Nearly half of monitored homes want upgrades

DALLAS—Security research from Parks Associates finds COVID-19 is a key factor driving households with security monitoring to upgrade their system — 41 percent of monitored households with professional monitoring plan to upgrade their system in the next six months and an equal share plan to self-install an add-on device, with the majority citing the pandemic as a related factor.

The most popular add-on devices among these monitoring households are video cameras, smart lighting and video doorbells.

“COVID 19 has put a focus on the home environment for consumers and increased interest in use cases enabled by smart home solutions, and US broadband households with professional security monitoring are a leading segment in the adoption of smart security devices, specifically security cameras, security lighting, and video doorbells,” Parks Associates President Elizabeth Parks said in the announcement. “This influx of connected products and services will need a solution that can intelligently connect and control all these points in the household. We look forward to insights from Alarm.com and other market leaders about advances in AI and applications that can enhance the user experience.”

“With smart home technology and connected devices continually improving, it’s no surprise that many people are looking to upgrade their existing systems,” said Anne Ferguson, VP of Marketing at Alarm.com, which presented at Parks recent CONNECTIONS conference earlier this month. “Analytics and computer vision, especially, are broadening the applications and abilities of today’s systems. Affordable, professionally monitored solutions that are managed through a unified platform offer integrators increased customer loyalty, recurring upsell opportunities, and long-term RMR growth.”