I am the founder and CEO of Argus Insights, a leader in Experience Analytics. Argus was started in stealth mode in 2008 to answer the question, "How can Market Research be improved and help drive innovation instead of validation?"I was the Executive Director of the ME310 Global Design Innovation Course at Stanford University. The course has a forty year history of developing tomorrow’s innovation leaders.Formerly I was the Chief Technologist for SK Telecom America’s R&D Group. In this role I was responsible for understanding how the rapidly changing technology landscape would enable SK Telecom to craft new business opportunities in the Americas. My areas of responsibility ranged from NGN wireless technologies (LTE vs WiMaxx, etc), handheld experiences & the interface technologies that enable them (multitouch touchscreens, haptic feedback, smartphone operating systems), as well as evolving influences on the telecommunications market (cloud computing, femtocells, CDN’s, LBS, SNS, etc.) I also supported SKTA’s internal Business Development & Corporate Venture Capital organizations.Prior to my role at SKTA, I led Synaptics efforts for developing next generation capabilities for handheld devices from within the marketing organization. I was responsible for developing a comprehensive competitive landscape for the various handheld markets, with specific focus on the mobile ecosystem, driving the product & technology strategy, in partnership with the engineering organization, to architect & execute our roadmap of future capabilities.I was also the architect of the Onyx Concept Phone, the world’s first multitouch mobile experience. I worked with the top handset manufacturers on the creation of tomorrow’s handsets, ensuring the right marriage of technology & user experience takes place as we see an industry transformation take place around multitouch technologies.
With the recent attack on Twitter and others using zombified (I know, the day AFTER Halloween, right?) Smart Home devices, we figured it was time to update the world on what we have been seeing in the data regarding privacy and security. Below is the most recent snapshot of the past two months of mentions of Security concerns versus Privacy concerns within all Smart Home related tweets.
As you can see, Security appears on average ten times more than Privacy and in the recent days, that number jumps almost to 50 times given the recent issues and concerns. The Privacy conversations focus mainly on concerns regarding the “bad guys” gaining access to our personal goodies and pales in comparison fears and concerns on the Security side where the focus until recently was on foul folks taking action that knowledge. Privacy peaked with a warning from Eric Snowden and others on the privacy issues with the Internet of Things and Smart Home. BBC coverage of how Smart Home devices could become a Weapon of Mass Disruption drove recent peaks regarding security. This marks a shift in the Smart Home security conversation from one where consumers were worried about criminals and other ne’er do wells taking action based on knowledge of their home to one where the forecasted billions of Smart Home devices become members of botnets bent on destruction and thievery.
Across IoT and Smart Home, Security continues to loom as an issue that the market is still struggling for solutions for. Given the clash of ecosystems also happening (Nest/Google vs. Apple Home vs. Amazon vs. Vivint vs. Others), consumers are at a lost as to who they can rely on to secure their home against threats and now keep their home from threatening others. At Argus Insights, we are tracking this on a real time basis. Our new Argus Analyzer platform puts these tools in your hands, a data scientist in a box, so you can focus on the messages that are moving the market. Check it out here!
Popular Smart Home Links Shared (Week of 16-22 October)
We had over 5.7K shares last week of the Smart Home genre and our theme is bringing the Smart Home into the present tense. Despite the fact that all four of the most highly shared conversations from last week were positive, only two were written from the perspective of a Smart Home world that has arrived. The other two talked about a “future” Smart Home world. For any technological advancement to reach mainstream, it must be part of the current conversation vs. promising a bright future. Read on to see what I mean…
I’ve got to hand it to Ecobee. They did an impressive job garnering the top shared news item (478 across multiple posts) with a whole series of product launch activities for their Ecobee3 Lite Thermostat. First, there is the product posted on their own web page. Second is a short (but positive) review in Tech Crunch and third is a much longer review in Engadget. To be honest, the best summary is Sean Cooper’s title from the Engadget article, stating that “the Ecobee3 Lite is a decent smart thermostat that costs less than most.” A phrase like that firmly positions the Ecobee3 Lite as a product that is ready for today’s market… not the future.
With 217 shares, Clare Trapasso’s Realtor.com article was next from last week. In it, she posts a link to a 36 page report from Houzz and offers commentary. The full report from Houzz is worth reading on two conditions. First, because it is quite “dense” with facts and figures, you have to be really engrossed in this market to get an ROI from reading it. Second, it is important to understand the inherent natural bias associated with survey-based studies commissioned by agencies that have a commercial interest in the outcome of the findings. To be clear, I’m not knocking CEDIA at all. They are a great organization who logically have their members’ best interests in mind. However, understanding the inevitable biases better enables the reader to process the report.
