The Smart Home Concept: Partnerships within Industry Crucial for Market Development, Says Frost & Sullivan

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• Publié par: frost-sullivan
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• Langue: English

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The Smart Home Concept: Partnerships within

Industry Crucial for Market Development, Says

Frost & Sullivan

PR Newswire

LONDON, July 9, 2012

- High costs and system complexity are common barriers to wider adoption of

smart home technologies and applications

LONDON

,

July 9, 2012

/PRNewswire/ -- Though the Smart Home concept is far

from new, it has continued to elude wider scale adoption, despite the maturing

of both home automation and broadband communications technologies. The

industry appears to be driving a renewed interest as companies seek new

revenue opportunities by exploiting the near-universal interest in smart

innovation, particularly in urban environments. However, unless crucial

challenges are addressed, Frost & Sullivan believes that history may simply

repeat itself.

According to a survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan with more than 1,000

households across

the United States

and

Canada

in 2011, only 28 per cent of

homeowners are interested in Smart Home solutions. Further, respondents

indicate that they were unwilling to pay more than

USD30

a month for Smart

Home solutions. The results of the survey suggest that people today perceive

the Smart Home to have a negative price-value relationship.

"As the consumer communication environment has become more complex, it is

the complexity that is getting in the way of service consumption," says Frost &

Sullivan Vice President of ICT, Daniel Shepherd. "While more aggressive pricing

– and different pricing models – will help balance out the relationship with

perceived value, the creation of well-integrated bundles that address real

customer needs is at least as important."

The supplier market for Smart Home applications is extremely fragmented and

most players offer only partial solutions. Smart Home solutions require the

effective collaboration of multiple players, from communications service

providers, to infrastructure and information technology suppliers, to energy and

utilities companies, to building technology and physical security vendors, to

maintenance and other service companies, among others.

"This type of complex collaboration framework is challenging to develop due to

the inherent – and sometimes conflicting - interests of each company in the

mix, particularly around ownership of the customer and accountability for

service levels and quality," adds Mr. Shepherd. "When the pricing/affordability

challenge is added to the mix, it can become complex to make the business

case work."

In some mature markets, there are commercial offers for Smart Home

solutions already available.

Russia

is at an earlier stage of development. Daniel

Shepherd notes: "Reflecting on Frost & Sullivan international experience and

the characteristics of the Russian market, I believe that the potential for Smart

Homes is very exciting in

Russia

- in line with other 'smart' developments in the

country. Nevertheless, we see the same challenges as we see in other markets;

for example, ease of deployment and integration, establishing successful