CONNECTIONS Conference Agenda

2021 Agenda

CONNECTIONS™ sessions offer a mix of market research, analysis, and industry insight. This approach is unique among conferences and necessary to capture the complexity and see the opportunities in these interconnected markets. Contact Parks Associates with questions.

All times are in Central Time Zone (US)

Parks Associates will continue to review speaker submissions throughout the year. Submit to speak for an upcoming session.

Mar 24 Smart Products - Serving the SMB Market

May 12 Supporting Remote Workers with a Smarter Home

May 25 State of the Smart Home

May 25 Pro-Installers and Home Technologies

May 26 Home Services Opportunities

May 26 Sensor Innovation and AI - Driving New Use Cases

Jul 14 MDUs: Scaling Up

Aug 18 State of Home Security Market

Sep 22 Home Networking and Wi-Fi

Nov 9 Smart Home: Battle of the Platforms

Nov 9 Privacy and Security

Nov 10 Europe and the Smart Home

Nov 10 Insurance and Smart Home

Wednesday, May 12
Supporting Remote Workers with a Smarter Home Employers and employees are realizing the need for smarter services in the home in order to meet the unique demands of remote work. Remote workers require high network uptime and high uplink speeds, while businesses are increasingly facing the logistical challenge of protecting corporate IT systems from malware and threats on employees' home networks. This session addresses how service providers and others in the market can best meet the evolving needs of businesses and employees in this new world of remote work.
12:30 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight Kristen Hanich, Sr. Analyst, Parks Associates
12:45 PM CT	Visionary Insight
1:15 PM CT	Executive Q&A
1:45 PM CT	Interactive Panel Peter Butler, Senior Program Manager, Everise Scott Lever, Founder and CEO, Zobi Sean Robertson, Product Marketing Manager, ADTRAN Moderator: Kristen Hanich, Sr. Analyst, Parks Associates
2:30 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
2:45 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Tuesday, May 25
State of the Smart Home More than one-third of US broadband households own at least one smart home device. Yet, the “smart home” continues to be a promise-not-yet-fulfilled, as device makers and platform providers strive to offer consumers an intelligent, automated, and unified experience that is also useful. Major stakeholders from industry verticals as diverse as healthcare and energy seek to understand the opportunities – and risks – in the current connected home landscape. Broadband providers, tech giants, equipment manufacturers, and others battle over the home router, a critical yet (until recently) overlooked point of insight, control, and opportunity in the home. On top of this, consumer needs, lifestyles, and household patterns have shifted dramatically in the past year – companies that serve consumers at home seek indications of what will stick and what is temporary following the COVID-19 pandemic? What seeds are being planted today that will shape the next generation’s priorities? This session assesses the state of the smart home market, including the key trends and competitive dynamics impacting the industry and new opportunities for industry stakeholders.
11:00 AM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates Jennifer Kent, Vice President, Research, Parks Associates
11:15 AM CT	Visionary Insight
11:45 AM CT	Executive Q&A
12:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
1:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
1:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions
Pro-Installers and Home Technologies Security system owners and intenders have a high affinity for technology and are invested in the safety of their homes. Seventy percent of security system owner report having some interactivity for their system. This track examines shifts in consumer adoption of security systems and the influence of new technologies and COVID-19.
2:00 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates Patrice Samuels, Sr. Analyst, Parks Associates
2:15 PM CT	Visionary Insight
2:45 PM CT	Executive Q&A
3:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
4:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
4:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Wednesday, May 26
Home Services Opportunities As consumers continue to adopt smart home devices, manufacturers seek ways to extend the value of devices in ways that add convenience to consumers’ lifestyles; this includes layering services on top of device hardware. This track examines new services emerging in the smart home and the market drivers and barriers impacting each service.
11:00 AM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
11:15 AM CT	Visionary Insight
11:45 AM CT	Executive Q&A
12:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
1:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
1:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions
Sensor Innovation and AI - Driving New Use Cases New developments in local and edge computing are bringing the advantages of AI and machine learning into the smart home. Examples range from chips able to locally interpret voice commands to new video verification technologies in security cameras to health devices capable of applying predictive analytics to evaluate risk based on information from sensors in the room. This session addresses new smart home use cases driven by improvements in sensor technology and artificial intelligence, as well as by new computing paradigms.
2:00 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
2:15 PM CT	Visionary Insight
2:45 PM CT	Executive Q&A
3:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
4:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
4:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Wednesday, July 14
MDUs: Scaling Up The multifamily housing market has become increasingly important to device manufactures as they seek to drive overall adoption of the smart home products. Multifamily rental properties represent a particularly lucrative opportunity since they deploy smart home device packages to multiple units at a time. This track examines the demand for smart home products and services in the multifamily housing market and the unique opportunities and challenges this market provides.
12:30 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight
12:45 PM CT	Visionary Insight
1:15 PM CT	Executive Q&A
1:45 PM CT	Interactive Panel
2:30 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
2:45 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Wednesday, August 18
