaller, and they need to find ways in which to add to their business without making a monumental investment. In fact, they don’t need to make an investment with us because we work on a revenue-share model. So there isn’t a cost until you actually sell something. And that’s the beauty of it. You know, we really take the burden off of you know our partner, our integrator partner. And allow them to do what they do best, and that is sell solutions. And then we just provide the protection so that, you know, if that client has an issue down the road, one phone call back to the integrator to say, hey, you know, my TVs not working, my receiver’s not working. And at that point, we’re behind the scenes making sure everything can be taken care of.
Rob Stott: that’s awesome. And and again, look forward to unpacking all of that ’cause there’s a lot of you make it sound simple. there’s a lot that goes on to ensure that happens smoothly. And like I said, I look forward to diving into that. But before we do, I want to get to know you, Mr. Keith Kranepool, VP of Strategic Partnerships there at SureBright. But I know a pretty awesome career history that I would love for you to dive into explain to us how you landed there at at SureBright.
Keith Kranepool: Well, I took a wrong turn some way. No, easy. You know, I’ve been in the industry over 30 years. you know, I started out, you know, like a lot of us on the retail selling floor. I was working at Sony. Back in the day in New York City, where I grew up. And you know, I learned the hard way, right? Dealing face to face with customers. And you know, it was the one of the greatest experiences. From there, I literally just continued to work for different manufacturers all the way through. And then one of my dear friends, someone that I know you know as well, Mr. Rick Albuck and I started working together. Beginning of 2025, you know, I was really just being more of an independent rep for him, just to help make some introductions and you know help SureBright you know get launched in this space because obviously I’ve got a you know a long long career here, love the industry, couldn’t get away from it, you know. So I but I found a different path to take where I can use all my contacts and my network, if you will, to help bring some new value, you know, to their business models. And that’s really what this is all about.
Rob Stott: Yeah. I and I you mentioned the retail side and Sony. I know Sennheiser might have been in there too, I think, right? You know? for a little bit. Yeah, right. So like I know I know a lot on that retail and electronic side, you know, as you’re alwa have you always been familiar with the CI channel and sort of this integrated space or are you kinda learning about it as as you go here? Yeah.
Keith Kranepool: Sennheiser was definitely there for a little over a dozen years. And yeah. No, well I spent a number of years working for a company called Infocus. I was part of the team that launched their consumer video product line and literally built it from the ground up. And that is where I truly got my chops in the CI side. one of our partners at the time was avid and you know we would go on job sites with them, you know, we’d be troubleshooting, you know, because Projectors were becoming all the rage back then. And you know, DLP was was you know really a workhorse for these guys and a huge new revenue and profit stream for them. And that’s you know, that’s kind of where we’re at now on the SureBright side is we’re bringing something new and different to their business that allows them to, you know, tap into like I said, something that doesn’t require an investment up front. but really provides you know, a nice reward for them because it’s adding value and it’s not just selling air. I mean, we really do take care of, you know, all the complexity and make sure that their customers continue to enjoy their systems all the way through the, you know, the period in which the coverage is in place.
Rob Stott: And I’m glad you brought up the that experience ’cause it it kind of shows that you’ve been here, you’ve seen it and kind of what the channel was and what it is today. anything that you can take from or just, you know, your insight on how it’s evolved. and I think like similar to how you’ve tied it into what you guys are doing, the importance of like how that leads to the importance of what you’re doing.
Keith Kranepool: absolutely. I mean, you know, today’s systems I think they’re a lot more connected to the internet, you know, with various cloud services and things. So the complexity level I think is is exponential. You know, before you used to worry about a single room, maybe you had, you know, multiple rooms that were involved, but it was just streamlined. You didn’t have to worry about, you know, any sort of voice assistance. You didn’t have to worry about security like you do. And I don’t mean alarm systems. I’m talking about internet and some of the things that you need to now consider. And integrators have to be experts in a lot of areas or be able to at least bring in people that can address those so that they can really have complete solution and we’re sort of the bow on top and i think there’s a lot of integrators that you know are missing an opportunity to provide you know the same level of expertise that they’re providing you know in in designing the system installing the system They need to think about it from protecting the system. Because all that effort and that value that they’ve created for that customer, now, you know, when something does go wrong, and you know, we sell electronics, something will go wrong, it’s inevitable. you know, why not have you know something backing you up so that you’re no longer doing those services that you used to do for free.
