With the Home Automation House debuting at IFSEC this year and the connected home dominating CES 2016, IFSEC Global expanded considerably its coverage of this topic this year.
The presence in our top five of three stories on home automation, an increasingly popular alternative revenue stream for installers of commercial security installations, suggests this was wise. Number four on the list in particular shows just how strong the appetite is among installers for diversifying into this field.
Elsewhere in the top five is a debate about the role of the installer. This also very much reflects the zeitgeist with the rise of the internet of things, end-to-end solutions and remote maintenance, as well as he ongoing migration to IP driving fundamental changes in the nature of security installation and maintenance today.
We asked a number of security professionals for their views on the changing nature of security installations and the implications for how the trade defines itself.
Two self-described engineers (as opposed to installers), a former SSAIB inspector and the MD of CSL DualCom also considered how the modern installer/engineer (delete as preferred) needs to adapt to an increasingly IT-driven industry.
Shared 136 times on LinkedIn (at the time of writing) it was very much a debate that readers wanted their peers to see too.
An overwhelming majority of security installers and integrators told IFSEC Global that they saw home automation as a potential growth area. A survey of hundreds of your peers suggested that the ‘smart home’ was seen as a prime opportunity for diversification.
Insights like this really vindicated the inclusion for the first time of a Home Automation House at IFSEC International (check out the interview below with Merit LILIN in said mock smart home).
We also polled installers on which home automation technologies they would be particularly interested in/actively selling and installing.
It’s arguably the most pressing problem in the fire and security sector and one that afflicts UK engineering as a whole. The Fire Industry Association (FIA) penned this piece highlighting the dearth of qualified engineers, including comments from Brett Ennals, a recruitment consultant for Cento, which specialises in fire and security recruitment.
Echoing concerns expressed by many owners of installation firms at the SSAIB/BT Redcare Installer Forum in May, Ennals said: “A lot of people have disappeared [from the fire industry] or they’ve retired, and there’s been no new blood, no new faces coming into the industry.”
In September we interviewed Loxone’s UK managing director, Philipp Schuster, about barriers to mass adoption, the growth curve in various countries and the benefits and challenges of entering the market for commercial security installers.
It was a fascinating interview that also touched on the very definition of smart, which Philipp felt was overused and should be defined more narrowly than simply being able to operate lights from your smartphone.
Founded in Austria in 2009, Loxone sells smart home systems to homeowners and housing developers predominantly across mainland Europe, though it also has a presence in the US.
The enormous global appeal of CES, the consumer electronics show, no doubt propelled this article to the top of the pile. It’s also certain based on our research that the IFSEC Global audience is hungry for information on the latest innovations and trends – anything to get an edge on the competition.
Among the products on show at CES 2016 was Samsung’s ‘intelligent’ Family Hub refrigerator, a spherical, rolling camera (see image below) and a wireless smart home solution from Tyco.
Watch out for an even greater volume of coverage for CES 2017. We also have big plans for covering the growing commercial opportunities in the borders security and critical national infrastructure markets as IFSEC International gears up to launch Borders & Infrastructure for its 2017 edition.
In the meantime, have a great Christmas and New Year…
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