Bob Marshall, CEO, Whisker Labs, provides insight on several key industry trends for Parks Associates’ 11th-annual CONNECTIONS™ Summit conference, which will be held January 5 at CES 2017 in Las Vegas:

What is the most important next step to engage consumers in smart home solutions, connected entertainment services, and/or value-added services like tech support and connected health?

While nearly half of the U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a smart home device in the next 12 months, more than 100 million U.S. households do not have a single smart home device (Parks Associates). The most important step in spurring adoption is providing consumers a compelling value proposition from a simple and easy to install device. If one device could provide insights and information on all the appliances in the home - anything that uses electricity - that would give homeowners peace of mind and allow them to save energy and money.

Today, consumers are unable to monitor the health and efficiency of their non-connected appliances (99% of their appliances) such as their HVAC, refrigerators, and sump pumps. Whisker Labs has developed a sensor that can monitor all appliances within the home, and inform consumers about appliance degradation, efficiency and impending failure.

What changes do you expect to take place in the next year in the smart home and connected consumer markets?

Early adopters will continue to experiment and use smart home devices, but this is a small percentage of the overall population. At the same time, the services industries such as cable/media, utilities, insurance, and device manufactures will be looking for ways to enhance their offerings to the consumer to nudge the consumer toward more connected services – to provide more value to their customer as well as expand their own consumer reach and monetization opportunities. Big box retailers are also looking for the next disruptive technology to hit their shelves with the promise of mass market adoption. Our sensor technology provides an easy, DIY path for the consumer to enhance their appliance health and efficiency, so they can live more comfortably. 

What is the biggest driver for the connected consumer market?

Educating and enabling the consumer with easy-to-use technologies that provide real tangible benefits in terms of savings and home safety.

What are the biggest technology innovations impacting the connected home market?

Monitoring technologies utilizing big data and artificial intelligence to ‘learn’ about the home, in order to deliver consumer value that delights and engenders trust.

Marshall will speak on the session “IoT Crossover: Smart Home, Entertainment, Appliances, Cars, and Energy” on January 5 at 10:30 a.m. Other speakers on the panel include Ericsson, Greenwave Systems, Sears Holdings Corporation, Icontrol Networks, and General Motors.

For more information on CONNECTIONS™ Summit, visit www.connectionssummit.com or register by clicking here.