Smart, but not as you know it

Hot on the heels of an exceptional FIT Show launch, Giovanni Laporta, inventor of the Smart Ready certification standard, talks about the different kinds of smart available to door manufacturers and installers.

When you think about Smart, particularly when it comes to doors, you probably think about smart locks for entrance doors. More and more companies are offering a smart solution consisting of keyless locking and unlocking, but is this a trend driven by consumer demand?

We don’t think so. Consumers overall are not yet ready to lock and unlock their homes without a key. The fear of something going wrong is too high. The risks are too great.

We already know that up to 33% of burglaries take place when doors or windows are left open (Home Office statistics) but a recent research paper by Verisure UK reveals that over 50% of burglaries in the UK occur when someone is at home. As a result, almost 87% of people said they were emotionally impacted by the burglary, some so much they had to move home. And up to 70% of children have been seriously affected emotionally by seeing their home being burgled. Clearly this is not acceptable and if the figures can be reduced, then we all need to sit up and listen to how.

The first thing the door industry needs to do is build trust in smart among consumers. This means a staged approach. Which is precisely what the Smart Ready certification standard delivers. It gets products ready for smart, but not smart. It also ensures product consistency and forms the standards on which all doors, and windows, will soon be made.

Thanks to HD Ready (which is also standard), Smart Ready already has a strong brand feel to many consumers, meaning it is going to quickly gain traction as a household name. So, just as TVs were sold HD Ready before any shows were being streamed in HD, companies can now sell windows and doors that are Smart Ready, ready for smart to be bought from service providers by the homeowner at any point.

With the Smart Ready certification comes peace of mind; consumers and business can avoid the potential pitfalls of smart, but still enjoy all the benefits. The most important thing to consider when sourcing smart technology for a door that reports whether it is locked or not, is that it needs to provide a reliable notification of when it’s safe and when it’s not safe. There should not be any potential for false reporting.

If the smart door technology can’t deliver this, then smart reporting technology on doors won’t last long. The smart system needs to be intelligent enough to know when the door is open and closed too, not just locked or unlocked. If the system doesn’t, and a key is turned to lock the door when it’s open, it will give a false report of security. This isn’t good enough.

And any smart door system that’s worthy of being called smart should also be fitted with a built-in simple alarm.

Even better would be a solution with an early warning system that lets users know even before they’re broken into. Make sure you ask these questions.

Sac Hardware and Hug Technology have already developed a new Smart Ready certified reporting system that addresses everything. The system reports on the status of all windows and doors – back and side doors as well as front doors – reporting on whether they are open or closed, locked or unlocked, as the consumer leaves the property. It does not lock or unlock so homeowners still have complete control of their home.

Sac and Hug’s Smart Ready system also lets homeowners know when a window or door experiences any level of tampering, alerting them before an intruder enters the property, rather than after, like with most other simple alarm systems.

Therefore, if the user it at home, this should prevent the burglary altogether. And if they’re not in the property, the system can send a text message to a trusted neighbour to ask them to check everything is OK.

The system is going to disrupt the home security and smart door market forever.

Smart Ready fabricators and installers now have all the features they need to make selling smart easy. We honestly believe if fabricators and installers are not selling Smart Ready windows and doors, soon they won’t be selling at all. Be ready for change.

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