For many Americans, their home is their place of comfort, their peace of mind, and where the heart is. Their home is their sanctuary. And as with any sanctuary, you find comfort in what you know.

That’s why with so many innovations and breakthroughs in the home automation space, evolving the traditional American home into a smart home can prove to be a challenge. While adoption is increasing, getting started is perceived as difficult and a venture into unfamiliar territory.

In January, consumer electronics journalist Stewart Wolpin covered a CES panel on the evolution of the smart home. Addressing the issue of transitioning homeowners from unfamiliar change to welcome improvement, Wolpin wrote about Lutron President Mike Pessina’s take: “What would make people happy is to never enter a dark home,” opined Lutron’s Pessina. “The idea is, if you can be secure in your home because your home is lit up before you go into it, that’s a very good application.”

As for the misperception that evolving to a smart home can be a difficult process, it really comes down to simplifying the consumer experience in their path to purchase. We suggest starting with home security as a foundation and building from there.

Wolpin also covered Kris Bowering’s (of Lowe’s Iris smart-home platform) take on the matter: “We have to work hard to build the customer experience, to build use cases that are practical because the connected home wants to be practical,” explained Iris’ Bowring. “It’s hard to communicate quickly and effectively a complicated solution in a retail environment. Once you’ve done smart home, once you’ve automated it, you begin to understand it and you find it more and more desirable.”

We’ll explore this concept of adoption and consumer experience further at the CONNECTIONS Conference in San Francisco, May 19-21. Resolution Products President Brian Seeman will join a panel of experts exploring channel strategies for smart home services. We’ve included full session details at the bottom of this post.

Are you attending CONNECTIONS? Follow the action on social media with #CONNUS15, and follow and engage with us directly at @Resolution_Tech.

Winning Channel Strategies for Smart Home Services – Grand Peninsula Ballroom ABC

Low awareness and limited familiarity with smart home products and services create significant challenges for channel partners, especially as the market transitions from early adopter to early majority. This panel discusses the challenges in guiding consumer decision processes and the ability of different channels to overcome barriers and drive the next wave of smart product and service adoption.

SPEAKERS

Kris Bowring, Director of Business and Channel Development, Iris Smart Home Business Unit, New Business, Lowe's
Scott Burns, Senior Director of Innovation, Reliant, an NRG Company
Ryan Petty, Vice President, Product Development & Innovation, ADT Security Services
Adam Sager, CEO & Co-founder, Canary
Brian Seemann, President, Resolution Products
Chris Williams, Senior Director Product Strategy, Time Warner Cable
Moderator: Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates 

Next: AirTies Brings New Technology to the Table That Can Help Improve Wi-Fi Networks in the Home
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