CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES addresses consumer trust, privacy, and the smart home

New Parks Associates research Privacy and Data Protection for Connected Devices reveals nearly 75% of US internet households are concerned about the security of their personal data, while 54% report experiencing a data privacy or security issue in the past 12 months, an increase of 50% over five years. These concerns impact consumer product and vendor choices, especially as the push for interoperability will enable smart home device owners to pick a unified app to control all their devices.

Parks Associates will host the 18th annual CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES on January 9 in Las Vegas, including “Privacy and Data Security in Smart Homes,” a session focused on strategies to build trust in today’s interconnected smart home environment and featuring executives from Nandi Security, Syntiant, and Silicon Labs.

“Lack of trust is the top reason for smart home device owners to reject specific companies as their preferred unified app provider,” said Jennifer Kent, VP Research, Parks Associates. “Consumers are wary about how companies use their data, and they need reassurance that brands are accessing their data responsibly – before they sour on product and service offerings.”

Data security concerns are particularly damaging for property management companies and smartphone/smart speaker providers, such as Amazon, Apple, Samsung, and Google. Among smart home devices owners who would reject these companies as their unified app provider, 42% cite a lack of trust in a property management company, while 30% would not choose a smartphone/smart speaker provider because they do not trust them with their data.

“Smart home players must honor consumer concerns and double their efforts to secure their products,” Kent said. “Trust can be gained through transparency about partnerships and data access and through industry certification programs. When trust is honored, earned, and kept, it can be a competitive advantage.”

Privacy and Data Protection for Connected Devices, a consumer study of 8,000 US internet households, tracks shifts in consumer attitudes around data privacy, including desire for privacy controls and preferences for how companies collect and manage their data. It explores data that consumers are willing to share for their benefit and tests consumer willingness to pay for a premium data security service.

Registration for CONNECTIONS™ Summit is through CES. For data or to speak with an analyst, contact  Mindi Sue Sternblitz-Rubenstein at mindi.sue@parksassociates.com or 972-490-1113.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com

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