Welcome to a world with Smart Home, Smart Camera & Smart lights and products – truly Smart Wearable.
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Low internet costs, open-source technologies, standardization of network protocols, low cost and time for processing and higher behavioral elasticity have paved the way for smart homes and smart devices in India.
Next bout of thrust comes in form of smart cities. In short, supply and demand forces/curves move in the same dynamics, a rare distinction of sorts. This has triggered a need for smart communities, smart homes and smart individuals (individuals accepting smart devices and even literally!). Look even the choice for technology has transformed drastically. Pure play automation to one reliant on ambient/artificial intelligence. Machine to Machine (M2M) interface together with Internet of Things (IoT) has formed the backbone for communication – in smart homes and smart devices alike.
Innovation – Drives the need for smart devices |
Consultancy firm Redseer, forecasts that the demand for smart devices – both individual and home – would stand at USD 2.2 bn by end of 2019 !
The Indian case stands out more uniquely. A strong inter-relationship built among smart cities, smart communities, smart homes and smart devices. The advent of innovation in the quality of life and functionality has started showing evidence. Instances for implementation of smart products include: solutions to conduct IoT enabled clinical trials in order to evaluate specific outcomes (Pfizer), wearable sensor patches to give insights on health patterns, medication effectiveness (Proteus), Polo shirts that monitor and show heart rate and calories burned during work-outs (Ralph Lauren) and trial rooms containing virtual and smart mirrors for helping consumers in making the right choice (Rebeccaminkoff).
a.) Need for Smart devices:
i.) Smart Homes:
The need for smart homes in India come primarily from three folds. Security, convenience and energy efficiency.
High crime rates make it inevitable for individual investments in security in India. Technology not only provisions for a new layer of security, it comes with an added advantage – low cost of implementation and maintenance. Economies of scale is significantly driving the cost southwards for the smart products. Changing customer preferences for monitoring and management of audit logs are other influencers favoring smart homes. High energy costs further drives the need for smart homes in India. Distribution losses in electricity supply and access of electrification are drivers from the supply side. Without surprise, thus, the prospects of growth are phenomenal in this segment.
Smart homes and smart devices – Integrating in Indian society |
ii.) Smart Devices – Personal:
The smart devices segment for fitness can largely be differentiated in two categories. First, urban wellness piece and second, rural public health part. High obesity rates, propensity for cardiac issues in India, pollution levels and ensuring productivity through work-life balance drives the demand in smart devices for urban wellness segment.
Smart Watches – Multi faceted and empowering ! |
A major breakthrough – as also latent demand – exist for the smart devices in the public health for rural India. While dismal access rates of medical facilities sets the tone for such demand, low literacy and lack of adequate social insurance further accentuates this need for smart devices in rural India.
b.) Advantages of Technology – Makes it a smart case :
Technology has eased our day to day life drastically, and the biggest breakthrough comes through reduction in cost and efforts. Take the case of the new marketplace created by e-commerce. The availability of a broad product range at favorable price points, that too directly at the doorsteps has redefined the experience. Experts say that it has not only tapped the latent demand, but also gone beyond and created fresh demand in new product segments.
Governance is another major beneficiary. Digitization of the records and public access has ensured transparency – in a big way. Overlapping ICT technologies including biometric recognition has redefined the framework for public governance.
Next is the comfort for public/alternate transport. Secondary access through car rental companies and recharges for the public transport – like Indian Railways – facilitates a tremendously comfortable travelling process.
The list would be certainly incomplete without mention of accessibility to financial products – payment wallet, instant money transfer – have made life more efficient.
Other major applications of technology includes products that can be customized for security.
c.) Evolution of Technology – Indian life is smarter and better for sure!
Technology has completely transformed the Indian life.
In our case, the daily life has changed completely ever since I wake up in the morning.
Alarm clocks have paved the way for smart watches, thermostat based electric geysers power up the morning showers along with smart speakers that play our favorite playlist, hybrid cars save the fuel during drive for the office, algorithm based lift management ensure optimal utilization of the energy and time, smart lighting in the office, all this – while we wear the little fitness bands in the fist to keep track of our health – is simply amazing.
Vrroom.. As I drive my bike on the way, the smart helmet’s bluetooth gives me option to attend urgent calls.
Smart viewing experience |
Come home, and the smart windows keep the street noise at the bay while smart regulators adjust the temperature as we monitor the activities in our absence through smart security devices.
And wait…. all through Smart TV eagerly waits to play our favorite drama which we watch on smart glass through the connecting stick ! The ambient smart lights are aligned just perfectly to our moods. And our pet Smartphone …. has touched and simplified each and every facet of our life.
Smart Glasses – Entertainment experience to a new level |
My Favorite !
My smartwatch is something which I admire the most. It motivates me to stay fit. I can monitor my physical activities dynamically and calibrate the further need as per deficit/surplus. Goal setting, achievement and adaptability gives me conviction that I’m in complete control of my health. I can’t imagine a single day without my personal smart watch.
In short, smart products make me feel more empowered about my life.
d.) Smart Products – Potential for India
The potential for smart products in India is huge. The youth population base, increasing connectivity penetration, wellness consciousness, disposable income and welfare push from the government augur great times ahead ! Integration of smart devices into our lives has been seamless so far, and whatsoever little traction that existed earlier, has simply evaporated. Two pronged ‘Push-Pull’ forces for demand and supply would accelerate the growth of smart devices in Indian lives.
Some of the segments where smart products hold immense potential in India are :
i.) Wellness and Health : More fist borne smart watches – that can assess medical parameters round-the-clock, as well as immediately flag outliers – are going to gain acceptance, especially in urban India. Other smart products such as Pocket ECG, gluco-meters are also expected to find favors.
ii.) Tele-Medicine: Smart devices that would aid medical assistance through hub-spoke model are the next big thing in India. Intelligent devices that prepare medical set-up, forward emergency messages to related agencies and flag the need for specialist services basis preliminary diagnosis could be extremely beneficial.
iii.) Smoke Detection: Automated fire detection devices integrated in a grid that can trigger immediate alarms as well as inform gird would befit Indian system to contain fire-related causalities. Other corollary devices towards detection of gas leakage could help in residential and industrial set-ups.
iv.) Automatic illumination in dark alleys: Effective energy management in form of smart devices for automatic illumination of dark alleys can be extremely useful in India. The increased penetration witnessed in addition of the artificial intelligence in the lighting solutions has made strong case for acceptance.
v.) Automated controls – Main Gate: The main gates (or some select gates) in our home can be operated through smart devices – programmable keys, face recognition devices etc.- to ensure security. The added advantage of prospects of audit logs substantiate such products.
vi.) Smart Irrigation: Smart devices that measure soil humidity and control level of irrigation accordingly can be boon for water management and agricultural production in a water-scarce India.
vii.) Energy management: Effective energy management for cooling levels in refrigeration, de-humidifiers and other appliances, on a standalone basis as well as smart grid can lead to great savings.
viii.) Water Potability: Smart devices that can measure, monitor and manage water purification in homes on the basis of the quality of water-supply can enable wellness and better health, considering high rates of water-borne diseases in India.
Smart sensors to monitor soil humidity |
Growth of the smart devices is inevitable in India. Individuals are already empowered by the prevalent smart products and new products would bolster acceptance.
Image Source: All Images – Google Images’
Background Reference: http://tec.gov.in/pdf/M2M/M2M_IoT%20Enablement%20in%20Smart%20Homes.pdf
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