Have you ever taken a moment to consider just how smart your home is? It wasn’t so long ago that the typical home might have had just one or two smart devices, but now, it isn’t uncommon to have a large, interconnected ecosystem of technology that makes our home lives easier.
Over the decades, we’ve gone from household appliances powered by radio waves to a situation where just about anything you can think of can be connected to the Internet and controlled through it. Perhaps one of the first smart home innovations to really enter the mainstream was the Nest thermostat that was launched in 2010, which allowed temperatures to be monitored and controlled remotely, even when users weren’t at home.
Fast forward to today and the smart home market is huge. The big tech players like Google, Amazon and Apple have all made huge investments in this area, with devices like Alexa and Amazon Echo acting as the control centre from which users can command countless different devices.
All this has fuelled an explosion in the development of devices that users can place in their homes, both by the tech giants themselves or by third parties: Google now estimates that there are more than 5000 smart home devices now compatible with its Google Home platform. And the overall smart home industry is estimated to be worth around $495billion globally.
Indeed, it could be argued that the proliferation of smart homes has been something of a quiet revolution, where they have become part and parcel of everyday life without many people really noticing. Look at some of the stats behind them:
· It’s now estimated that there are more than 60 million smart homes in the United States alone, and around 175 million globally
· 86% of millennials would pay more for a home that’s already equipped with smart home technology
· 65% of baby boomers are willing to spend money on smart devices for their homes and gardens
All these people who have adopted them are finding that these devices can enrich their lives, far beyond the convenience of being able to turn the heating on or turn the TV off through voice demands. The benefits stretch much further and wider than you might think:
· Improved home security: through smart security systems that allow users to keep an eye on their properties wherever they are, they can feel more confident in security and deter would-be intruders
· Lower insurance costs: the presence of smart security technology is generally looked upon favourably by insurers, which can help households reduce the cost of their home insurance
· Lower energy costs: by optimising the temperature and appliance use within their homes, some households have been able to halve their energy demands, generating a substantial cost saving in the current climate of rising energy prices
· Increased property value: a home that’s equipped with a good suite of smart home technology is equipped with a desirable asset which can add to the sale value of a property
Smart home tech has bled into our everyday lives and has created a shift in expectations from the wider world. Everywhere we go there have been innovations made to daily life. Smart manufacturing has existed for decades with the use of robotic machinery, but using smart IoT devices factories are able to monitor individual components as they enter and exit the production process, which has led to improved efficiency, cost savings and rapidly increased turn-arounds.
Smart offices work much the same way and can be hugely beneficial in improving the efficiency and sustainability of workplaces, and making more flexible ways of working easier to implement. Smart cities fine-tune infrastructure and services to suit changing needs of residents, through innovations like automatic street lights, dynamic traffic management or even online notices of bin collection. And smart healthcare means care and support can be delivered remotely, in more integrated ways, and with more detailed information thanks to IoT devices like wearables.
So, while you may feel that smart technology begins at home, it won’t be long until it touches and benefits almost every area of business too.