State of Home Security Market Home security – a market that has been mature and relatively stable for decades – is in the midst of dramatic changes. New entrants from start-ups, investments from tech giants, and shifting consumer installation and monitoring preferences are forcing innovation in security offerings and business models. Traditional pro-installed, pro-monitored security providers have succeeded in converting legacy customers to interactive services, driving RMR upward by adding smart home and video services and generating incremental revenue through add-on device sales. Self-installed security solutions offer the potential to significantly lower the cost of security, helping to attract a new type of buyer to the market. They are also tailor-made for the COVID-19 era with its challenges to professional installation. This session assesses the state of the residential security market, critical trends impacting industry stakeholders, and the top opportunities for revenues growth.
12:30 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight
12:45 PM CT	Visionary Insight
1:15 PM CT	Executive Q&A
1:45 PM CT	Interactive Panel
2:30 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
2:45 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Wednesday, Sept 22
Home Networking and Wi-Fi The home networking and Wi-Fi space has evolved, with service providers offering advanced functionality and new services and capabilities built into their home gateways such as smart adaptive Wi-Fi, embedded cybersecurity solutions, and services incorporating Wi-Fi motion sensing. In the MDU space, an increasing number of properties are offering new innovative amenities such as complex-wide personal area networks, as well as turning to Wi-Fi to enable smart apartment functionality for their residents. This session addresses new innovations in home networking and Wi-Fi, in the single family residential and MDU spaces.
12:30 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight
12:45 PM CT	Visionary Insight
1:15 PM CT	Executive Q&A
1:45 PM CT	Interactive Panel
2:30 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
2:45 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Tuesday, Nov 9
Smart Home: Battle of the Platforms As adoption in smart home technology moves beyond single endpoint solutions and the average number of devices in the home climbs, platforms seek to deliver a unified experience that is the "holy grail" of the smart home value proposition. A variety of smart home platform types from open developer platforms to tech giant personal assistant platforms and curated partner platforms compete to provide that unified experience and own the primary relationship with the end user. This session will discuss consumer preferences for smart home control and UI, trends in interoperability and standards, such as CHIP, and partnership alignments that drive ecosystem compatibility for an ever-growing array of products.
11:00 AM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
11:15 AM CT	Visionary Insight
11:45 AM CT	Executive Q&A
12:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
1:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
1:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions
Privacy and Security Security and privacy have become important areas for investment for device manufacturers and a major source of concern for consumers. Security solutions at the level of hardware, network, or cloud platforms are vitally important to the success of IoT providers throughout the ecosystem. This track examines the challenges in securing the smart home, opportunities for data security solution providers, and strategies to alleviate consumer privacy concerns.
2:00 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
2:15 PM CT	Visionary Insight
2:45 PM CT	Executive Q&A
3:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
4:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
4:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Wednesday, Nov 10
Europe and the Smart Home While smart home products have not achieved critical mass in Europe, introductions of new connected products that bring new value is driving increased adoption and future purchase intentions. Consumer concerns around energy consumption and the high cost of traditional security services create opportunities in this market. This track examines the value propositions that will drive adoption in different European markets.
11:00 AM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
11:15 AM CT	Visionary Insight
11:45 AM CT	Executive Q&A
12:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
1:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
1:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions
Insurance and Smart Home The size of the insurance opportunity for smart home devices is substantial. 70 million US households have home insurance and almost 16 million have renters insurance. Smart home tech can potentially drive billions of dollars in savings for insurers and consumers. Smart home providers have pursued the property insurance channel in recent years, though adoption has been slow. While the size of the opportunity is enormous, so is the scale of investment required to bring smart solutions to market, and business models remain unproven. This session highlights examples of smart home solution providers working with home insurers to moderate risk and the challenges that must be addressed to leverage the full potential of this channel to the smarter home.
2:00 PM CT	Welcome and Analyst Insight from Parks Associates
2:15 PM CT	Visionary Insight
2:45 PM CT	Executive Q&A
3:15 PM CT	Interactive Panel
4:00 PM CT	Q&A with Speakers
4:15 PM CT	Networking Discussions

Past Sessions

Wednesday, March 24

Smart Products - Serving the SMB Market

SMBs have had to adapt to unprecedented circumstances, and in doing so, they have reevaluated all parts of their businesses in order to serve customers in new ways and keep employees engaged and productive.

While many SMBs have faced decreased earnings and reduced hiring, one-third report increased spending – particularly on technology products and services. In fact, at-risk businesses are the ones showing the highest interest in connected services and products and the highest intention to spend. SMBs report a need for new Wi-Fi configurations, smart energy products, premise security solutions, and support services for remote employees, among others. This session addresses the new demand for connected products and services in the SMB space.

12:30 PM CT

Welcome and Analyst Insight: Tech Solutions for SMBs: Changing Needs, New Opportunities

Jennifer Kent, Vice President, Research, Parks Associates

12:45 PM CT

Visionary Insight: Serving the SMB Market with Services