"Your House Alarm is Going Off"

Just like "idiot lights" in an older car, the message here may as well be, "You've been robbed - you may want to come home now."  A protected home can create an alert, but a connected home knows who's there, if the heat has failed, and if your family is home or locked out.  A connected home also allows you to react to that in real-time.

Ten years ago my boss connected the thermostat at his VT ski house to the whole home security system so he’d know if his pipes were going to freeze.  As advanced as the solution was at the time, he was still four hours away if the alarm tripped.  Sadly, his experience then is still quite familiar now: the heat dropped below 55, the thermostat triggered the alarm and alerted the security company, they woke my boss, and he called the local police to cancel the break-in emergency.  Then he called the plumber to tell him where the key was stashed, and then he waited.

Whole home security has come a long way.  As an example, ADT - a Tyco company - continues to see great traction for their ADT Pulse system across the US.  Luckily, my boss has an ADT system in his VT home.  Once he upgrades it to the Pulse he'll get an alert on his phone, check the alert type and - in this scenario - reset the breaker on his furnace remotely.  If he doesn't see the house temperature increase he can disable the security alarm so the plumber can get in, check the furnace, and he can go back to bed.  Connected homes are what we refer to as composite assets, and the holistic asset is truly just a connected product.

For my boss, the conversation will change from the casual "Yep, I have a house alarm, too" to a demonstration of how he's connected his home and brought critical control to the palm of his hand or PC.  He’ll do more than add temperature, fire, smoke, and gas detectors to the security monitoring.  He’ll show how he can crank up the house lights if there's a security breach, remote arm/disarm an alarm, add real-time video of the front door when it's opened, or tip the thermostat down when he’s back in Boston.
 
I'm not selling the Pulse or any similar solution.  I'm just suggesting that you think consciously about connected products, and think big.  This example may apply to you already, so when it's time for you to renew your annual security contract, re-evaluate.  Think M2M.  It's up to you to change the conversation from "How much more is it this year?" to “… and for that increased $x/month, can I control the home remotely?” If the answer is No, think twice.