Brian Winter, Chief Revenue Officer at SmartThings, answers the following industry questions prior to the 2016 CONNECTIONS Summit at CES, taking place January 6-7 in Las Vegas:

What is the most important next step to engage consumers in smart home solutions, connected entertainment services, and/or value-added services like tech support and connected health?

This next step consists of two parts:

• 1) continued education for consumers to better understand how smart home solutions are relevant and useful in their lives today.
• 2) expansion and integration of new device types and services so that consumers can create the right kind of smart home that fits their unique lifestyle and needs as they expand their connected solution.

What is the biggest challenge your company faces in 2016?

Educating consumers about the capabilities available today on SmartThings’ open platform and how simple and affordable it is to get started.

What is the biggest driver for the connected consumer market?

Simplicity, which comes with openness—the ability for devices and services to work together in a seamless way and be controlled through one mobile app.

What are the most important initiatives your company is taking in 2016?

We’re going beyond starter kits to begin solving specific real world problems for everyday users within the home which starts with home monitoring and security and the launch of our Home Monitoring Kit. We also strive to expand the SmartThings open platform to extend the possibilities available and make the smart home a reality for even more consumers today.

Describe your vision for the smart home and entertainment markets in 2020.

That together we can deliver the easiest way to build a smart home with an open platform that maximizes collaboration and innovation. Our vision is that by 2020 tens of millions of homes are IoT ready and have Hubs installed either as standalone devices or inside of their existing devices and that consumers and that device manufacturers and developers have worked together to create seamless, intuitive ways for a wide range of products to work together based upon the individual’s needs and preferences. Our goal is that the smart home works seamlessly together to address all use cases from monitoring and security, to energy savings to media and entertainment.  

Brian Winter will speak on the panel "Integrating IoT into Smart Home Platforms" on January 7 at 10:00am alonside speakers from Alarm.com, EVRYTHNG, Icontrol Networks, and ROC-Connect. Add this session to your CES schedule today!

For more information on the sessions and speakers at this year's CONNECTIONS Summit, visit www.connectionssummit.com.

Next: Consumers don't care about 'things' - they care about what those things do for them: Insights from PlumChoice
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