Who would have thought a decade ago, or even six months back, that

“There are decades where nothing happens; there are weeks where decades happen.”  —  Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

and never have those words been so apt.

The most significant thing to affect the technology industry in 2020 is by far COVID-19 as it has halted economic activity globally in a never seen before way.

With the quick shift to working from home, business leaders, industrialists, and sales and marketing teams are navigating new terrains trying to figure out how to communicate effectively in a way that will get them the desired outcomes.

This surely is a new trend shift where everyone needs to understand whether their current home automation tools help them solve many simple problems (like checking if you had locked your front door or not, turned those appliances off or not, getting locked out by losing a physical key, etc) and work from home effectively.

A recent Parks Associates survey and webinar found that while there will be considerable disruption to our industry, there are also opportunities to be found such as an increased value of and appreciation for technology and a shift in spending towards technology-enabled services for home consumption.

Covid-19 will only increase automation anxiety and consumers are more likely to prefer automated services to face-to-face interactions for some time to come.

In fact, according to a recent report from ASSA ABLOY Group, United Technologies, Honeywell, Schneider Electric – Home Automation Market to See Massive Growth by 2020-2026.”

Some automation experts foresee the topic to take off:

“We’re hearing from customers that many of their budgets have been frozen except for budgets for automation. We’ve been fielding a lot of inbound from new customers around, ‘How can robots enable us to continue manufacturing while keeping social distancing’?” — Melonee Wise, CEO at Fetch Robotics reports

In a Q4/2019 IoT Analytics survey of manufacturers, 58% indicated that they would prefer to procure equipment as a service or lease it instead of keeping it on their balance sheet.

The demand for more transparency, decrease in capital expenditure, and automation of procedures in fact explains why some business IoT applications are now in high demand. However, this isn’t the same story for customer IoT applications. Let us see how this pandemic is going to impact the IoT application usage.

The Impact of COVID-19 on IoT Applications:

1) Remote Access of Tools Becomes Important

2) Social and Smart Distancing will be more prominent

3) Home Office Solutions will be sought after

4) Usage of Specific IoT Health Applications Surge

5) Track and Trace Solutions will be used More Extensively

6) Smart City Data Platforms Will Become the Key

7) Everyone wants to Maximize their home security

8) Customers prefer the flexibility of using new devices and appliances

 9) People prefer tools to monitor activities in real-time whether they are in the house or halfway around the globe

Rocky Emmler, Business Owner Connected Energy at Bosch.IO explains:

“During this crisis, we are seeing increased inquiries for our IoT Meter Add-on device. We send the client a small device that they attach to their meter. The data then gets sent in a secure fashion through Bosch IoT Suite to the utility company so that they do not need to dispatch a person to perform on-site meter reading.”

At SYNXGEN, we’re building some of the most useful and SMART Home Automation tools – helping people like you Maximize home security, Increase energy efficiency, perform rote tasks automatically and create a convenient and comfortable atmosphere at home.

Despite the obvious business challenges that we face, this current climate also offers an opportunity for purchasing online, as more consumers are homebound, looking to enhance their smart home capabilities and for ways to stay entertained and comfortable.

As always, our lines of communication remain open. SYNXGEN staff is working from home and available to answer any questions and continue to support our partners as usual.

Thank you as always for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you all as soon as possible.

As for the hospitals, government entities, police departments, and retailers of essentials (food, grocery, etc) – god bless you, and thanks for all the great jobs you guys are doing and everything to come!