Have experience with mechanics in the house
Have expertise with the technology and products as a service to the customer
Providing peace of mind, like Amazon's Happiness guarantee
Insurance and smart homes
Smart homes can also be used to reduce insurance premiums. I saw a few examples at the event of insurers giving a 10% discount on insurance for an installed smart home, especially with water sensors, fire sensors and security. In Finland, Austria, Switzerland and Germany, among others. Smart home service provider ROC Connect goes further and, for example, takes land registry data to see what kind of house it is.
A smart home is only really smart if it is properly set up (so enough smoke detectors, water sensors, etc.), but also if the user uses it properly. This can even be used to calculate a very specific premium for an object. The damage payment can be linked to usage data and operational data. There are a number of opportunities for insurers: growth, profitability, customer engagement. There are now two touchpoints: claim and invoice. But what does an insurer do with data from IoT devices? If a smoke detector has not been maintained for a while, can the insurer refuse a claim?
For companies that want to approach an insurer with a smart home product: innovation teams in an insurer are not the only parties you should talk to. Sales, Marketing and Risk Management are the parties that make the business case and get the product off the ground.
Drivers for Internet of Things
Insurers do not like paying out damages. Not because they are malicious, but because it concerns their profitability. Fraud, they are very sharp on that. The role that the Internet of Things can play is great. Data from objects can provide insight into situations and actually play back a scenario. However, the panel at the event does not indicate what is a driving force for IoT implementations. Claims reduction is the driving force in many cases. But also other matters, such as estimating risk or loss. The so-called occupancy pattern in a risk profile is important. No occupancy changes the profile. Insurers want to move from claims to prevention, for example in health insurance: a 75-year-old woman who lives alone has a different profile than a family.
One of the panel sessions was about energy saving. One of the best-known use cases in the Netherlands is Toon, the smart thermostat from Eneco. NPS impact is important, Toon has ensured a positive NPS at Eneco. It is also a switch reducer. But to reach the masses, attention must be paid to hiding complexity in the design. In particular, it must be easy to use. A Toon or other smart device turns a commodity into an added value product with extra services. Even the fact that you have to pay to save is not a problem, you always pay less than you save.
The energy market is in transition. Solar panels, energy storage in batteries and electric driving are changing the market, but also the local installation. Part of the technology for energy management is going to the consumer. There is a need for an energy management solution with solar panels. The solar panel users have the highest switching ratio, they are notoriously disloyal.
It is less about saving, but more about not paying more at the end of the year, according to Nuon. The shock that you suddenly have to pay a lot more is very annoying. With the smart meter and with a Toon for example, this can be managed.
Smart security
Another topic is the smart locks. According italy whatsapp number to the suppliers we should (of course) use smart locks. But in the Netherlands that is not possible, unlike Sweden where ASSA ABLOY (one of the largest suppliers) comes from.
Why would you want a smart lock? In part for three use cases:
Smart home
Airbnb
Online delivery
The Airbnb scenario is pretty strong: do you really want to give your key to a visitor? If the key is lost, misplaced or stolen, you have to replace an entire lock.
A smart lock has more advantages, depending on the type. Take the possibility of access, only for a certain time. Suppose the cleaner comes on Thursday between 10 and 11 o'clock. Then you can give access with a smart lock, only during that period. A normal key always gives access, which is not always convenient or useful for everyone.
A smart lock also gives you a control mechanism, because the lock also registers whether and who comes in. Is that privacy-sensitive? Absolutely. Partners or children do not always want to know exactly when they came home.
Behavioral change
Smart locks are accompanied by a change in behavior. For example, you need an app to open the door, a key, key fob, a fingerprint or pin code. No problem for early adopters, but for the masses it is! Depending on the possibilities of the lock, this is a difficult to very difficult story to sell to people with less love for technology. Everyone knows a regular key, everyone can use it and the battery can never be empty.
A smart lock is also a necessity in the scenario that Amazon is experimenting with in the US ( delivering packages to the front door ). In the Netherlands, there have been meal services for years that come by daily with meals for the elderly, where the deliverers have the keys, such as Kievit in Haarlem .