Future Proofing the Real Estate Industry with Smart Homes

By - Manish Misra, Chief Innovation Officer, Panasonic India One thing that has emerged clearly out of this lockdown phase – is the importance of having a multi-functional (read as smart) home. While working from home in the past few months, individuals have realized the importance of having a connected home and in it, the key role of their electronics that help them multi-task. This will have a positive rub off on the real estate industry as realtors will need to opt for spatial reconfiguration. Consumers today, are seeking smart and contactless technologies. 81% of consumers are willing to spend extra for an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled device, as per our syndicated research. It won’t be surprising to see buyers seeking ‘Smart Homes’ tomorrow. With motion sensors operating your lighting and switches, and voice control regulating your TVs, Refrigerators, Washing Machines, to name a few, smart homes will reconfigure the architecture of the real estate industry. Propelled by digital transformation, consumers and the organizations, both are making the maximum use of emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML), Artificial intelligence (AL), Cloud computing, data analytics etc., to up their lifestyle. Realtors need to up their game too, as home automation and smart living solutions present a promising future. The reason is fairly simple. Connected and contactless operations such as self-operating lighting, household chores i.e., washing, cooling, storage etc., not only adds to comfort and convenience to the users but also, a value-based proposition. Realtors can, not only, leverage this to their competitive advantage but also, enable smart home technology for better and efficient management of the house/building, enabling predictive maintenance to avoid unnecessary outages thereby, saving a lot on servicing costs. Power of the IoT coupled with smart living platforms/apps/ technology like Miraie offer realtors the potential to revolutionize the real estate market. From using the technology, to further honing the smart home concept to aid property sales, there is plenty of room to explore newer avenues for industry players and consumers alike. With more and more time being spent at home, smart home features will now become a commonplace. Consumers have realized the necessity of technologies like AI/IoT in various aspects of their lives and are no longer shying away from spending those extra bucks to add convenience. Smart home solutions once considered a luxury will be the norm as individuals will opt for safer and cleaner places. Lesser point of contacts, equals lesser chances of contamination. In a nutshell, there’s an imminent need for realtors to optimize the future living spaces. The buyers of tomorrow will seek their own place, rather than living in a shared accommodation. With hygiene and safety taking precedence, it is imperative for developers to make the most of this opportunity using technology to design ‘connected homes’ and thus, offer a value proposition to their buyers. Digitalization can further help unlock this opportunity to provide a healthier lifestyle to consumers. Panasonic India Panasonic India’s connected living solution updatable platform Miraie is powered by IoT and AI. Conceptualized and developed at Panasonic’s India Innovation Centre, it aims to empower everyday lives of consumers with comfort, convenience, and seamless connectivity, thereby opening up avenues for businesses in the real estate segment to build smart living spaces with a smarter architecture. Bringing over 100 years of technological and innovation prowess, the company is focused on creating a connected living ecosystem for a better life of consumers and a lucrative opportunity for realtors for a better world.