So, How Smart Is Your Home?

041Tech columnist Jenine Wyngaard looks at the popularity of smart home systems, simplifies the terms, compares the devices and gives tips on how to make your home smarter.

TECHNOLOGY flows into every part of our lives these days, from our work time to our play time and everywhere in between, it leaves its digital fingerprint everywhere.

So, how can you level up your home and get it smarter? Firstly, what is a smart home? As per Oxford Languages: a smart home is a home equipped with lighting, heating, and electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by smartphone or computer. Very important to note here, is that devices use the Internet to enable remote monitoring and management. As part of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart home systems and devices often operate together, sharing consumer usage data among themselves and automating actions based on the homeowners’ preferences. So how does it work? A smart home isn’t a collection of disparate smart devices, but rather ones that work together to create a remotely controllable network.

All devices are controlled by a master home controller often referred to as a smart home hub, this hub serves as a central control point for the home system. It combines all the various device applications into a single smart home app, examples of popular home hubs include Amazon Echo and Google Home. Some examples of the most common smart home technologies available:

Smart TVs – TVs connected to the Internet to access content through applications, such as on-demand video and music
Smart lighting systems – in addition to being able to be controlled remotely and customized, smart lighting systems can detect when occupants are in the room and adjust lighting as needed. Smart light bulbs can also regulate themselves based on daylight availability.
Solar power – one of the most popular smart home trends in South Africa is the use of solar power. They can help you save money on your electricity bill by generating renewable energy that can be used to power your home.
Smart thermostats – lets users schedule, monitor and remotely control home temperatures. These devices also learn homeowners’ behaviours and automatically modify settings to provide them with maximum comfort and efficiency. Smart thermostats can also report energy use and remind users to change filters.
Smart door locks and garage doors – grant or deny access to visitors. Smart locks can also detect when residents are near and unlock the doors for them.
Smart plugs – connect to wall sockets to transform simple home devices, such as lamps and ceiling fans, so they can be controlled remotely via mobile apps and voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant
Smart security cameras and systems – you can monitor your home when you’re away. Smart motion sensors can identify the difference between residents, visitors, pets and burglars and can send notifications to authorities if suspicious behaviour is detected.
Smart kitchen appliances – brands such as LG, GE and Samsung offer smart kitchen appliances of all sorts. These appliances include smart coffee makers that can brew a fresh cup automatically at a programmed time; and smart refrigerators that keep track of expiration dates, make shopping lists or even create recipes based on ingredients currently on hand.

So let’s do the needed list, the pros and cons:

PROS	CONS
Provides assurance. You can monitor your home remotely, countering dangers such as a forgotten coffee maker left on or a front door left unlocked	Requires a reliable Internet connection. An unreliable connection or a network going down in an outage can leave the devices and gadgets connected to a smart home inoperable
Accommodates user preferences for convenience. E.g. you can program the garage door to open, the lights to go on, and your favorite music to play once you arrive home	Perceived complexity. Some people have difficulties or a lack of patience with technology. Manufacturers and alliances are working on reducing complexity and improving the user experience to make it enjoyable and beneficial for users of all technical levels
Enhances your security due to notifications or alerts being sent when events are triggered. Depending on the device, these alerts can be configured to go straight to the authorities	Lack of standards. For home automation systems to be truly effective, devices must be interoperable regardless of manufacturer and use the same protocol or, at least, complementary ones. As it’s a relatively new market, there’s no gold standard for home automation yet. But this is being worked on.
Saves resources and money – with home automation devices and a smart system setup, energy, water and other resources can be used more efficiently, which helps save both natural resources and money in the long run	Questionable security & data privacy – IoT devices introduce security challenges because most of them lack built-in encryption. There are also strong concerns regarding the security of your personal data collected and transmitted by smart home devices

And if the “I’s” have it, what are the next steps in smart home implementation?

Invest in a strong, reliable Internet connection. Because smart home connectivity relies heavily on an Internet connection, it’s important to ensure that you have reliable and fast Internet services.
Do your research and planning. Think about what services you want to introduce into your smart home and what devices you will need to do so. You can either run with this as a solo project or consult with experts.
1. Online resources
2. Consult professionals: Smart Home Solutions
Select the hub. It’s important to decide which hub to use for a smart home. For example, if you want a fully automated smart home, a hub that can centrally control every device is most likely required. E.g. Samsung SmartThings, Logitech Harmony, Google Nest and Amazon Echo Plus. However, in other cases, a virtual assistant that can link to other devices on the same network could suffice e.g. Alexa and Google Assistant.
Start with the basics. Start small with devices like smart speakers, smart plugs, smart bulbs and switches, as they’re quick to set up and can easily automate many different things around the house.
Secure the devices. Because most IoT and smart home devices don’t have built-in security or encryption, it’s important to set up strong passwords and multifactor authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
Add more devices according to your plan. As you become more comfortable with creating a smart home, add more devices, such as security systems, cameras and video doorbells, to the mix.

Jénine Wyngaard is an IT Security Analyst with 15 years of experience in the IT service industry. While her chosen path in life has taken her deep into the digital world she still enjoys the smell and feel of a real book. And while she ticks all the boxes for a modern technology geek, she is also a fierce animal lover who wouldn’t mind a relaxing stroll through nature.