It’s easy to take for granted the exponential increase in technology, and the speed and efficiency in which it’s delivered to us. The way we live, and interact, with our living space is radically different from how it was when we were children, let alone how it was for our parents and grandparents. We are witnessing the dawn of the smart home.

We now watch our media in multiple rooms, and on multiple devices, free from the shackles of terrestrial television scheduling. Music follows us from one room to the next, as we move about the house. We have many telephones, each likely connected to the internet and capable of processing information at a speed unimaginable to our grandparents. There might also be a media room, that can be converted from a lounge by day to a home cinema by night, or a home office with its own dedicated workstation and media setup.

As we hurtle further into the 21st century we’re being introduced to the internet of things, and the idea that more and more of the objects we interact with daily are going to have a technological component, and likely talk to the other digital devices in our lives. From doorbells sending a video feed to our phone, to lightbulbs interpreting our mood. The objects around us are getting increasingly smarter and more integrated into our digital lives.

Not Just a Smart Home, But an Efficient Home

With all these amazing advancements to the home comes the inevitable annoyance of compatibility conflicts, bugs in the system, and lost connections. Just getting the router to work can be a headache at times, do you trust your coffee machine to make you a decent espresso every morning?

While it’s awesome that we can fill our lives with all of this tech, the harsh reality is that the traditional methods of cabling and connecting do not support modern living. All of these laptops, pads, and Alexas aren’t worth a damn if we can’t get them working smoothly and reliably on a day to day basis. And moreover, we need a unified interface that makes sense to everyone in the home, so we can all enjoy the technology without worrying about the hassle.

There are plenty of technically minded folks out there, who will no doubt relish the opportunity to set up and debug two dozen internet enabled devices in their home. But for most of us, we just want everything to work and be easy to use. Most of the new devices out there are marketed as ‘easy to set up and install’ but they usually come with their own specific app to control the service. This leads to a smartphone that’s chock full of different apps, that more often than not fail to efficiently achieve what was needed. They might work on their own, but when you throw a few different brands into the mix, you end up with a glut of functions and controls that don’t talk to each other. We call this App acne.

Simple and Smart

Charlie Kindel, who was the leading force behind Alexa, now works for Control4; a leading global provider of automation and networking systems for homes and businesses. He himself said that for a whole house, Alexa Smart Home was not an ideal solution, and a collection of off the shelf ‘smart appliances’ leaves a lot to be desired:

“I still think most of the do-it-yourself (DIY) smart home products are too hard to use and too fragile to actually depend on. There’s still a HUGE gap between a home professionally outfitted top-to-bottom and a home with a bunch of DIY gadgets cobbled together by the home owner.”

Charlie acknowledges that not everyone can afford the high end, completely custom, fit out of their dreams. But the cost of having a truly smart home installed has certainly become more affordable in recent years, and the benefit of seamless integration of your technology is something that has become more and more tangible to consumers. He goes on to recommend the following:

“If they can afford it today, I recommend to friends they go the “Concierge” route: Hire a professional home technology integrator to just do it all for you, correctly. Life is too short to spend futzing around configuring and programming your home.”

We couldn’t agree more. What we do offer is a smart home that works. One that reacts to your interactions, talks to other devices and responds accordingly.

After we’ve finished with your smart home installation you’ll end up with one app that supports all the functions you need and interacts intelligently to create different actions based on your patterns. A cabled solution offers robust reliability and a secure networked solution. In addition, we can include many of the IoT (internet of things) devices into your home, intelligently, so you can trust they’re going to work when you need them.

We have our favourite, tried and tested products of course, but we’re not tied in with any one supplier. So if you have a specific product range you want to use we can work closely with you to try and make it happen, or show you alternatives that will give you what you need if that product isn’t supported.

How to Start Planning Your Dream Smart Home

Firstly we understand that each and every one of our customers have very specific needs. The beauty of all these different technologies is in how we each choose to combine them to enrich our lives. We love getting to know our customers and hearing about how they want to transform their homes.

Book an appointment and visit our showroom to get the ball rolling. One of our highly trained team members will be able to guide you through all of our solutions. We’ll be able to have a comprehensive chat about your home infrastructure, and what technologies you want to integrate. We can also discuss how these needs are likely to expand in the future.

Work begins, and we project manage every stage of the installation. You’ll always have someone on hand to talk to, should you have any questions. You’ll find we offer an outstanding level of aftercare and support to our customers, so you never have to worry about problems after you’re up and running.

With IndigoZest you can trust in our knowledge and experience to help you attain the smart home of your dreams. We want to take all the hassle and strain out of the process, and give people the seamless, worry-free solutions they deserve.

If you have any questions at all, or would like to visit our showroom, don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01923 88 39 79