Prior to Parks Associates’ 13th-annual CONNECTIONS Summit at CES, in Las Vegas, Chris Gibbons, Founder and CEO, The Greystone Group, Inc. shared his insights on the future of connected devices, smart home, and independent living solutions with the firm's analyst team.

Chris will be participating on the Independent Living: Serving Consumers at Home panel during the conference on Tuesday, January 8, at 4:15 PM. Panelists joining him on this session include:

Steve Chazin, VP, Product Management, Alarm.com
Rob Flippo, CEO, MobileHelp
Geoff Gross, Founder & CEO, Medical Guardian
Claire Miles, Managing Director, Centrica Hive Ltd

As the number of connected devices in the home increases year-over-year, how can technology providers ease consumer concerns associated with data security and privacy?
Improvements in data security and privacy will need to be part of ongoing product offerings. Products and services whose core functionality updates and improvements do not include enhancements in data privacy and security will ultimately offer less value to consumers than those products that include available improvements. The focus must be on significant improvements not perfect protection.

How will artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and/or 5G technologies impact the smart home, IoT, and connected entertainment landscapes in 2019 and beyond? What will be the impact for consumers?
National roll-out of 5G will usher in an era of unprecedented opportunity and change because it will greatly enable the growth of an IoT to which the consumer is always connected to the network, which is always on and therefore will be able to support consumers anytime, anywhere, on demand or automatically without additional of conscious consumer input.

What emerging technologies could tip the smart home scale from early adopter to mass market adoption?
Health, fitness and wellness technologies offer significant promise of catalyzing a shift towards mass adoption in the smart home sector. As these product and services mature, the lines of distinction between medical devices, health IT and consumer health technologies will significantly blur. The definition of a Health provider will shift because they may be medical professionals, family caregivers,hardware robots or software bots located right next to you, thousands of miles away from you, in your pocket or in your car.

What impact will DIY solutions have on the traditional security landscape?
Plug and play seamless integration of IoT devices will catalyze significant DIY opportunities in the security sector and beyond.

How can companies capitalize on consumer interest in a home insurance smart home connection? How will that interest impact business models for both sides?
Companies must prioritize the consumer experience in the design of their smart home products and services. Automation, quality or brand loyalty will not be enough to ensure market growth or dominance. Those companies that provide solutions that significantly improve the consumer experience in ways that are compelling to the consumer will reap considerable rewards.

What are the best use case scenarios for voice technologies in the smart home?
It is impossible to determine at this time. New innovations will create new realities as described above. These in turn will open still new opportunities to develop solutions that accomplish tasks that cannot now even be envisioned. It is like asking someone, what is the best way to access a song or video at a time when we were using horses for transportation and the telegraph for communication?

What trends do you see in home building and energy services for the smart home industry?
There will be increasing integration of technology into not just home design, but also neighborhood and community development.

How can the quality of life for seniors be impacted by smart home solutions?
The potential is significant for seniors and younger consumers also. As voice assistants and interactive web based TV, 5G all mature it will create the perfect environment to catalyze effective solutions that enable substantial improvements in quality of life, health and wellbeing.

For more information on the CONNECTIONS Summit at CES, visit: www.connectionssummit.com.