In The News

Residential Security: Beyond the Walled Garden

March 16, 2017

Residential Systems

SecurityInfoWatch.com

For the independent security dealer, all of these changing customer and technology profiles is already happening. The appeal of the walled garden’s closed system is convenience and usability; however, that point of distinction is being eroded by those same factors.

Parks Associates recently mapped the smart home’s competitive landscape by looking for cues and harbingers in user reviews. What Parks’ Tom Kerber found was that walled garden automation was already showing signs of dying off.

“The breadth of [open] platforms is much more substantial,” Kerber says. “It will be hard to maintain a [vertically integrated] approach, or even, for that matter, a highly curated approach, when a very open approach can provide a similar user experience and provide much more access…to whatever product you may have or want to own.”

If there’s a key takeaway from the Parks Associates study for your purposes, it is this: The move from vertically integrated to open “could happen relatively quickly,” according to Kerber. “Our recommendation to smart home platform providers, as well as service providers, is to plan for that eventuality.”

This means security dealers may need to consider offering a broader range of products, he adds.

From the article "Residential Security: Beyond the Walled Garden" by Shawn Welsh.

Previously In The News

Generative AI: Growth Surge Meets Trust Issues

Generative AI's infiltrated 58% of US internet households as of February 2026, according to Parks Associates. Parks' survey revealed only 16% of these households forked out cash for a paid AI appli...

Will a Smart Toilet Turn the Home Into a Diagnostic Center?

One of the hot products showcased at the recent Consumer Electronic Show (CES) was the smart toilet. In its analyst report on CES highlights, research firm Parks Associates wrote, “Smart toilets are e...

ADT’s $105 Million Bet on Ambient AI: Why the Security Giant Is Buying Technology That Can Sense People Through Walls

According to a 2024 Parks Associates survey, 42% of U.S. broadband households expressed concern about privacy when considering indoor security cameras, while only 18% had similar concerns about non-vi...

T-Mobile Brings Back Free MLB.TV Access for Customers

Sports rights are a proven retention tool: live games drive habitual viewing and reduce the urge to churn. Analysts at Deloitte and Parks Associates have repeatedly pointed to sports as a core lever f...

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
...
766
767
›