01732 759725
Opinion
38
Rod Slater,
Head of Smart Tech
& IoT,
Exertis
Breaking down the
barriers to Smart Tech
Rod Slater, Exertis head of Smart Tech & IoT, explains what Exertis is doing to help
resellers and retailers exploit opportunities in smart home technology
and work with each other.
Exertis, the leading distributor in the
Smart Tech market, believes that for smart
home technology to become truly mass
market, consumers need to be made
aware, at the point of purchase or from
a professional installer, which products
and brands will work together. To this
end, it provides retailers and professional
installers with a multi-brand product matrix
showing compatibility within each of the
major eco-systems.
Voice to drive market growth
Smart home features are usually
controlled via an app on a mobile device.
This is manageable when you have one
or two Smart Tech brands in the home,
but when each product has its own app,
it starts to get complicated and time-
consuming.
The ability to voice-activate smart
devices through spoken commands, without
the need to reach for your smartphone or
tablet, has many advantages, and there are
some very big and powerful companies that
believe voice activation will drive adoption
of smart devices: Amazon with Alexa, Apple
with Siri, Microsoft with Cortana and Google
with Google Home.
Amazon Echo is leading the charge,
with its voice assistant Alexa. This has a
number of voice-activated features that
work with leading brands like Nest, Hive,
Yale, Philips Hue and Honeywell, giving
consumers instant voice control over their
heating, lighting and security. It can also
connect to other smart home hubs, such
as Belkin and Samsung. By opening up its
platform to other developers, Amazon is
making it easy for users not only to access
and control a number of smart home
devices but also to add ‘skills’ that are
personal to the user.
The security challenge
As well as expecting the products they
buy to work with other devices, consumers
need to be confident that their privacy will
be protected.
By its very nature, IoT gathers and
analyses data from sensors in products,
which can then be used by other devices
to make the home more thoughtful,
convenient and personalised. For example,
presenting data that informs the consumer
about cost savings that can be achieved
by reducing their thermostat by a couple
of degrees or ensuring lights are switched
off during the day will encourage people to
invest in smart technology.
In terms of privacy, any connected
device is vulnerable, but this needs to be
put into perspective and calculated on a
risk versus reward basis. Choosing a well-
known and trusted brand is good practice,
as is taking care of basic security, such as
changing default passwords and applying
updates. Professional installers have an
important role to play here.
Homes of the future
You don’t need to buy a new-build to take
advantage of smart home technology,
but those who do have every reason to
expect it to be designed and built with
home automation already installed. A
growing number of property developers
are including smart home technology,
networking and entertainment as part of
their offering, with a high percentage of
customers reportedly taking up the option.
A new home should be a smart home
and that requires developers, architects,
builders and installers to be aware of
the opportunities that exist and to plan
for them accordingly. Insurers can help
develop the market by reducing premiums
for homes that have additional security
features or smart appliances (e.g.ones
that can detect leaks).
Globally, the smart home technology
market is expected to be worth $43billion
by 2020, three times its value in 2014,
according to Statista, with the UK as one
of the leading early adopter countries.
Retailers and installers that want to take
advantage of growing demand for smart
devices need a distribution partner like
Exertis that understands the market, has
access to the leading brands and can
keep pace with developing opportunities.
Technology is part
of everyday life. At
work, we use it to
be more efficient
and productive, so
it’s hardly surprising
we want the same
benefits in the home.
Of the billions of
IoT-enabled devices
predicted to be in use
by 2020, millions are
earmarked to help
consumers automate
their home.
In retail outlets as diverse as John Lewis,
Argos, Screwfix and Maplin, consumers
are already faced with a growing range of
products that can add security to a home,
control heating/lighting and potentially
reduce energy costs, provide entertainment
and make everyday tasks more convenient.
The ability to monitor home security
with high quality video direct to a mobile
device from a small and convenient ‘smart’
camera has clear benefits. As do time- and
energy-saving devices and monitoring
systems like Nest’s thermostat, which cuts
energy consumption by an average of
12-15%, and smart home entertainment
appliances from consumer electronics
giants like Sonos and Samsung – 90% of
Samsung products will be able to connect
to the internet by 2017.
Herein, too, lies one of the barriers
to mass market adoption. Despite
the huge array and diversity of ‘smart’
products and brands, consumers tend
to take their first step in this market by
making a single purchase in one of the
key product categories (security, energy,
home automation, entertainment) in the
expectation that their new ‘smart’ device
will work with future purchases i.e. that
their smart lighting will work with their
security system.
Yet, because there has been no
standard protocol and a number of different
eco-systems have emerged, such as Nest,
Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings and
Amazon Echo, not all smart devices talk to
There are
some very big
and powerful
companies that
believe voice
activation will
drive adoption of
smart devices