Rob Stott: Yeah.
Keith Kranepool: Now you can get reimbursed for it. So if you have to roll a truck and you have to send, you know, two techs to someone’s home because you’ve got to take a TV off a wall. Why not get reimbursed for that? And that’s, you know, that’s where we’re really looking to help them raise their game to that next level and make it easy. That’s one thing that we do is we take complexity out of it where, you know, you can actually file a claim if you will. You’re on the job site, you’ve troubleshooted the, you know, the problem. You can use your phone, you can use a tablet, or you can pull out your laptop and connect with us. We make it easy, you know, and simple. You know, things take typically minutes, not days, not hours or days. So that’s a key.
Rob Stott: Right. So I know we’ve kind of, you know, talked about a little bit of the details without r like explaining sort of over the top what are like setting that umbrella for what this is. you know, SureBright for those that may or may not be familiar, you guys have launched a service where you know, integrators might be used to, you know, servicing a product or seeing these warranty services that cover individual products and to your point, as we’ve been discussing, you know, the projects today are very all encompassing. They touch more than just the two-channel. They touch more than just AV, right? They touch inside the walls, the networking, all these different a areas of the home, that now, you know, with the with the program that you guys have built and some of the partnerships you’ve launched, it’s a project sort of level coverage that you’re able to provide. So it’s It’s that whole system experience that is now, you know, covered by this protection that I’ll I’ll let you dive into further. so setting the stage that way and thinking about your history, like I is this something that, you know, back in the your day of being, you know, on the integrations, like would you have really wanted like is this something you’ve always thought about wanting or would have really, you know, changed how you go about went about your business on the integration side?
Keith Kranepool: Well, I think the that experience, you know, is what helped us craft the concept. You know, just understanding, you know, if you look at it as individual boxes, you know, individual items. You know, it’s dozens and dozens of products that if you tried to, you know, convince a customer that they needed a warranty on 50 items, it’s a it’s a lot different discussion than saying, here’s one piece. You know, here’s here’s one, you know, single coverage that takes care of it all. And you know. Let me let me give you a little bit of the backstory of the company. I mean, we’ve created an insurtech platform, right? We work where you know, our partners work. So if you’re in e-commerce, re you know, brick and mortar retail, or you’re an integration, we’ve got solutions that can work. You know, we’re Shopify’s number one rated app for product protection. We’re a simple download on their platform. So anyone that’s in e-commerce can easily add us and we can have you up and running in as little as 10 minutes. So you know we really try to use the technical technology angle if you will to simplify things. And that’s what we did, you know, in coming up with the whole system warranty solution. You know, we know that there are going to be dozens of items in a project. And trying to sell, you know, and make sure, did I, you know, get the right coverage for that to, you know, extend the life or extend the protection on that television or that AV receiver, processor, amplifier, what have you, we make it simple. Our our platform will literally work as a standalone. It could be a standalone, or we’re even integrated with companies like Specifi or part of the database of D-Tools and Portal.io. You know, we’re looking for more integrations that we can make again to make it easier. So when a project is spec’ed, you simply are either adding a line item, you know, with product protection. Or we’re integrated into that business software so that you can easily just drag and drop. And that’s our end game. And again, we just want to simplify it, make it easy. And again, one point of contact being that integrator. Keep that relationship that you’ve built with your client. Why turn it over to one of the 50 manufacturers maybe you’ve included in a project? You own that, keep that relationship, they trust you. Allow us to help provide, you know, that protection behind the scenes and make your life easy. And get paid for it.
Rob Stott: Yeah. And I’m sure go ahead. Yeah. Did not want to cut that off for sure, right? Because I that starts to dovetail into the benefits which I of this because there’s they’re two prong that I’m looking forward to diving into. But at the risk of getting you know, too technical and I don’t wanna I’m trying to think if I’m gonna ask this the right way. So d you know, for the integrator who’s who’s spec’ing out this project, they may be used to seeing, you know, individual programs for like warranty coverage programs for individual products. And they may even, you know, not think of it from like the cake, like the lower end products that would be included in a project, like the Cat5 cables they’re pulling or like the, you know, the accessories, if you will. They may only think about it from the large ticket items, right? Like the TV or the amplifier. Like these are the things that, you know, maybe that customer wants coverage on. This changes that by, you know, giving them one one thing to sell for the entire project. Like how you know, for you as a kind like for SureBright, you know, obviously it makes it simple for the integrator because then they can tell the customer they’ve got one point of contact, you know, to go through. For the integrator then, like how how does this work for them? Like if something goes wrong with the product like I guess help explain sort of what would be covered in a project-level pr warranty program through you guys. Yeah.
