Features Research
IHS: smart home systems penetration to reach 7 per cent by 2025

A report, author by IHS Markit’s smart home and security technology principal analyst Blake Kozak, says in 2023, professionally monitored smart homes will exceed non-connected, traditionally monitored security systems. In order to preserve the growth of the smart home, service providers need to have flexible billing models, Kozak notes.

Consumers are beginning to expect alternatives to long-term contracts in the form of on-demand billing, professional installation with self-monitoring or DIY installation with professional monitoring, the research found.

“Innovation is critical for service providers in the smart home. The future of the smart home will have less focus on safety and security devices and more focus on automation, user experience and ecosystems,” according to Kozak. “The experience is the final critical tenet for service providers to be fully engaged with the smart home. The experience could be a platform with a unique GUI or the experience could be devices that complement each other well, e.g. indoor/outdoor cameras with the complete spectrum of security and automation devices.”

Overall, Kozak says service providers are in a unique position in that many already have millions of customers, so service providers that implement flexibility, innovation and ‘the experience’ will find the most success against the DIY juggernauts of Amazon, Apple, Samsung and Google/Nest.