Month: October 2019

Lucid has unveiled new research which demonstrates a trust and transparency gap between consumer and supplier within the UK energy sector. The report, delivered in partnership with PwC, found that 74% of consumers would have greater trust in their energy supplier if they were offered access to a more transparent cost breakdown.

The research comes as Lucid announces itself within the UK energy sector, aimed at enabling energy retailers to improve their customer relationships through its robust and secure platform, which enhances customer engagement, reduces the cost to serve, and increases profitability.

An intelligent energy optimisation platform, Lucid allows energy retailers to deliver new levels of transparency to their customers through a variety of Energy Insight features. Lucid provides personalised and actionable insights which help customers to better understand their energy consumption and related costs, meaning they can in turn maximise the value of their energy.

The research findings reveal the importance of such transparency to customer retention, with 59% of people stating they would be more likely to stay with their current provider were they to offer an app with the 11 features provided by the Lucid Energy Insights platform.

Within the further context that 28% of respondents have switched energy supplier within the last 12 months, and 41% are “likely” to do so within the next 12 months, the research demonstrates the role the greater transparency and control offered by such apps can play in reducing customer churn within an industry where it is prevalent. Features such as real-time consumption updates and forecasts, energy budget tracking, and usage by activity, are central to this.

“Lucid brings a dynamic new offering to energy retailers at a time when competition is rising and consumer demands are rightfully centred around greater transparency and trust, as well as managing costs,” said James Hunt, business development director at Lucid. “Within a fast-evolving industry, it’s important for energy suppliers to recognise and react to these needs. Lucid is well-placed to enable them to do so, in particular by providing the platform to instigate the functional, technical and behavioural change required to transition to the smart energy economy.”

Originally developed and supported by Toshiba, and in association with PwC, Lucid leverages the strength and heritage of the two brands. It has already signed partnerships with several energy companies to deliver its Energy Insights service. Lucid is hardware-agnostic and will work with the energy retailer’s chosen IHD/CAD partner. It has its own CAD, and can offer firmware and device management.

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With the rising number of IoT devices, which is expected to surpass the 20 billion mark by next year, there are a lot of big changes to anticipate. As we all know, says John Ocampos, the administrator of Softvire, the World Wide Web can be accessed by anyone. While such digital developments have helped individuals and business owners in many ways, take note that there are also risks involved.

Cybercriminals can take advantage of these developments, as well. From vulnerable healthcare devices, video cameras from phones and mobile gadgets to data breach and hacking, DDoS and malware attacks, these are implication that cyberattacks have become far-reaching.

IoT security roadblocks

The IoT security has become more and more challenging these days. Since the idea of networking platforms and other sites are relatively new, most developers focus more on the product’s overall designing phase. This is also due to the IoT’s nascent market. As a result, they have overlooked the importance of security and privacy of users and subscribers.

Another growing concern with IoT’s security is the utilisation of hardcoded or default passwords. Hackers can easily use this process to breach account details and other valuable information. Keep in mind that hackers can still crack the password even if you change them regularly.

What can you do to prepare for possible threats?

Thanks to continuous efforts of IT experts in the cybersecurity sector, individuals and enterprises can modify their methods to secure their devices from possible threats. For more guidance, here are other key factors you should know about IoT and network security:

Factor 1: Visibility is everything

In a study conducted by Gemalto in 2019, almost 50% of businesses were able to detect IoT breaches. Again, if it’s not visible, it’s impossible to measure it; and if it’s not measurable, it can be challenging to analyse it and implement possible solutions.

In addition to this, many individuals and even enterprises are not only blindsided by the endpoints connected to their networks, most of them are not equipped with the right resources to resolve this concern. This results to massive traffic activities within their network with zero visibility at all.

Factor 2: Empower data analysis solutions

If you’re still sticking to outdated data analysis processes, you might be having problems to detect current problems and future possible threats to your network. Analytics have made vast developments over the past decades. From descriptive to predictive forms, you need to start innovating to maximise security.

Good thing, many companies are looking beyond network and application analytics using various technologies to make necessary adjustments with their system. They are now looking for multiple solutions to resolve data breach using state-of-the-art tools and hiring the best IT experts in the field. This gives them opportunities to boost productivity, set parameters based on real-time granularity at each network, and to remediate cyberattacks.

To become more effective, your analytics for security solution utilise various types of resources. This should give your team a more comprehensive method to review traffic from your network.

Factor 3: Utilisation of new [...]

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Still considered to be in the early, high development growth stage, the UK home automation market has doubled in size between 2014 and 2018 according to a report recently published by AMA Research. 

Whilst growth rates have slowed somewhat in recent years, an increase of 14% was evident in 2018 with further 13-14% increase currently indicated for 2019. A key reason for continued high rates of growth is the expansion of market from one dominated by sophisticated systems almost exclusively sold in the higher level of the residential sector to a broader, more mainstream market.

This crossover to the mainstream is a key development that is changing the structure of the market with a large variety of middle and basic entry level products having been made available at competitive prices. The market has also benefited from the development of modular systems that allow for expansion of existing systems to additional rooms or products. Many of these modular products utilise wireless operating systems and are therefore easier to install, and therefore cheaper, than hard wired systems.

Technological innovation remains a key driver for market growth evidenced by the further development of wireless controls, Wi-Fi hub based systems and the development of more devices that operate across protocols. Remote operation via mobile phones and tablets has meant that consumer is increasingly able to control all aspects of the connected home whilst at home, at work, or whilst travelling – an aspect that has continued to underline the “ease of use” aspect of home automation.

Jane Tarver

In addition, the uptake of voice activated devices over the last 4 years has also expanded the opportunities for further automation activities within the home especially lighting and heating controls as well as audio visual equipment.

“Cost savings from home automation such as energy savings are another important factor influencing uptake” comments Jane Tarver, senior market research analyst at AMA Research. Systems suppliers will continue to emphasise cost savings in new equipment, particularly those using artificial intelligence (AI), where devices monitor climate and the user habits to establish comfort settings that continue to emphasise cost efficiencies”.

However, the one factor potentially limiting the further spread of home automation system is the number of protocols currently being used in the market. Whilst some system manufacturers are working to find a standard protocol that would enable many more devices to operate across services even where devices are purchased from different manufacturers, some manufacturers have opened up their operating platforms to third-party developers to encourage the development of suitable devices to fit their systems.

Medium-term prospects for home automation remain positive with the potential of up to 50% value growth currently forecast to 2023, with mid-basic entry level systems offering significant growth prospects but closely followed by smart heating controls. The retrofit market is also likely to benefit from further developments in wireless controls. The evolution of the market is likely to see further expansion of suppliers with increased product ranges that increasingly lend themselves to automation.

However, the market remains vulnerable to changes in levels of [...]

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The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) and the Fairhair Alliance have unified under the OCF name. This integration is designed to advance interoperability and security within the automated building and lighting Internet of Things (IoT) verticals by combining the two IoT frameworks.

The Fairhair Alliance has brought together lighting, building automation and IT companies to develop a secure onboarding framework for lighting and building control in commercial buildings. This has been achieved and documented within the Fairhair Specification.

The OCF will now maintain and improve the Fairhair Specification while certifying Fairhair as an international standard through the ISO and the IEC. The Fairhair Specification will augment the current OCF specifications, certification programmes, and open source implementations. It is also intended to reduce time-to-market for devices by establishing standardised onboarding and application frameworks for building automation and lighting control.

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