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While interactive services have taken hold in the industry, radically improving customer satisfaction and retention, the addition of home control products including lighting and thermostats has also expanded the value of security solutions. Bundling smart energy, home security, and smart home services has made the security industry the leading channel for smart home services. Looking to move beyond the current 21 percent to 22 percent penetration among broadband households, professional monitoring providers may be hard pressed to find a single
silver bullet. Among consumers without a home security system or professional monitoring service subscription, no single feature had high levels of appeal. A service without a long term contract was the most appealing to this group, with other features such as the ability to monitor a system using a smartphone or one that includes control of the thermostat scoring between 23 percent and 29 percent. Most alarming is that half of those without systems just aren’t interested — today or under any offered conditions. This creates added importance to maintaining existing customers, and Parks Associates research shows these customers largely value price savings. When those who terminated service in the past year were asked the
reason for terminating their service, 36 percent said they didn’t feel the service was worth what they were paying for it. This is why smart home kit vendors offering self monitoring have the potential to grow more quickly by addressing the needs of non traditional security customers. These customers are increasingly interested in home control and potentially security but not in professional monitoring fees. — Contributed by Tom Kerber, Director, IoT Strategy, Parks AssociatesAs Managing Editor, Karyn Hodgson writes exclusive cover stories, such as SDM’s State of the Market series, as well as other feature length articles and case studies.
