Complacency and automation are two ideas that logically work perfectly together. If you think about it, the automation is created to make anyone’s life easier and reduce the time that actions at home can take, so that they are done automatically by your home, with no need of you and your time.
It seems obvious that automation brings complacency. However, there is an “adapt” barrier that automation fights against when trying to achieve complacency. Wattio is a complete Smart Home solution that changes the way people interact with their homes, as they can do it from their smartphones. It is a mass oriented technology, so it must be simple.
In order to achieve complacency, Wattio and the entire home automation sector is developing a sectorial revolution, so that the people adopt this new interaction way. So complacency is all about adopting it and to having to adapt to it, because if they have to, there will be no complacency, so no automation market at all, for mass user markets.
So tackling complacency in automation is all about breaking the barriers that the traditional assumption of the home automation concept still has. Home automation is not a radical innovation but an incremental innovation. However, the approach of the incremental innovation of home automation lies in the fact of democratizing it, so making it more accessible.
Therefore, even if there is no revolution in terms of technology, there is a huge revolution in terms of user experience and all the incremental revolutions focuses on improving it, to make the home automation experience attractive, to be adopted in everyday life.
If something new offers benefits, but it is hard to use, difficult to understand, expensive, intrusive… you will have to adapt to it, so there is no point on doing so. However, if the same benefit is intuitive, easy, shows a clear benefit, it is attractive, cheaper and does need installation, it will be nice to adopt it in your daily routine. So this is the secret.
In order to tackle compliance, it is a must to make a detailed reflection on the barriers that users may feel when deciding to buy a home automation system. A market analysis on user expectations, technology concerns, most valuable features… it is all about creating a product that answers all the potential questions that may appear, so that there is no barrier when discovering the product and its benefits.
The installations could be one of the very first barriers. “Yes, I see the benefits and it looks easy to use, but I have never installed a thermostat by myself and I don’t really see myself doing it, so I’m not getting it”. This is a very common approach, so the first barrier that the home automation needs to brake. You can offer installation by a professional, but it turns back to the old idea of home automation so it does not look democratic and accessible at all. It is more about making the installation DIY experience, smooth, guided, not frustrating, intuitive and tool-less.
So it is not just about the product anymore, but about a hole and integral new product concept that involves hardware, software, user experience, brand management; ultimately, a new holistic approach.
Communication is another big handicap. The “Home automation revolution” rises from the startup conception, so the pedagogical work with low marketing budgets is another handicap. The need of big tracking companies is here an undoubtable requirement. Reliability is another factor that utilities can help to achieve. The communication power and quality reliability that big utilities transmit can help home automation startups to spread the word and settle the sector to turn it into a new massive market of billions of dollars. Partnerships can work both ways as big utilities can use home automation technology to improve customer loyalty and interact in a daily basis.
A holistic product approach, an intuitive installation and a great communication are some of the key factors to consider, for breaking the barriers that the user could have. The user will be opened to adopt the benefits of a new product but not adapting to it. Therefore, the success will lie in making the automation integrally democratic and perceived as so.
So, even if apparently compliance and automation work perfectly together, the sector is still dealing with the hard task of success.
About the Company and Founder
Wattio is an innovative Spanish Company, leader in the Home Automation sector. The company designs, manufactures and commercializes a complete Smart Home solution.
Wattio stirs up the interaction with the house and makes it possible to control the house from the smartphone, from anywhere.
Wattio is one of the better-valued smart home systems, as it is highly recommended by users, for being very complete and reliable.
Patxi Echeveste founded the company on 2010, in San Sebastian (Spain) and excelled from the very beginning, winning several awards as startup. Nowadays, Wattio works with Spanish utilities successfully and it is expanding to new markets and growing, multiplying the benefits every year.
The focus is currently, on developing long terms partnerships with European utilities, in order to make the home automation democratic and useful.
