Significant advancements in connectivity aspects since the last decade have translated into modernistic smart home technologies. This paradigm shift has been driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), as home management has begun to take precedence among users in India and globally. Through IoT, home appliances are spearheading the shift towards automated smart homes, supplementing user aspirations to enhance the quality of lives effortlessly. This comprehensive shift towards IoT-driven consumer appliances is transforming the future of home management, leading towards a tech-driven outlook.
Interestingly, recent reports suggest that the preference for smart home technologies among users has grown multifolds in recent years. Presently, users are becoming highly interested in incorporating older home appliances in smart home networks with affordable solutions. This is creating new benchmarks in performance, cost-savings, accessibility and convenience — revolutionising home management through intelligent solutions. The subsequent possibilities are opening up a new scope of work for IoT as part of smart home networks, reshaping the future.
Present state of IoT-driven home management
The emergence of IoT as the critical enabler of home management through electronic appliances has been driven to mitigate mundane, repetitive tasks, opening up time to do what matters. With IoT, this possibility is enhanced and the subsequent synergy is aligned well with user expectations. For example, an IoT-enabled air purifier can scan the surrounding environment to detect any source of foul air. The subsequently generated information is used to modify the performance of the device and its algorithm while enabling users to achieve optimal air quality.
Smart home technologies, especially IoT-driven home management tools are becoming an integral part of our daily lives not because it opens up a new horizon of functioning. For example, we always tend to prefer a clean surrounding but lack the time to undertake the cleaning procedures ourselves. With IoT and other new-age technologies such as AI, users are empowered with a unique positioning where intelligent devices manage the home on their behalf, leaving the users to focus on important things.
The state of IoT-enabled devices remains at a nascent stage of development, meaning they often cost more. However, mass adoption of these appliances will address this challenge soon, as brands are prioritizing cost-savings and accessibility as the primary focus.
Setting new benchmarks
With IoT-enabled home appliances transforming home management comprehensively, the role of connectivity has been identified as the critical enabler for the future. Through connectivity, IoT-enabled home management tools are able to communicate with a network of different systems — creating an end-to-end solution-based experience for customers. For instance, tasks such as IoT sensors for mapping temperatures can transfer data to the air conditioner system at home, which subsequently can take steps to keep the indoor temperature at an optimal level.
Furthermore, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a milestone for IoT-driven home management. This integration of AI offers a long-term impact on home management, enhancing the performance of devices, adjusting them as per user requirements and habits and adjusting to user behaviour. This indicates a paradigm shift in how users interact with these devices, taking this approach from buttons and switches to voice assistants that are capable of understanding and addressing using natural languages — leading to an intuitive and hassle-free experience for users. This is setting new benchmarks in security, maintenance, voice & gesture control, monitoring, maintenance, affordability, adaptability and convenience, positioning IoT-based home management as the standard for convenient living.
Future outlook
Considerable research and development efforts, driven by user requirements, are being undertaken presently, an aspect that offers to revolutionize IoT-based home management in the future. Coupled with user adoption, this offers to integrate cost-savings at the core of IoT-driven home management, addressing accessibility purposes. By standardizing and addressing compatibility challenges, users will be able to integrate different devices that will further enhance their quality of life in the future. The impact of this will be long-term, as health and wellness aspects will be further bolstered, with a major focus by all stakeholders to adopt environmentally safe practices, recyclability and energy savings. All these aspects are expected to drive user interest by the next decade and will be integral to the growth of IoT-driven home management in India and abroad.
