Tips From The Top

As more smart home devices flood the market, it’s increasingly important to integrate these devices into one unified, automated platform that is both easy for the homeowner to use and supports the technology.

A recent study by Parks Associates, a Dallas-based IoT market research and consulting firm, identifies trends of smart home technology that will drive developments in the upcoming year.

The demand for smart home technology has hit a critical mass. According to the report, adoption of “smart home solutions” has moved into the early majority, and there has been an increase in the number of multi-device households, including Internet-connected entertainment and health devices.  

More households are accumulating distinct smart devices, rather than entire smart systems. So you can have a smart thermostat, a smart doorbell, a smart security camera – but none of them are talking to each other, and you are having the manage them all on separate platforms.

Which could mean problems down the road.

The report identifies that consumers have embraced voice and AI control, which will continue to drive the market. In the United States, for example, 28 percent of broadband households own a smart speaker with voice assistant. This prevalence in use has sparked more demand for voice control and smart speakers, leading to more platforms and products with these capabilities. More devices mean more networking protocols and applications, creating the need for technology learning innovations to integrate and sustain the tech at its optimal levels.

It’s great to have smart home devices. But if they’re all operating on separate platforms, using them together within the smart home ecosystem can lead to major headaches for the homeowner.

The report also identifies that ongoing system support, rather than singular product development, is evolving as the best way to meet homeowners’ needs. In these growing scenarios, clients pay less up front and form an ongoing relationship with a provider, with a monthly service fee, to receive ongoing support and service – which is becoming more necessary as smart home devices become increasingly complex, along with our dependence on them.

This trend, according to the report, is well underway. Energy companies offer maintenance using predictive analytics. Insurance companies bundle smart home devices with premiums.

As more devices flood our homes, the need for data security and privacy increases. Homeowners need and want their information to be protected. Working with providers who value and prioritize customer security is crucial for protecting a home’s physical and technological security.

In the big picture, unifying smart home devices within an integrated smart home platform means the connected lifestyle that operates seamlessly for you as the homeowner and for your home’s technology. 

To learn more about how an automated, integrated platform can raise the performance of your home’s smart devices, call us at Jackson Hole AV. We’d love to discuss the possibilities.

References

Brad Russell, “Key Trends in the Smart Home: Parks Associates offers research into where the connected home will be heading in 2019,” Dec 10, 2018, Residential Systems, https://www.residentialsystems.com/features/key-trends-in-the-smart-home