Icontrol Networks just announced Icontrol One, one-stop shopping for independent home security dealers that want to offer the latest and greatest in smart-home products.
Consumers are increasingly looking for more than just a security system. Icontrol should know, since it's the underlying platform to some of the biggest smart home players in the industry, including ADT, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Rogers and Swisscom.
“It’s the only solution that offers the high-level platform of a large service provider solution but [is] tailored to independent dealers,” said Greg Roberts, VP of marketing for Icontrol.
There are more than 14,000 independent home security dealers, which together make up about half of the market. The barriers to offering more comprehensive home automation have been cost and perceived complexity, said Roberts. “They get very good at selling what they have,” he added, but many dealers struggle with offering cutting-edge technology. Icontrol has had its focus on the dealer community for the past few years, but first needed a platform with the scale and versatility to serve such a large, fragmented community.
The Icontrol One offering is a module with a 3G radio, as well as Z-Wave and Wi-Fi. In the next two years, Roberts said dealers will be upgrading nearly 5 million home security panels that currently only have a 2G radio. “It’s an upgrade scenario that the dealer has to do anyway,” he said.
Because Icontrol is already a major player, it leveraged relationships in the market to deliver a module with the additional capability at a lower price point than one with only a 3G chip.
The module will allow dealers to offer point solutions that are part of Icontrol’s OpenHome ecosystem, which includes the Nest thermostat, as well as more than 100 other devices. Although Nest is a popular choice on the open market, it has not had a strong presence in traditional HVAC dealer channels.
The need for independent dealers to offer more comprehensive packages is clear. A study from Parks Associates found that additional smart-home services brought dealers an additional $14 on average in recurring monthly revenue. Another survey from Parks Associates and CEA found that for those who do buy one smart device, there’s a 50 percent chance they’ll buy another within a year.
For independent dealers, the time is now to cement their role as the provider of add-on services on top of home security. A new connected home report from GTM Research identifies more than 100 significant players in the burgeoning home energy market.
It’s not just the big guys like ADT, Vivint and Alarm.com that independent dealers are competing against, but also a host of newcomers to the space, including cable companies, telecoms, big-box stores and a wide array of startups.
For more on the connected home and what it means for home energy management, check out GTM Research’s latest report, Energy in the Connected Home 2015: Technology, Evolution, Landscape, and Distribution Strategies.