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New Wilson CEO Focusing on Enterprise-Grade Cell Phone Signal Boosters

Bruce Lancaster plans to bring focus and innovation, not to mention years of experience at Logitech Harmony, to his new post as CEO of Wilson Electronics.

New Wilson Electronics CEO Bruce Lancaster plans to bring his years of experience at Logitech Harmony to the leading cell phone signal booster company by enhancing the user experience with the products.

“Customer experience is everything,” he says during an exclusive interview with CI sister publication CE Pro. “You cannot afford to launch products that are not target on user experience.”

Innovation will be another focus at the company under his watch. Lancaster ran the New Ventures and Harmony Remotes group at Logitech for the past 15 years. “Innovation helps solve acute needs,” he says, adding that innovation is a combination engineering- and market-driven exercise.

Overally, Lancaster is taking the reins of a company that has developed a niche multi-channel/multi-brand strategy that works well.

“The world is about change. To say everything will stay the same would be inaccurate. But having said that, I like the multi-channel/multi-brand strategy that Wilson has developed. If anything, we will be making the brands more focused on their niches,” he says.

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For example, he says it would be great to bifurcate the hobbyist/installer products more. So Lancaster says Wilson Electronics will be making the consumer products even more consumer friendly and the professional products even more targeted at custom installers.

“We have to get away from the idea that the product is not good enough for installers but too complex for end users,” says Lancaster, who will be relocating from Palo Alto, Calif., to St. George, Utah, with his family.

Last year, Wilson Electronics flirted with a total brand name change to weBoost, but ended up backing off on that. In terms of brand identity going forward, the Wilson Electronics moniker will remain as the company name and corporate identity. The zBoost brand will be the entry-level product for cost-conscious consumers, while the weBoost by Wilson Electronics brand name will be the product for amateurs, including the automotive units.

Wilson Pro will be the brand for installers serving the luxury home, SMB and large commercial facilities. Lancaster says dealers can expect to see even more enterprise-grade commercial products from Wilson Pro.

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“We will be working on making the right products for the right consumer experience” while at the same time simplifying the product line within each brand portfolio. “Too many products can inhibit our success, but at the same time we will be expanding the lines,” he notes.

The Wilson Certified Installer (WCI) program currently numbers about 1,800 dealer members and Lancaster says the company will be undertaking active efforts to grow it. One such effort will be targeting the commercial installation channel.

In regards to the future of the cell phone signal booster business, Lancaster is bullish. He believes the carrier offerings directly to consumers will only enhance the awareness of the category for professional installers.

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