Brands that best deliver on the four C’s – convenience, cost, control and confidentiality – should help consumers to realise the benefits of the connected home, and overcome scepticism from those who are less interested in smart home devices.

Convenience is a major selling point for the connected home, with many believing it will make their lives simpler and even save them time. Meanwhile smart heating companies promise to deliver cost savings on energy bills, drawing the biggest interest among those who want a better connected home.

However consumers are concerned about the amount of effort that a smarter home would require on their part, suggesting brands need to create awareness of automation facilities that allow a ‘hands-off’ approach. They are also worried about intrusion and the risk of data being hacked or shared. Companies that treat users’ information with confidentiality and ensure the security of their devices will be favoured.

This report looks at the growing range of connected devices and appliances that consumers have in their possession and in their homes. It also analyses how these devices are becoming increasingly able to send and receive commands to and from each other (sometimes referred to as ‘talking together’), via either manual instruction or automated means.

This is often referred to as ‘home automation’, the idea of an online system being able to control the functionality of several smart devices by either reacting to a set schedule, or from user input, which can sometimes be communicated from a remote location.

In this report the concept of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is another term used to describe the ever-increasing set of smart products that sit within a consumer’s connected ecosystem.