Keith Kranepool: Yeah, sure. That’s a great question. And you know, we approached it like this. We’re covering all of the hardware as well as the installer’s labor. So that all gets grouped together. And we’ll, you know, we value the cost of the warranty based on that total, you know, all the audio, video, networking, smart home devices, etc. You know, their labor to install it, which then gives the protection so that if something you know or when something does go down they roll that truck we’re protecting you know their time right because they’re getting compensated they’re being reimbursed for their effort and then the re-installation so you know there’s a lot of things that consumer will get a benefit that otherwise wouldn’t be covered so it’s a you know a small incremental you know, purchase price, but ultimately the value that they get out of it is just total peace of mind, you know, so that if something does go wrong, one phone call to that right back to the integrator that they trust, this isn’t performing like it like it used to. Do a little triage, figure out what the what the problem is, go out there, take care of the repair, or if it’s something that the installer or integrator doesn’t provide, you know, that service, we’ve got national networks in over sixty different categories of products. So we can make sure that we send the right expert in to, you know, work with them. And that’s the other beauty is, you know, let’s say it’s a television repair. Not everybody wants to open up the back of a TV and start pulling boards out. Well, that’s great. We’ll send in a television tech. But our program actually will still cover if Crestron, Control4, Savant, whatever your control system preference is, if you have to reprogram it, because now you’ve got something, you know, with a different MAC address or what have you, I’m getting a little technical on it, but you know, the integrator will be compensated for that time to reprogram and get the system back to the way it was working before the issue happened.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Gotcha.
Keith Kranepool: And I think that’s important. You know, we’re a really flexible company to work with. So you come across something that is new, you’ve never seen it before, well, we probably haven’t either, but give us the challenge. Let us try to solve it with you, you know.
Rob Stott: Yeah. now I it may be oversimplifying or I potentially not even right. So I like call me on it if this is the case. Like the thing that comes to mind in sort of the you know, explaining this in another way. Like I think of insurance companies that have their umbrella programs where like you got your home, auto RV, you know, all that out there. It like would it be right to classify this as like this is that umbrella policy over everything else that’s kind of going on in the home for a project?
Keith Kranepool: I you know, I think it’s a it’s a reasonable parallel for sure. I mean, obviously, you know, we’re selling a warranty, not insurance. So, you know, a little bit different, you know, but in the same vein we are. We’re protecting, you know, all the equipment.
Rob Stott: Yeah. Right, right.
Keith Kranepool: regardless of the category that you’re installing. And if there’s something that wouldn’t be covered under the policy, I’ll give you an example, you know, theater seating. Guess what? We sell a furniture policy as well. So we make it possible so you can you can protect the whole system, the gear, and then if you have some of these soft goods items, you know, the nice, you know, theater seating, et cetera, we can protect that too. So, you know, that’s where we really become a one-stop shop for that product protection that they you know truly should be offering with every single project that they spec and prop you know any proposal that they create.
Rob Stott: Yeah. I and I mean to this point we understand kind of the, you know, the way you’ve been explaining it, there’s very much for the integrator revenue story here, right? Like they’re protecting you know, themselves with any of these projects and where this is included, obvious there’s the you know, if something does go wrong, you know, protection of you will get paid too. but I you know, in a at a time, and you mentioned it at the top, right, where it’s from a revenue perspective for the integrator, like a different time. Like those margins are tight, right? So that you’re looking for those opportunities. I know the RMRs out there are a very popular thing these days. but you know, this is one of those things where it’s I mean, it’s just an a and like I say just an add on, but like it’s something that can very, you know, very well impact a bottom line if sold right or sold at all for them.
