Before attending CONNECTIONS™Europe in Amsterdam, David Bailey, Vice President, Marketing Communications at SmartThings, answered several industry questions:
Where do you feel the largest opportunity is for the smart home industry in Europe?
The largest opportunity for the smart home industry in Europe is in providing a truly integrated smart home platform, so users can create their own smart home to suit their needs. SmartThings has 
always been committed to an open platform with a robust ecosystem of partners, and we’re bringing this approach to Europe as well.
What challenges does Europe face with rolling out new smart home products and services?
The challenges are similar to those in other parts of the world—creating a full ecosystem of integrated devices, services, and communications standards, so everything works smoothly for users.
How will companies leverage the growth in the market in the next 12 months?
We expect to see increased marketing efforts, new product offerings, and of course more and more partnerships between device makers and platform operators. Voice control, especially, will be important to leveraging growth over the next year, as more users adopt Amazon Echo and Google Home.
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 catching up with SmartThings partners and hearing what they’re working on, and meeting new people in the industry who could become partners in the future.
Bailey will present his keynote address “It’s all about the Customer Experience” at 16:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 November.
For more information on CONNECTIONS™ Europe and how your company can become involved, visit www.connectionseurope.com
