Last week, The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) announced a new initiative called Aliro, which will create a single open standard for access control and smart lock devices. This project builds upon the previous success of the Matter open standard. With 200 CSA members participating, the Alliance plans to release the first iteration in 2025, with the goals of creating “simplicity, flexibility, security, and interoperability across hardware and software”. Read the full press release here.

The move towards an open standard is arriving at a crucial time in the smart home industry. Parks Associates research shows that while only 34% of consumers with smart door locks have the capability to lock or unlock utilizing an app on a phone or smart watch, and 27% have the capability to lock or unlock by tapping a phone or smart watch, those features are desired by 89% and 90% respectively.

Creating open standards is key to making the experience as seamless as possible and to increase adoption among segments of the population that have not yet invested in smart home technology. Parks Associates research in Q2 2023 indicates that 13% of US households surveyed who do not own or intend to own a smart home device cited the concern about devices not working together as one of the barriers to adoption of smart home technology. Nearly 75% of US internet households indicate that a single “mark” on a device which communicates interoperability would be an important consideration when making smart home purchases. Streamlining the use of smart home devices through a standard that simplifies the experience and compares to traditional solutions will increase the attractiveness of smart home devices and increase adoption, particularly with the more than 50 million US consumers ages 65 and older who tend to be later adopters of smart home technology. 

One of the future challenges for the smart home industry is to communicate the benefit of the products compared to traditional solutions. Our research shows that 45% of those who neither owned nor intended to purchase a smart home device said they saw no benefit or value in owning a smart home device. Creating an open standard that is as convenient or more convenient than traditional solutions is one strategy to give consumers a sense of value in smart solutions.

Parks Associates will address this topic and more at its upoming CONNECTIONS Summit at CES , in January.