With the nearly ubiquitous connectivity options available today, nearly every age group is on line, connected and seeking conveniences that the connected home offers. In fact, I would wager that most of you reading this post use on line services to bank, purchase airline tickets, make hotel reservations, and even shop on Amazon. As connectivity becomes the norm, these types of services will transform how we view our lifestyle as we age and what services our future clients will need to meet that perception.
Today’s Baby Boomers and Generation X are more tech savvy than ever before. GenXer’s begin to turn 50 in 2015 and are looking to bring their digital experiences into retirement. The Internet of Things (IOT) has brought them new awareness of being in control of various subsets in their homes, from locks, to comfort to entertainment, they have had the app experience and will be looking at extending this convenience into their retirement years
For years we have heard about adding networking to our business plan, but are we really looking at networking as the future of most of our services? A great blog post by my friend and fellow integrator , John Sciacca, “Losing Connection in a Connected World” (http://bit.ly/1Mpw4HE) about his experience when his cable modem died taking out most of his abilities to operate many of the “connected” devices both from a distance and at home. Are you ready for that possible failure at 2:00 AM when your systems cannot connect and are making those “beeping” noises? Are you taking advantage of our remote management options? What about security of the network? Have you changed the routers main administration password for securing your network?
Remodeling and downsizing are the two most often cited options as Boomer’s and GenXer’s age. They will be expecting robust technology installed into these new spaces. Not just wireless, but hardwired copper infrastructure for a dependable, high-performance user experience. Telemedicine, shopping, and streaming video all require a robust and dependable network that is secure, always on and easy to access, are you ready?