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$CHRO: Smart Home Sector Could Be Worth Hundreds Of Billions In Next Five Years


A new report suggests that ‘smart’ homes could be one of the next major markets to take off. Deutsche Telekom (DT), a German telecommunications company, has released a report that, it says, demonstrates the potential of the sector, the hurdles it must over-come to reach that potential and the opportunities it can afford to new and established businesses.

DT predicts that 100 million households will be ‘smart’ across the globe by the end of the year and this will increase to 300 million over the next ten years. Building on other companies’ analyses, DT expects to see consumer spending on smart home products and services to hit €90.90 billion globally by 2018 and accelerate from there to €122.77 billion by 2020.

It adds that Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, claims that the home market in the EU could be worth over €15.46 billion annually by 2019, with 50 million Western European homes having installed smart home technology.

Clearly there is some money to be made in the area. But what is involved in the nebulous terminology of ‘smart’ homes – also sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things – and what role do entrepreneurs have to play in it?

Put simply, a ‘smart’ home is one that is inter-connected for communication – either between various automated devices in the house or to an off-site location. This can take many forms and perform numerous functions. Homes can be designed and built with wiring and equipment in place for this purpose, alternatively inter-connected systems can be bought and installed in older dwellings. Individual devices can also be bought and added in ad hoc to eventually become some sort of smart system.

The purpose of these systems or individual pieces can be myriad. Typically current ‘smart’ devices revolve around entertainment, security or energy efficiency. These include relatively well known examples such as Chromecast ‘smart’ TV adapter, the Nest thermostat and the Dropcam home monitoring system (both now part of the Google GOOGL +0.80%/Alphabet empire).


http://www.forbes.com/sites/freddiedawson/2015/09/30/smart-home-sector-could-be-worth-hundreds-of-billions-in-next-five-years/#5e786e3b499c


- Go CHRO