On Thursday, February 18, Washingtonian brought together some of the area’s smart home experts to discuss the advantages of upgrading your space with the latest smart home technology. The conversation examined how you can add value to an existing property using smart home technology, the best products to purchase, and current smart home trends in security monitoring, appliances, lighting, and entertainment.
Washingtonian Senior Editor Marisa Kashino opened the conversation by asking all the panelists what excites them in the world of smart home technology. Verizon’s Director of Consumer Product Marketing Lance Koenders, mentioned how the pandemic has caused a serious revival in smart home technology. As a result, the intersection of home and technology is now at the forefront of people’s minds, and the advancement of wifi is turning the concept of a smart home into a reality.
Check out a few of the highlights from the conversations:
- William Ellis from Pepco spoke on the energy programs being developed around efficiency and smart home products to help certain members of the community facing hardships due to the pandemic:” We’re using smart home innovation to address not only greenhouse gas emissions but also equity. Certain populations have been hit very hard during the pandemic, so we want to make sure those smart home benefits are handed down to those communities who need the help the most.”
- Trinity Wiring Solutions’ Brendan F. Armstrong continued the conversation of energy savings by bringing to light a number of innovative home features people are turning to in order to save money on their monthly bills:” Many of our consumers are taking advantage of the geofencing technology, which syncs with your GPS. Allowing customers to have better control over their smart systems depending on their proximity to their home. Depending on how extreme a customer wants to go, and what they can afford, much of the technology is coming if not already here.”
- Anne Ferguson from Alarm.com explained the things you should look for when reviewing smart home products to ensure they won’t quickly become outdated and need replaced: “it’s incredibly important to look at devices and providers who can do things like over the year upgrades so that you can extend the life of your device and hopefully keep getting better for you.”
- Verizon’s Lance Koedeners talked about the importance of a home’s network when upgrading your space with smart home technology: “Smart homes work best when the network they connect to is built to be used by multiple devices. This is especially true today as we continue to work from home, our kids learn in virtual classrooms, we attend video conferences, and spend our free time streaming HD video and playing video games. A seamless connection is the backbone of any smart home.
Thank you to Verizon for making this event possible! Missed it? You can watch the full conversation below: