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 percent of homeowners are interested in smart home solutions. Further, respondents indicate they were unwilling to pay more than $30 a month for smart home solutions. The results of the survey suggest 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,” said a Frost & Sullivan research vice president. “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,” said the research vice president. “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.
“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,” said the research vice president. “Nevertheless, we see the same challenges we see in other markets; for example, ease of deployment and integration, establishing successful innovation and delivery models founded on the principles of an ecosystem, demonstrating end-user value, amongst others. These challenges are, if anything, even more crucial in Russia given the intense levels of competition and price sensitivity.”
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants.
Our “Growth Partnership” supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.
- The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.
- The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.
For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?
Click here to be introduced to Frost & Sullivan
Source: Frost & Sullivan