Keith Kranepool: Well, I think it I think it’s something that, you know, again, you’re trying to provide, you know, as an integrator, you’re trying to provide the absolute best solution and experience for your customer. You know, why not complete, you know, that picture and provide the best level of protection? And there, you know, you mentioned the RMR side of the business. You know, there are a lot of companies that are providing even, you know, tech and customer support as part of that. Type of solution. And we marry beautifully with that because we’ll protect the hardware. They’ve got a team that can help do any sort of troubleshooting or help that customer along the way. And now all of a sudden you’re differentiating yourself from another integrator down the street or on the other side of town because you’re actually providing all those services and capabilities. So, you know, we look at it as, you know, truly a differentiator, not only from a revenue perspective. but also from just again that service level perspective and what that customer is going to ultimately enjoy. Or, you know, at least they can feel confident that their investment has been protected.
Rob Stott: Yeah. And I’m glad you brought that up too, because that is the other the other prong. I mentioned the two prongs of the benefits here, the revenue side is that storytelling side, right? Is that they can, you know, there’s the client and then that even that, the storytelling, I think, kind of, you know, can be split off as well because there’s the client side of it where you’re able to talk to them and tell a story to that client around, you know, the comfort side of things, that they can have peace of mind. Yeah, the kind of the basic warranty. you know, pitch that you would provide to them as far as, you know, a level of comfort that like if anything goes wrong, you’re gonna be okay. the other side of it being too, I have to imagine, and I’m wondering if you’ve seen any of this, you know, with the parallel partners in this channel, right? You see integrators today working with a lot of designers and architects and builders. If you, you know, are looking to your point differentiate yourself from another part another potential integrator partner out there. having a solution like this where you can go to that builder and say, Hey, listen, if you’ve got a client and they’re, you know, you or they are concerned about tech or anything going wrong with tech, that they have this in their back pocket where they can go to them and explain sort of what they offer and what you offer you know, from this whole project solution that could in the end of the at the end of the day be a differentiator and help you win that, you know, partnership with the trade partner.
Keith Kranepool: Absolutely. You know, again, it’s, you know, it’s an opportunity to offer, you know, truly a complete solution, you know, as opposed to, you know, the old adage of the trunk slammer who just, you know, was out there and you know, undercut a job and you know didn’t really have the full grasp of what the opportunity is. and you know, clients appreciate that, you know, because they literally they want it to be no hassle. You know, if you add one of the whole system warranties to a project, you know, again, I talked about that simplicity and I think I’ve said it multiple times now. You know, it’s a it’s a single phone call back to the integrator, you know, who’s already got the trust of that client. And, you know, think about saying, you know, here’s your, you know, $150,000, you know, entertainment system. something went wrong. Well, just call the manufacturer, find the paperwork and And you know, good luck. Is that really a great customer experience or let me take care of that for you and literally pull out the phone, file the claim, and get everything started that instant.
Rob Stott: Right. Right. It yeah. The funny thing is, like it’s kind of been that way, right? Like un unfortunately. So I’m wondering, like it’s awesome because this exists now. This like this is a thing. So this is like a huge win for the channel, for the integrators out there. you know, what do you think? And maybe this you can maybe it goes to giving you the opportunity to explain how a program like this comes together. Like what were the ch like why, because I feel like I’ve heard it, you know, being in the channel, you’ve heard about, you know, Teams working on things like this, trying to create these whole program offerings or whole system offerings. Like, what were the big challenges in sort of developing something like this? Like why do you think it, you know, it I don’t know if took so long is the right word, because it seems like I know this is something that’s been sort of a pipe dream of the channel. So like awesome that it’s out there now. But but what are the challenges in in developing something like this and how did you guys overcome them?
Keith Kranepool: Well, think about it. You it’s a series of unknown items that are being clustered together, right? You know, every system is gonna be unique. They’re they’re not typically cookie cutter, they’re not home theater in a box. You know, they are truly custom integration. And that’s where it gets more complex because you’ve got to figure out, you know, what is the risk, you know, of failure, if you will, for each item and then put it together. And I’m not an expert in terms of, you know, that part of it. So I don’t want to speak out of turn. But the other side of it is how do you use it? Now we, you know, again, I mentioned we’re a technology company, you know, so we use generative AI to help drive a lot of our our platform and our our capabilities. So, you know, we’re as simple as you work with us, you know. you scan a copy of an invoice or a you know bill of materials and upload it into our platform, the AI will literally parse all the individual items, their relative costs, make sure that they’re eligible for coverage. You’ve clicked one button and it does it for you. And so again, it’s if you had to enter, and I just had a conversation you know with an integrator literally yesterday.
Rob Stott: Mm-hmm.
