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Smart Home Technology Education
The smart home technology market revenue was estimated to be $27.7 billion at the end of 2018; household penetration increased to 33.2% in the same year; it’s expected to reach 53.9% in 2023. The annual growth rate was estimated to be 12% and only expected to increase. Some triggers driving the growth are low monthly cost, free trial of the device, new innovations, ad marketing, and influencers marketing.
Some obstacles in utilizing smart home technology are an expensive device, concerned about data privacy, concerned about hackers accessing the network, difficulty in installation, homeowners association/landlord doesn't permit smart home devices and not enough programmable settings.
To identify consumers like and dislike, benefits and obstacles, and education needed in the smart home technology market, we carried out an extensive search through credible media publications, surveys regarding smart home technology, industries reports, ad marketing websites, and companies websites. We utilize GutCheckit survey report, McKinsey reports, and academic database like ScienceDirect, and Research Gate, industries report like Statista, companies’ websites like Safewise, Cubical, Gensecurity, and Pcmag.com to unearth the required information.
The details of our findings are presented below.
CONSUMER LIKES ABOUT SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY
- Lighting Control: Consumers are fascinated with the feeling of have their light control from anywhere in the world. They like the fact of being able to on, off, and dim lighting appliances according to mood.
- Fan Control: Fan’s speed is controlled with seamless effort with the help of smart devices. Consumers like to use the voice and app feature to conventionally regulate fans.
- Curtain Control: Smart home products help to pull hard to reach curtains with seamless effort with voice commands or tap; this creates a relaxed, comfortable and convenient living environment for smart home technology users.
- IR Device control: Infrared based appliances like the air conditioner, television, entertainment systems, and smartphone are easily controlled with voice note and apps to suit the user mood. Consumers like these products as they conveniently control home appliances with less stress and effort.
- Energy Monitoring: Energy utilization is one of the likes that drives the smart home technology market; consumers can completely control all home appliances. From anywhere in the world users can On/off their home appliances.
CONSUMER BENEFITS OF USING SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY
Smart home devices' adoption has been reported to be on the increase; before now, this technology was conceived as technology merely for the rich and technologically gifted individuals. At the end of 2017, 16.3% of homes in the United States were considered smart homes.
Some benefits of smart home technology presented as follows.
- Prevention of Thefts: Burglars are more likely to invade empty homes. Smart home technology helps protect homes from thefts and burglars by allowing owners to control appliances, like lights and creating an impression that someone is home using blind features.
- Money Savings: Good management and efficient utilization of energy translate to financial saving. Smart home technology help runs home appliances on energy-efficient modes and automatically turn off inactive devices to save energy consumption.
- Comfort: Interconnecting appliances like smart security systems, speakers, lightings and TVs improve home productivity. Smart home devices provide invaluable peace with the management and monitoring of home appliances.
- Surveillance: Smart home devices provide a surveillance feature with the aid of cameras and smart cameras to increase home protection. Consumers can seamlessly manage home activities in the event of suspicious activities from anywhere in the world.
CONSUMER OBSTACLES OF USING SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY
Despite the increasing nature of smart home technology, the industry has been faced with many issues. Generally, the barriers that face the adoption of smart home technology are device/Products are too expensive, concerned about data privacy, concerned about hackers accessing the devices/network, technology is still developing / too many potential glitches, difficult to install, not easy to use/navigate once set up, concerned about product energy usage, doesn't sync with other devices (e.g. Amazon Echo, Google Home, etc.), homeowners association/landlord doesn't permit such devices/products, poor aesthetic design, and not enough programmable settings.
GutCheck Technology reports the barriers in the adoption of smart home technology in the United States. The results of this survey are presented below.
- 29% reported that the device/products are too expensive.
- 21% reported concerned about privacy.
- 18% reported concerned about hackers accessing the device.
- 12% reported difficulty in installation.
- 4% were not available online.
SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
The result of GutCheck survey reviewed that 12% had difficulty in installation of the device; therefore, there is no need for educating users on smart home technology.