DIY No-Contract Security Projected to Expand Pro Monitoring Services
Self-installed security solutions will significantly lower the cost of security and create new monitoring use cases, according to Park Associates.
(Parks Associates)
DALLAS — Do-it-yourself security systems and no-contract, hybrid monitoring solutions enabled by DIY security will expand professional monitoring services, conservatively, to an additional 5% of U.S. households, according to Parks Associates.
Self-installed security solutions will significantly lower the cost of security, create new monitoring use cases, and, in doing so, expand the market beyond the traditional 20-25% of U.S. households that have professionally-monitored security, the research firm reports in a whitepaper titled “Market Snapshot: DIY and Home Security.”
The shift toward DIY installation methods over the past two years is significant. DIY security systems are on the rise; however, Parks Associates views this trend as somewhat overstated by consumers due to multiple factors. New entrants for security and added options for smart home devices are two of those factors. In addition, self-monitoring via smartphone seems adequate for a portion of potential security system adopters.
While the surge in professionally monitored systems that are self-installed is fairly recent, professional installation still dominates. In the whitepaper, Parks Associates Senior Analyst Dina Abdelrazik writes:
“DIY and smart home products are adding volatility to the market for professionally-monitored security and driving changes in the home security business. These solutions do have advantages with lower-cost, contract-free monitoring options that will attract new consumers, but adopting these new offerings without eroding the base of traditional customers requires careful navigation of the current business ecosystem.”
Smart Home Device Adoption
Almost 1 in 4 (24%) of U.S. broadband households with at least one smart home device, excluding smart appliances, own an average of six smart home devices, an 18% increase year-over-year.
The smart home market is an important area of convergence with security, where installing security contractors can find new revenues to combat margins tightened by DIY. Similarly, the market can promote complementary use cases in safety and security to attract smart home device owners into home security ownership.
Parks Associates published the firm’s first research study on smart home tech and adoption in 2013 and has tracked adoption of smart home devices consistently since then. In early 2019, the research firm expanded the list of smart home devices surveyed to include smart appliances, and overall connected device ownership and smart home device ownership increased by 4%.
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