Bringing Best Practices From The IoT Industry To Smart Homes

A lot of people noticed that Google Glass, the cutting edge people recognition set of glasses, was quietly moved into a mode where the product people are working on developing it as an enterprise application first. If you were following it when it came out, you might ask why? It was clearly targeted at consumers and it had a lot of upside in common applications that could improve productivity.

Nonetheless, it became an example of a product that could provide a lot more for consumers but moved in a different direction. That trend has been noted by pundits as something that is not making end users too happy about the state of IoT devices that are being marketed currently- largely because they may end up stuck with a platform that no longer matches them.

One manufacturing incubator, Imaginot, had an executive that said that perhaps forging a strong identity in the enterprise and then bringing best practices out to consumers might be a model that causes Google Glass and other products to regain more consumer appeal over time. In the movie Jerusalem, there was certainly a lot to like about having a constant Google Glass screen in front of you that facially recognized people that you met.

Here are some best practices questions that you can ask about IoT devices that are on the market that should make your purchase relevant for longer:

Home security:

In one of the worst areas of Colombia, a man was attacked a couple of years ago. The attack was recorded late at night on 68 different video cameras because that is actually the current state of the world in terms of security. Home security cameras are not that expensive, making them fairly ubiquitous.

The trick with security cameras is to know that there can be or already is a system that you can put together over the next few decades that will run all of your locations: your house, your beach house, your office, and so on. Because this system exists independently and is also for sale with certain brands of cameras, the real question that you need to ask when you purchase is which control system are you interested in using? An independent control system gives you the luxury of controlling most types of cameras in the same way that you can use a universal remote. A control system that is tied to an individual manufacturer will normally provide you with information that is more secure than other options for the first few years. After that, if they stop development on it, it may end up being less secure than what is new on the market.

Smart thermostats:

One nice thing about getting a smart thermostat put in is that you will have the ability to use efficiency to save money on your heating and cooling right away. The question that comes up with a smart thermostat system is similar to what you have with home security. How long will the manufacturer actually support the applications that you are using to drive your thermostat remotely? What happens if the smartphone application that you use to set specific heat temperatures no longer works with your new smartphone 6 years from now. Do you need to pay again to get an application that is designed to work with legacy devices?

Another question that comes up when you are looking at smart thermostats is their portability. You may upgrade them to a different system in the future and you might use the old thermostat in a different room or your vacation home. The question that should be asked, then, is how compatible are they with non-brand name systems and systems driven by different types of fuel and technology?

Kitchen appliances:

It is a pretty exciting thing for many that love coffee in the morning to find out that you can use your smartphone to program your coffee maker while you are away. And while some people might point out that many coffee makers have allowed for direct programming for the last couple of decades, it is still a 'cool' feature that drives sales for many manufacturers.

The question that should be asked with most kitchen appliances that are connected to the Internet and therefore updatable is, for how long is the manufacturer committed to providing software updates for the products that you purchase? When you know the answer to that- it makes it easier to choose a brand or style because you know what the approximate useful lifespan of your product will be.

Using best practices from enterprise companies to create questions that help consumers make the right choices when they are buying things has been going on for a while. When it comes to IoT devices, finding the questions that match the devices that you have can help provide you with the information that you need to buy the best brand in the marketplace.