Tim Smokoff, Group Vice President, Health & Wellness, Nortek Security & Control, provides insight on several key industry trends for Parks Associates’ 20^th-annual CONNECTIONS Conference, which will be held May 24-26 in San Francisco:

How is your company engaging consumers through new technology solutions?

Combining Numera’s legacy in mobile personal safety products with Nortek Security & Control’s strength in security and smart home, we can now look at giving customers unified, scalable systems that do not just look at home security and control but delve into personal health and wellness. Our new Home Safety Hub is a great example of this; for someone looking for personal monitoring as well as home safety for their loved one who is aging at home or chronically ill and living independently, we can give them custom personal safety and environmental alerts.

What is the biggest change you have seen in the past year in the connected home and entertainment industries?

The connected home space is moving beyond just devices like thermostats and door locks to include personal technologies like connected wearables and digital health products. From a health and wellness standpoint, collaboration across a dedicated care team and a shift from reactive care to proactive care is a major change. Being connected means care team members (friends, family, neighbors, and in some cases professional health workers) have access to and can share insightful, actionable information proactively to help those they care for live healthier, longer.

What do you think is the biggest driver for the connected consumer market?

From a connected health perspective, there is a huge population shift happening in the U.S. and a rapidly-increasing need to find sustainable and cost-effective ways to help people age-in-place and live independently. When we think about things like wearables and smart home products, there’s an opportunity to consider nontraditional markets as well as customers and how these technologies can best serve them.

What is the greatest challenge for the connected home industry in the next year?

Managing consumer expectations and delivering solutions that solve real-life problems will continue to be what the industry as a whole will tackle as the connected home industry moves forward. How companies in the health and wellness space, along with home security and IoT manufacturers, work together to develop ecosystems that work, work together and make sense to consumers will be the main factor in how the industry moves forward.

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Smokoff will speak on the session “IoT: Smart Home and Connected Health Applications” on Tuesday, May 24 at 1:15 p.m. Other speakers on the panel include Home8, Independa, GreatCall, and People Power.

For more information on CONNECTIONS, visit www.connectionsus.com or register by clicking here.

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