Keith Kranepool: And they were looking at different solutions. And the fact that they didn’t have to manually enter in each item was a game changer because it’s that simple. And I mentioned, you know, one of our one of our new partners is Specifi. They literally had built that same capability into their platform. So we’re right away in you know the proposal right at the proposal stage, and everything costs out and it works. And click a button. Thank you very much. So we’re, you know, we’re trying to do more of that. Again, we want to be where the integrator is already working and how they’re running their business. So if we can get more of these types of integrations done, you’ll see you know, we take the complexity out in it if it’s easier and repeatable. That’s that’s the key.
Rob Stott: Yeah. And I know we just we just saw the connect we just ran our Connected Design AI round table on, you know, in the business, how, you know, businesses are using these tools. This is a great example of you know, you guys and other companies out there that are able to take, you know, these capabilities and streamline a process that was nearly to your point, like nearly impossible before, right? Or or just very painstaking and labor intensive and Do it where it’s it now is a click of a button and can take the learnings of, you know, the history of this channel, if you will, and boil it down into just the click of a button and make it possible. So that is that’s a really cool use case for that type of technology that you know shows how things are so quickly evolving now. and it’s awesome to see it be put to use in a way that solves what I know has been a pain point for integrators out there wanting to just find some type of solution like this. So it’s It’s awesome to see. And I know, you know, early return. I don’t know if you could speak to early returns, like what you’re hearing from partners that are out there. Has anything any of the feedback sort of not necessarily surprised you, but like stood out from from what you’re hearing from integrator partners?
Keith Kranepool: I think what we’re hearing is a lot of what we hoped for, it will say, you know, it was kind of an expectation that we’re bringing in, you know, a simple solution. you know, we took something that was complex but made it simple and made it, you know, again, repeatable. You know, you literally can work with us in a way where you know we show you how to do it so that you just work with a percentage. percentage of you know the cost of the system and you use that percentage and you can have an estimate literally right then and there. So single line item on your proposal and then you just come back and use our platform to put everything in force. And that’s it. You know once you record that sale like I said it’s you know upload the invoice click a button it tells you everything that’s covered and then You know, you’re done. It’s so simple. And the beauty is the integrator is never chasing us because they collect the revenue once a month. We will just invoice them for our share of it. And so, you know, they’re sitting there, they’re in control. you know, unlike you know other business arrangements where you know you’re you’re chasing, trying to get paid, we make it easy. And if they do a service call, you know, on You know, because of the you know, something going down. You know, our goal is to reimburse them within five days. So again, you know, they’re not looking for us for months trying to get paid. Because we’ve used that technology, that capability that we have, it’s we just make it easy to work with us. And like I said, when they come across something that’s unique and different, we’ll get creative, we’ll find a way to help solve that problem. Whereas some of our competitors you know, they’re, you know, behemoths, you know, get them to try to do something that’s different than their normal process and they can’t. Where, you know, you pick up the phone, you know, you call me, you call Rick, you call us on Saturday, whatever, you know, we’re gonna answer the phone. We’re gonna try to help solve it. So if you’re in front of that client, you know, we want to make sure you’ve got a resource and you know you can get that answer when you need to, you know.
Rob Stott: Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, when Rick’s phone starts ringing on a Saturday, he knows who to blame. No, that’s awesome. Rick. I love it. No, that’s great. well, what I mean, you know, kind of buttoning this up, the thing I hope that, you know, people take away is that it w I we can talk for thirty minutes about warranties and sort of how you guys are making this a space that’s fun to talk about. and do it in a way that you know, there is still room for innovation. It’s not a you know, one of those hard conversations that you have to have with a customer. This is like, you know, you’re hitting that easy button for them right now and just how they can talk about it. And instead of having to talk about the 50 project products that are in a project, they can talk about the project as a single solution that gets that covered. So it’s a unique opportunity and one that you know, I hope integrators and integrators take advantage of. And then on the other side, the design and build community understands that this is something we can bring to the table as a channel now and provide them that sort of extra level of peace of mind, you know, as they’re out there looking for integrator partners. So no Keith, this was a fun conversation, like I knew it would be. You know, I set it up at the top. Not a sexy topic, but we can talk about it for half an hour and make it a make it a fun one to do. So I appreciate you taking the time and I know we’ll for sure be catching up down the line.
Keith Kranepool: Yeah. I appreciate it, Rob. Thanks so much for having me on.
Originally published at- Connected Design
