No matter what type of business you run, if you’re a business owner, chances are you’ve got a lot on your plate. Running a business means you wear a lot of hats and spend a lot of time juggling tasks and managing endless priorities. That’s why finding smart, time-saving solutions is essential to make your life easier and your business more efficient.

At Gemstone Lights, we know smart lighting has many benefits for business owners. If you’re considering installing new lights in your business, you might be interested in all the benefits of smart controls for commercial spaces—and you may be surprised at some of the hidden bonuses you hadn’t thought of!

Whether you’re running a small business with a few employees or you have multiple locations to think of, smart lighting controls can make your life so much easier. Here’s why they’re so great and how you can make the most of your new lights.

The Benefits of Smart Controls for Commercial Spaces

If you’ve never had smart controls for your outdoor lighting, you might not be aware of some of the hidden benefits you could be making the most of. For example:

Convenience

One of the comments we hear most from our clients is that our lights are so easy to use. People love smart controls; you can switch up the lights around your property directly from your phone without breaking a sweat.

Safety

At Gemstone Lights, we focus on safety. We know that business owners are responsible for keeping their customers and employees safe, which is one of the many reasons we seek certification for our products.

Our lights are either ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories) or UL (Underwriters Laboratories) certified, which means they are safe for use in homes and businesses.

Energy-efficiency

Many businesses are trying to reduce their environmental impact consciously, and that includes energy use. LEDs waste less energy through heat than other lighting types, making them more efficient. This cuts down your running costs, too.

Customization

Our lights can be fully customized to suit your needs.

Have an outdoor eating area that needs pretty twinkling lights for Christmas? You can do that using the app. Want to light up your signs using flood lights so people can see them from the road? You can set the brightness on the app and even set them to the exact hex codes of your brand colors. Have a dark exit that you need to light up for the safety of the staff? You can isolate those particular track lights and make them shine brighter at closing.

There are so many creative ways to use your lights—we’ll discuss that in more detail later.

Permissions and Access

Smart lights allow you to set permissions so that only certain staff members (like the management team) can access the light settings.

This means you can install the Gemstone Lights app on your work devices and allow your employees to adjust the settings you want them to and none that you don’t.

Multiple Properties

You can control multiple properties with the same app. This means if you have locations in different places, you can set the lights differently for each one, keeping in mind the needs of each location. Or, you can set your lights to be the same for each area to keep your branding and ‘look’ consistent.

Customer Support

If you have any issues with your smart lights, help is available. Just reach out to a team member, and we can assist you. You’ll also get peace of mind knowing that bulbs and components are covered under our warranty, and many of our authorized dealers also provide labor warranties.

How to Make the Most of Your Smart Controls

So now you know the basic benefits of smart controls. But how can you maximize your use of them?

Think Logically

We usually recommend that our customers—whether homeowners or business owners—walk around the property in question. Take notes:

• What is the shape of the building, and which areas would you like to draw attention to?
• Do you have any outdoor areas that you would like to use more?
• Are there any dark spaces that could do with lighting up for safety reasons?
• Can your customers see your signage from the road, and would floodlights help to make them clearer?

Once you determine your needs, our Authorized Dealers can come over and give you a quote. And if you’re having trouble? Reach out anyway! Our dealers are trained experts who can make recommendations and will work with you to customize your exterior lighting to suit your needs.

Set Timers

Timers are an integral part of smart lighting. Whether you’re managing multiple properties or a small business owner taking care of everything yourself, reducing the number of daily tasks can keep your mind clear and save you precious time.

You can set multiple timers, with different lights switching on and off at different times. For example, if you’re running a restaurant and your staff begin to arrive in the afternoon on winter evenings, you can have the entryways light up at their arrival time. Then, closer to opening time, you can light up the remainder of the outdoor areas so they’re ready for your customers.

The beauty of our lights is that you can set timers for different events, too. So your ‘special occasion lighting’ can switch on automatically.

Join in With Community Events

Speaking of special occasion lighting!

Our premade patterns are excellent for Christmas, Diwali, Easter, and Thanksgiving. You can simply download them using the app and enjoy the festivities.

But you can create your patterns if you prefer to get creative. You can even make it a fun challenge for your staff and get them involved with customizing your special occasion or Christmas lights.

One thing that is often overlooked is how smart lights can help you participate in local events. For example, if there’s a big local sports game coming up or a parade or festival, you can adjust your lights to suit them. Participating in these events can help anchor your business into the community, and smart lighting makes it easier: no more scrambling up and down a ladder hanging string lights every year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: How long does the installation process take?

Answer: Installation time will depend on the size of the property, but for the average residential home, it typically takes a day to install our smart lights.

Question: Do I need both track lights and flood lights?

Answer: Many of our commercial customers go for both.

Track lights are a form of downlighting, which means they shine downward, casting light on the building and the ground. Floodlights, meanwhile, provide uplighting, which means the light shines upwards and can help illuminate architectural features or signage.

Usually, combining both creates a warm ambiance and allows your customers to see everything you want them to see.

Question: How long do permanent outdoor lights last?

Answer: Our lights last for around 50,000 hours, which is around 23 years of use if you use them for 6 hours a day.

Want to Find Out More About Smart Lighting for Commercial Spaces?

If you’d like to contact us and get the ball rolling with having Gemstone Lights installed, contact one of our Authorized Dealers. They’ll be able to give you a quote and answer your questions.