Prior to Parks Associates’ 14th-annual
CONNECTIONS™ Europe: Strategies for Security and Smart Home,
Brecht Wyseur, Kudelski IoT Security, Kudelski Group gave his insights on the smart home market with the firm's analyst team.
Brecht will participate on the expert panel Evolution of the Smart Home: Gaining Traction on Tuesday, 19 November at 8:30. Panelists who will join him on this session include:
• Bernd Grohmann, Executive Vice President, eQ-3
• Arsham Hatambeiki, SVP Product & Technology, Universal Electronics
• Mario Moura, Managing Director EMEA, Resideo
• Gabriel Wetzel, CEO, Robert Bosch Smart Home GmbH
What are the biggest challenges and barriers for new smart home products and services in Europe?
Fear of poor product security is holding back the potential of smart home products, as consumers fear intrusion by bad actors into their homes and theft of their private data. Cyberattacks on smart home products appear with increasing frequency in the news, so until manufacturers and service providers make their products secure by design, the market will not reach its full potential.
What new channels are driving growth in the smart home industry?
Consumer electronics retailers are devoting an increasing amount of shelf space to smart home solutions, driven largely by the 2018 drive by Amazon and Google to get low-cost digital assistants into the home. The large-scale integration of smart home devices into these (and Apple’s) platforms makes it increasingly simpler for consumers to build smart homes based on equipment they buy in retail. Service providers like telcos and cable operators will continue to play a role in creating more tightly integrated solutions for customers who want someone to assemble all the pieces for them.
How is technology challenging traditional industries like home security?
Home security platforms are becoming more and more open to integrating a wider variety of home automation devices, meaning you can have a single app for security, lighting, garage doors, entry doors, doorbell, cameras, etc. This enables integrated “scenes” or routines that add great convenience for consumers. When all you have to do is say “I’m leaving!” from the car and your whole house shuts down – ensuring security and energy efficiency - that has a huge “Wow!” factor for consumers.
How is the role of the service provider changing in the smart home?
As the “do-it-yourself” smart home is getting easier and easier, service providers will need to find ways to assemble smarter and better solutions to compete with this. That has to go beyond just bundling (savings) to develop features that are equivalent to or better to consumer electronics market leaders, and that’s a daunting challenge. The alternative is to partner with leading vendors and platforms and be the integrator for consumers who can’t do it on their own.
