Before attending CONNECTIONS™ Europe in Amsterdam, Andrew Thomas, Co-Founder & CRO of SkyBell, answered several industry questions:
Where do you feel the largest opportunity is for the smart home industry in Europe?
The largest short-term opportunity in Europe is to mirror the success of smart home adoption in the U.S. by focusing on solving real customer problems. Users are flocking to individual products that bring them more home security or help them save money. Focus on customer needs.
What challenges does Europe face with rolling out new smart home products and services?
I’d imagine the same problem as companies in the U.S. … effectively telling stories that communicate the value a product provides in a way that makes sense to customers.
How will companies leverage the growth in the market in the next 12 months?
The smart home industry has so many players that it’s hard to answer this question in broad terms. That said, I believe larger companies will find opportunities to leverage key point solutions and build services around those hero products. There’s also opportunity to help customers with the “Do it for me model.”
We are looking forward to hearing you present, but what are you most looking forward to about the show this year?
I’m looking forward to hearing David Isbitski, Francois Girodolle and David Bailey speak. We’re partnered with Echo, Nest, and SmartThings, so it’s great to hear how they see the market so we can build better integrations and user experiences.
Thomas will speak on the session “Monetizing Consumer Demand for Safety and Security” alongside speakers from MivaTek/Home8, Panasonic Cloud Management Service Europe, Honeywell, and myFox.
For more information on CONNECTIONS™ Europe and how your company can become involved, visit www.connectionseurope.com.
