Smart home technology should make the residence a better, more efficient and safer place of life. Ironically, if implemented improperly, it may have the opposite effect. For a long time, telecom operators often claim that they are "trustworthy" when competing with OTT rivals, but they cannot compare with OTT's ability to innovate. According to Michael Philpott, head of Ovum's consumer service practice, telecom operators still have opportunities in the field of smart homes, but they can only succeed when they can prove that they can also provide consumers with truly unique value.
If you cannot provide unique value, then trust will not make sense
The industry generally believes that security and consumer privacy are the most serious concerns for smart homes and consumer IoT. Mattel, an American toy company, has been criticized for launching a connected smart Barbie doll for allegedly infringing on children's privacy. Not long ago, the company launched an AI voice assistant "nanny" device called Aristotle.
However, this concern does not necessarily prevent consumers from buying smart home devices. In terms of product marketing, it is not to say that companies that are more secure or have a more active attitude towards protecting consumer data will naturally have the upper hand. There are three fundamental reasons for this:
Consumers are not well educated about the dangers of these jobs in the industry. Some consumer IoT devices (such as connected toys) may alert consumers. However, the risks from smart light bulbs, security cameras, and even AI smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home are less obvious. After all, all of us carry smartphones with us, which are equipped with speakers, light bulbs and at least one camera, so how dangerous are other similar devices?
Consumers are more adventurous than imagined. Survey data shows that consumers are becoming more aware of the value of their data, and people are increasingly concerned about how the data will be used. However, this trend is not unique to the smart home industry. Most consumers are well aware of the potential data privacy risks of using social apps like Facebook and Snapchat, but the monthly active users of these two apps still reach 2 billion and 173 million, respectively, and these numbers are still there. Growing.
Consumers believe that no company can provide 100% protection. Survey data shows that some brands are more trustworthy than others, but news reports show that consumers know that no company is safe from hacker attacks, and they also understand that all companies are to make money. So although some brands may be more trusted, consumers believe that no company can provide 100% protection. In a 2015 study conducted by the British Customer Service Association, 76% of respondents said that “companies can never truly protect our dataâ€.
Consumers need to be protected in a world with more and more networks and an increasingly complex environment. Consumers are excited about the emerging Internet of Things technology. In the latest smart life survey, in terms of attitudes towards new technologies, the vast majority of respondents currently indicate that they are willing to try and adopt new technologies to help them and their families in their daily lives. Only a few Users expressed concern about the issue of trust. Therefore, consumers may try new products without fully understanding the risks they are facing, or underestimate the risks they face because they just want to enjoy the features that the product can provide.
With the introduction of the EU's "General Data Protection Regulation" (General Data Protection RegulaTIon) and other bills, some work is already in progress. Of course, companies including Orange in France want to use such regulations as a way to prove to consumers that they are a trustworthy brand. However, to win this competition, telecom operators need to demonstrate their credibility while also being able to provide unique value. Only this combination will enable them to compete with large Internet and consumer electronics manufacturers in the smart home field.
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