As with many technology-driven industries, the field of home security has seen many recent advances. As we pointed out in our Tips for Your Security System Upgrade, many customers periodically install new equipment to keep up with the changing times. Doing so can make security equipment both more effective and easier to use. This combination of factors often makes following the latest home security trends a worthwhile endeavor. In this post, we will share some of the top trends shaping up the modern home security market.
We will begin by discussing the integration of security systems into the smart home. This has remained one of the top home security trends over the past several years. From there, we’ll discuss specific technology advances within the industry. We’ll also examine a major overhaul to the alarm monitoring landscape. Finally, we’ll address the growing trend of Do-it-Yourself security products. Let’s begin with a look at how smart home technology interacts with modern security systems.
Home security systems now allow you to control an endless variety of smart home devices using your alarm panel as a smart home hub.
Smart Home Integration
We often surprise our customers by showing them how their security systems can also help them turn their home into a smart home. In fact, smart home technology often adds security to a home as well as convenience. For example, smart locks can help control access to your house. Smart lights and appliances can make it less obvious when you have an empty home. Smart cameras can give customers a live look inside their home at all times, as well as recorded video of what happens in and around the house.
As we mentioned above, we can use alarm system equipment to help customers create a complete smart home experience. Our interactive cellular dialer, powered by Alarm.com, also acts as a smart home hub. We recommend adding cellular monitoring to all of our customers. Adding this level of monitoring ensures that your alarm will dial the central station for help even if your phones go down. It also allows you to control your alarm from your smart phone and receive text alerts. Additionally, our cellular dialer can communicate with any Z-Wave-enabled smart home products. As one of the most secure and popular smart home platforms, Z-Wave devices range from the smart home appliances we already mentioned, to smart garage door openers, smart thermostats, and more. For more smart home security ideas, check out our 7 Important Security System Add-Ons for Your Smart Home. Now, let’s look at another cell-dialer based home security trend.
Location-Based Security
Most smartphone users take advantage of location-based technological features. Of course, we need look no further than the popularity of GPS navigation for proof. We can also use this concept for security enhancements. Through your Alarm.com app, you can set up any number of “geo services.” The term “geo service” relates to alarm or smart home commands based on your physical location. For example, you can create a command for your alarm to automatically arm if you are further than one mile away from your home. That way, you never need worry about forgetting to arm your security system. Likewise, you can set up a smart lock command that locks your doors if you leave a pre-determined area around your home as well.
For extra convenience, geo-service commands can work while you return home as well. You can program smart lights to turn on once you get close enough to your home. That way, you will not have to return to a dark home. Maybe you want your garage to open automatically once you get within a few blocks of your house. As long as you have the right smart home equipment, you can make that happen as well. This combination of security and convenience makes geo services a popular modern home security offering. We have a post dedicated to showing you how to Use Geo Services to Take Smart Home Security Features to the Next Level. Now, let’s look at one of the newest alarm trends regarding the look and operation of a modern home security system.
The IQ Panel 2 features an easy-to-use touchscreen format for the most convenient security experience possible.
Touchscreen Alarm Keypads
Smart phone technology has changed the way that most people expect to operate technology-driven devices. In particular, touchscreen devices have begun appearing everywhere. The security system industry is no exception to his convenience-driven phenomenon. In fact, our preferred home security system solution uses precisely this technology. The QOLSYS IQ Panel 2 provides both a superior user experience and superior security. Its touchscreen interface gives this system a very short learning curve. Additionally, this alarm system comes with an Alarm.com dialer built in, ensuring that you have the most secure monitoring option available. Now, let’s look at a security trend that has become more and more of an expectation for modern security customers over the past few years.
Easy Access to Live and Recorded Video Footage
Many homeowners now look for video surveillance as a part of their home security plan. Advances in technology have made providing this security measure far more simple than in the past. For example, take a look at the Alarm.com smart camera. You can install these cameras anywhere you have an outlet nearby. Once powered up, smart cameras can provide you with a live look-in to your home at any time. Additionally, these cameras capture motion-based video clips that you can access if something of interest does happen on your property.
Whether you want to install cameras to watch your entrances, or simply want to check in on kids or pets in your absence, surveillance can fit a wide variety of home monitoring purposes. If you do choose to follow this tip, we recommend reading our Best Practices for Surveillance Camera Maintenance. Let’s take a look at another growing home security trend.
Commitment-Free Security Monitoring
We always recommend having your home security system monitored. A monitored alarm system has a central station monitoring it at all times, ready to call you and alert the authorities to danger if something activates your alarm system. This service comes with a monthly fee and, as you likely know, monthly fees often come with long-term contracts. At Northeast Security Solutions, we understand customers’ hesitance to get tied down to a long-term contract. After all, who wants to sell their home only to be told that they owe a security company hundreds of dollars to buy out a monitoring contract?
Northeast Security Solutions has made signing up for long-term security monitoring contracts a thing of the past.
Several months back, we posted about Important Questions to Ask Security System Providers. One of the most important questions revolves around the issue of monitoring contracts. While many companies do still require a long-term commitment, we do not. If you are planning on having a monitored security system installed, make sure you know exactly what you are signing up for before installation. Now, let’s look at one of the most quickly spreading home security trends in the industry today.
DIY Home Security Options
Technology tends to get easier and easier for customers to use over time. In the security industry, this has certainly proved true. In fact, many security products can even be installed by end users. The rise of the DIY security product has become one of the hottest recent security trends. For example, many of our customers’ smart home options fall into this category. Homeowners can easily add smart home lights and smart home plugs to their alarm systems without a visit from a technician. In some cases, homeowners even install their own complete alarm and/or surveillance systems.
Occasionally, customers can install products of comparable quality with what they’d receive from professional security companies by going this route. However, taking the DIY shortcut can occasionally lead to security shortfalls as well. Our post on Do-it-Yourself Security Versus Professionally Installed Security details some of the differences between installing your own security devices and having them installed professionally. We recommend talking to a local security company, such as ourselves, if you have any questions about how installing specific security equipment yourself would compare to how we would approach the installation.
Following Home Security Trends Towards a Complete Security Plan
We hope this post has given you some valuable information about recent home security trends and improvements. Perhaps you have some of these measures in place yourself, and wish to continue adding the latest and greatest security measures. Or maybe you haven’t created a home security plan yet and wish to install modern equipment to add security to your home. Either way, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have. We provide free site surveys for homeowners on all levels of the home security spectrum. We can provide recommendations for securing your home using the most effective and user-friendly equipment available. Together, we can follow the latest home security trends to create a complete plan to keep you, your valuables, and your family as secure as possible.
Feature Photo Credit: CreditDebitPro on Flickr. Used under the CC BY 2.0 license.