Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

The Smart Money: Deep Dive on the False Alarm Issue

95__rspndr_charts_and_graphs15

Consumers who invest in professional monitoring services for their security systems do so with the expectation of rapid and reliable response in life-threatening situations; in fact, 87% of security owners say reliable and fast response to security events was important to their system purchase decision, according to Parks Associates.

95__rspndr_charts_and_graphs11

Parks Associates research from Q2 2021 shows about 62% of security system owners experience a false alarm each year, and two in three of them will pay a fine for them; however, in Q4 2023, a quarter of respondents do not believe they will get fined for too many false alarms, and a further 43% are unsure. These findings indicate that consumers are largely unaware of the realities of law enforcement response today and their personal liability for fees and fines should too many false alarms occur.

This same dynamic highlights a critical risk for the security industry – Parks Associates research indicates that system owners are largely unaware of the problem of alarm de-prioritization among law enforcement due to false alarms. Instead, they incorrectly assume that a professionally monitored system will result in faster response.

From the article, "The Smart Money: Deep Dive on the False Alarm Issue" by Daniel Holcomb

Previously In The News

Alarm.com Builds Its Own Smart Thermostat

The competition and innovation in the smart-thermostat space is good for consumers, who can choose a thermostat based on which features appeal to them the most, and also because the increased sensorin...

Nest Unveils Its Third-Generation Thermostat Amid Increasing Competition

Although Nest is often touted as the most sophisticated smart-thermostat company, it is facing increased competition from other thermostat makers such as ecobee and Alarm.com that are bolstering their...

Schneider Electric (Finally) Puts Out a Wi-Fi Thermostat

More than two years ago, Schneider Electric revamped its Wiser home energy management offering, hoping to appeal to utilities that might be eager for a comprehensive residential demand response offeri...

Smart TVs aren’t very clever

In an August report, NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren’t actually connected to the Internet. That’s down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Re...