From The
Editor’s
Desk
pages 16-18
Small Is Beautiful
Google is the
latest mega brand
to start moving
into the smart
home space, but
it needed the help
of automation
specialists to do
it. So will end user
customers
No doubt that it’s been a very eventful year for the smart
building/custom install market, with many new products
and initiatives from companies we know well and moves
into the market from companies, particularly large global
corps, that are new to the industry.
Just recently O2 was one of the latest to jump on the
‘smart home bandwagon,’ announcing a contract based
initiative to offer basic smart home devices. With free
installation, the end user gets a smart home pack offering
products such as sensors, IP cameras, smart thermostats and
smart plugs – all for one monthly fee. Users also get access to
a free helpline, ‘have your tried turning it off and on again?’
With just about every home automation company now
offering, or about to offer compatibility with Amazon’s
Alexa-based voice activation platform, Google is also
joining the party with Control4 announcing compatibility
with Google Home and Pixel products through the IoT
engine IFTTT courtesy of a driver created by New Zealand
developer Chowmain.
This phenomenon shows no sign of slowing and the oft
whispered prospect of the smart home going mainstream
will become a reality, in fact it’s happening now.
So, as the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you
wish for,’ this prospect definitely offers opportunity, but
trepidation too: What if the multi-nationals come up with
a silver bullet that destroys our market just as it’s about to
go global?
However, let’s think about that for a minute.
Hands up who has ever had a contract or service
from one of these multi-nationals and had a troublefree experience?
Here is just one example. I recently switched my
mobile phone provider to a smaller more attentive
company from O2, having got royally sick of the lack
of customer service and the fact that if you could get
through to someone, they knew nothing and what’s
more did not care that the experience was poor. My new
provider is smaller, more focused, values its customers
and what is more, understands the technology and the
services it is providing. Sound familiar?
I strongly suspect customers of O2’s smart home
service will often experience the same sort of attitude and
poor level of service, as those who have a phone contract
with them.
These very large companies are however great at
one thing: marketing. Powerful advertising campaigns
convince people the products are g