Buyer's guide to HOME AUTOMATION

Control every move of your home— from lights, devices and systems —with a mere touch on your smartphone...

- Nandini Banerjee

Why do you need a smart home? What does it actually do, besides sounding cool? Essentially, an efficient home automation system makes various home appliances more convenient and energy savers. It controls a gamut of electronic devices in the home, such as air conditioning, lights, acoustic system, security systems, and appliances, among others, using wireless technology. Home automation consists of a user interface for controlling the entire system, utilising wall-mounted terminals or smart devices, such as mobile phones and computers. According to Verified Market Intelligence, the Global Home Automation System Market was valued at $42.73 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach $97.62 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 10.9% from 2018 to 2025!

So how exactly does it make your life easier? There are showers that remember the preferred water heat and flow rates, and the exact time when to switch on. Climate-control systems adapt to your preferred temperature and then dynamically adjust to the number of people in the space. Then there are smart light bulbs that will dim or brighten, depending on your voice-activated orders. In fact, the homes that have adopted smart technology are adding more and more connected devices every day. However, many are still sceptical of making their home fully automated. The reason: there are many articles floating in the internet that question the privacy and security of home networks and connected devices. This list includes the popular smart speakers! Also, there are those who are turned off by the complexity of installing and maintaining smart home devices. But this myth is burst by the fact that now there are many IoT devices that can turn the home smart. It does not require an elaborate in-built system!