Martin Heckmann, Director of Emerging Business at Chamberlain Group Inc., Chamberlain, spoke with Parks Associates' to discuss what companies can do to increase consumer awareness of smart home products and services, what innovations are having the biggest impact on smart home and IoT markets, and what consumers fear most about adopting smart home products and services.

Martin will participate on the session, Smart Home Platforms: Unlocking Consumer Value, at Parks Associates' CONNECTIONS Summit: Engaging Consumers: IoT and the Smart Home at CES, January 9, in Las Vegas. The session will be held Tuesday, at 9 AM, and will also feature the following participants:

• Nina Bhatia, Managing Director, Centrica Connected Home (Hive)
• Bernd Grohmann, Executive Vice President, eQ-3 AG
• Thomas Rockmann, VP Connected Home, Deutsche Telekom AG
• Marcus Scheiber, CEO, ROC-Connect

Q. What can companies do to increase consumer awareness of smart home products and
services?

A. Expanding support for the number of ecosystems and complementary smart devices that populate those ecosystems is the critical factor in increasing consumer awareness. Consumers are thinking about the smart home holistically. They are HomeKit or Google Home or Alexa people, and they shop for brands that clearly support their ecosystem of choice. The brands that support those ecosystems are identified as leaders. Ultimately, these are the brands that receive valuable word-of-mouth marketing, as homeowners who have successfully implemented smart home systems tell their friends about their experiences, and the brands they’re using.

Q. What do consumers fear most when adopting smart home products and services?

A. Consumers’ top concern is security. They want to have absolute peace of mind that their homes are safe and secure. It’s interesting that the fear a smart home product or service is not secure has kept some consumers’ from adopting a smart home lifestyle, yet, at the same time security is also driving smart home adoption. We’ve see it go both ways.

Large aggregators are still working to successfully address this issue of security, and what it looks likes to provide functionality users desire yet still ensure that users’ homes are safe and secure. Since our MyQ technology controls the main entry point to the home for many people, we take this issue of safety and security very seriously. It’s absolutely our number one priority. In order to open or close the garage door via Siri voice control, users are required to unlock their Apple device using by entering the passcode or using Touch ID. In addition, for security purposes, users can’t open the garage door using Google Assistant or IFTTT; they can only close their garage door or check the status of their opener.

Q. What innovations are having the biggest impact on the smart home and IoT markets?

A. Within the past year, the impact of voice automation on the smart home market has been tremendous. Voice control has increased consumers’ awareness of smart home initiatives through the introduction of smart speakers, including the Amazon Echo and Google Home series. If I had to narrow it down to the one thing that will make consumers crave a smart home – it’s voice control. Voice makes the smart home more accessible and more convenient. The smart home and IoT markets are aggressively evolving new levels of functionality, compatibility and usability all of which are important value propositions to consumers.

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