New data from Parks Associates indicates that consumers are increasingly aware about risks to privacy and data security in smart home devices. According to the research firm’s numbers, 45 percent of U.S. broadband households are very concerned that someone will gain unauthorized access and control of a smart home device. The research firm also recently released findings suggesting that 26 percent of U.S. broadband households now own at least one smart home product.
“Smart home device ownership continues to rise, increasing from 19 percent of U.S. broadband households at the end of 2015 to 26 percent at the beginning of 2017,” Patrice Samuels, senior analyst at Parks, says. “With this increase comes an added importance for companies to provide quality support strategies that protect consumer privacy, which is often overlooked during product development.”
Some of the tools available to protect consumer privacy while leveraging data for proactive support will be discussed in Parks’ upcoming webcast, “Support, Privacy, and IoT: Thoughts from CES 2017,” which is slated for Feb. 9. Beyond security concerns, the webinar also will focus on the role of support in today’s hyper-connected home environment, the role of data in proactive support solutions, and how companies might offer support while minimizing the use of support resources.
“Consumers are more likely to experience problems with smart home products that are new to the market and those that have lower market penetration,” Samuels adds. “A higher percentage of smart fan, sprinkler system, and blind/drape owners report problems with their devices because smart fans are new to the market, while sprinkler systems and blinds/drapes have relatively low market penetration when compared to other smart home products.”
More on the webinar is available here.