I will say that Ms. Trapasso does a great job summarizing the report in her Reator.com article. For most of us, her article has plenty of depth and covers the major points.The fact that Smart Home technology is part of the narrative in mainstream publications like Realtor.com and Houzz is significant. When connected thermostats and doorbells are mentioned along with bathroom remodeling and searching for a mortgage lender that signals a technology that has arrived.
The final two articles that saw significant traction last week were both product discussions. On the left is pictured the Amazon Echo, which was reviewed and then shared 176 times in a Telecoms.com article entitled “Beam me up Alexa” by Dr. Dean Anthony Gratton. The second is another review in Techcrunch. This time, it was for the Wink 2 hub, shared 173 times and called “A Smart Home Hub built for the future.”
I find it interesting that the tone of Ecobee’s launch and the Realtor.com article were both “current tense” whereas the two articles in technology magazines were selling us on the “future tense.” Perhaps that subtle difference in marketing positioning contributed to the strength of the first two articles and the subsequent greater reach in the marketplace. Given a choice of selling the future or the now… I would choose “the now.”
Last week’s theme for the roughly 4,000 shares of Smart Home conversations is the struggle to make the Smart Home practical. On the downside, the most highly shared link was that of a Smart Home zealot and second was a cartoon lampooning security in the Smart Home. Contrasting the over-the-top nature of Simeon Tuitt’s house and the negativity of this cartoon were stories about a highly practical product for families and efforts by the insurance industry to push the Smart Home. It is this type of conversation that helps move the narrative forward towards a broader adoption.
Popular Smart Home Links Shared (Week of 9-15 October)
This quaint looking neighborhood home in the middle of the UK belongs to Simeon Tuitt. His website contains videos describing how the TV turns on when he walks in the house, how he can answer his doorbell with his watch and even turn on the washer with his phone. Those are a few of the more practical aspects of Simeon’s domicile. With over 170 shares, there is interest out there, but I question the practicality of this futuristic Smart Home.
I have to admit that this cartoon is pretty amusing. With 150 shares, it appears that I am not alone. This post from B2B Social Media consultant Evan Kirstel does a pretty good job turning security concerns into humor. I do wonder whether or not this type of posting subtly works against Smart Home adoption. Security is a very serious concern and by playing on that fear, I worry that the average consumer will needlessly worry. Perhaps I am reading too much into it because the comic is quite funny and I’m not sure my “smart broom” will be a security concern in the future.
About a month ago, a small company by the name of Nucleus received over $5M of Series A funding, including an investment by Amazon. It is no surprise then that Amazon posted this very good discussion about the Nucleus Anywhere Intercom and it was shared 125 times. I encourage you to check out the wonderful video in that link. Imagine having an intercom at your parents’ house, the kids playroom, your office, and the kitchen. Now imagine it with Alexa voice control. In addition to being sold on Amazon, this product is being sold in Loews as an alternative to expensive “standard” intercoms. It is exactly this type of appeal – to the less technically savvy consumer – that will help to drive Smart Home into the mainstream. The marketing of this device (think about the name of the company alone) seems to be fantastic. We’ll have to watch the consumer reviews in the Argus Analyzer to see if the product lives up to the brand promise.
Sticking with the theme of making the Smart Home practical, this picture is a model home that insurer American Family uses to test out Smart Home products. In this highly informative article from MIT Technology Review, Stacey Higginbotham describes how both USAA and American Family have initiatives to drive Smart Home. I love the quotation from an assistance VP at USAA. According to Mr. Kowall, they are creating a “check engine light for the home.” Again, an example of the practical aspects of life that will push the Smart Home mainstream.
Monday, 13 June, Apple finally revealed what their latest efforts for HomeKit have produced. In the 3 minutes and 44 seconds Apple spent unveiling their new Home App (about 3% of the entire keynote), there was not a lot of time to cover some of the glaring holes in Apple’s Smart Home strategy moving forward. Apple spent more time explaining that Messaging emoticons are now three times larger, an innovation for the ages to be sure. What was most surprising is what Apple did not say about HomeKit. While they shared that HomeKit certified devices should be controlled seamlessly by the rebranded Home app, Craig subtly dropped to bomb that in order to access your home remotely, Apple TV is required. (Granted, this has been known by most folks for a while, but it’s unlikely that consumers realize this little requirement.) And yes, you can control your home through Siri and clever home macros, called ‘scenes,’ can be crafted (the means of which we do not yet know) and controlled by your phone through taps or deep conversations with Siri.
