For the independent security dealer, all of these changing customer and technology profiles is already happening. The appeal of the walled garden’s closed system is convenience and usability; however, that point of distinction is being eroded by those same factors.
Parks Associates recently mapped the smart home’s competitive landscape by looking for cues and harbingers in user reviews. What Parks’ Tom Kerber found was that walled garden automation was already showing signs of dying off.
“The breadth of [open] platforms is much more substantial,” Kerber says. “It will be hard to maintain a [vertically integrated] approach, or even, for that matter, a highly curated approach, when a very open approach can provide a similar user experience and provide much more access…to whatever product you may have or want to own.”
If there’s a key takeaway from the Parks Associates study for your purposes, it is this: The move from vertically integrated to open “could happen relatively quickly,” according to Kerber. “Our recommendation to smart home platform providers, as well as service providers, is to plan for that eventuality.”
This means security dealers may need to consider offering a broader range of products, he adds.
From the article "Residential Security: Beyond the Walled Garden" by Shawn Welsh.
More than 90% of security dealers offer some form of interactive service and 75% of security sales overall include at least one smart home device, according to the study by Parks Associates. “The m...
The majority (61%) of households that do not own and do not intend to purchase a smart home device could be persuaded by reduced household bills or insurance discounts, according to the study, compris...
“Having smart home devices pre-installed in the home creates an immediate opportunity to demonstrate specific value propositions in safety, energy management and convenience,” stated Patrice Samuels,...
Month-to-month digital media analysts continue to follow “churn” issues — entertainment consumers who drop or add services. A 2018 Parks Associates report says about 18% of U.S. broadband households c...