But here’s the kicker on HomeKit and the Home App, who do you call for help when your kit does not make you feel homey? HomeKit certification is supposed to ensure encrypted, private, easy to set up, cloud enabled, delightful experiences for consumers. Unfortunately there are a key set of devices that are not HomeKit certified, and these come in two flavors, routers and competitive ecosystems like Nest.
Our research with Support.com on barriers to Smart Home adoption found that issues with WiFi set-up and maintenance were a key stumbling block for many DIY Smart Home consumers. Given the finger pointing that already occurs between Internet Service Providers, Consumers and Router manufacturers, now this key sources of chaos in the home is now on the critical path to Apple delivering the HomeKit experience promised two years ago. Now if HomeKit has any hiccups in the path from the phone to the cloud to the ISP to the home to the router to the Apple TV to the various devices, who bears that responsibility for making it work? How does Apple, which relies heavily on its retail stores to provide high touch, high quality customer service, going to deal with issues peculiar to the home environment? Apple does not have a fleet of trucks to roll out to consumers and help them troubleshoot the root of the installation or connectivity issues. Apple shines (pardon the pun) in experiences where they can control/orchestrate every step of the consumer journey. Smart Home is not the same cadence as Smart Phones or Tablets. Plus, many consumers have already launched several ships towards the Smart Home shore, not just HomeKit.
Nest, and by proxy, Google has been forcing Apple’s hand in the home environment ever since the Nest thermostat was launched. And Apple has not swayed from their strategy of keeping Nest outside of the slowly evolving Walled Garden called HomeKit. This did not deter consumers from making a Nest Thermostat, for many, their first purchase of their Smart Home journey. Sure, many consumers have been waiting to see what Apple will do before jumping in with both feet, but there is a not insignificant number of consumers already signed up for the Nest ecosystem, and though fewer, for SmartThings as well. This means that there will be gaps in intelligence of Smart Home enabled by HomeKit. While not likely to trigger a backlash of anti-adoption for Apple, this continued lack of openness to other players will cause issues for consumers, Apple and their competitors like Nest. This means that millions of mostly happy Nest customers are unlikely to be pure HomeKit users, meaning the persistent fragmentation of the user experience will continue until one or the other wins or Amazon just overwhelms both Nest and Apple with it’s more jovial community garden approach.
The era of Big Data is squarely upon us, and it holds the potential to be the most transformative force in business since calculators replaced slide-rules. However, the potential that comes with access to droves of data will only be realized by individuals with courage. I have encountered only a handful of companies, teams and individuals with courage in my career. Here’s why courage is rare:
Courage is challenging the established models and ways of thinking. Courage is fighting for metrics that matter to the success of the enterprise. Courage is listening to the evidence careening back from the market at the speed of customers’ buying decisions. Courage is action with forethought.
It was not courage that led smartphone manufacturers to ignore the early success of the iPhone, or the marketing team of a global retailer to ignore the hijacking of their brand during Black Friday- it was hubris. Hubris coupled with a strong dose of fear.
Executives can be bogged down by hubris-or fear of change, especially when their internal research demonstrates how much current customers love their brands and products. If everything you have says you’re great, stay the course. Don’t waver from the status quo because anything different is terrifying.
Advancements in the way we collect and interpret data allow for a broader view of the market than ever before, but many companies today are confusing quantity with quality, leaving trillions of dollars of untapped value on the field of play.
The plain truth is Big Data without Big Action is a Big Waste.
Companies have the unprecedented ability not just to shout about their brand, but to listen to the heartbeat of opportunity thumping strongly within every consumer in the markets they are striving so hard to win. Big Data allows companies to listen to what makes user’s hearts strum with excitement, palpitate with fear, and drum their owners into a decision to buy from you over the competition.
Right now, most of marketing technology is being used to by companies to turn Big Data into Big Noise. This results in loud brands that force their message into to the conversation of the commons. Re-marketing campaigns follow users with ads months after they’ve already made a purchase. Attribution engines strive to be the last ad clicked before ‘buy,’ but increasingly force customers to say ‘bye’ to those brands out of sheer annoyance.
Do you have the courage to listen and learn? Are you seeking the evidence needed to move the market? Are you ready to drive dialogue instead of participate in parallel monologues with your competitors?
If that’s you, we need to talk. We craft tools for heroes like you. Need evidence to evolve your enterprise? Check. Metrics to move your market? Check. Tools to sharpen the talons of your team? Check. Support that sustains your success? Double check.
