4 tips to make your house future-proof
Tip 1: use devices with the same platform
A smart home platform is the overarching system that lets you control your smart devices. Well-known platforms are Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Make sure the smart products in your home are all controlled by the same platform. That way, you need just one app or smart speaker to control everything in your home. Always take the platform into account when you buy new smart devices, so you don't have to use a couple of different systems.
Tip 2: provide a good and stable network
Smart products use the internet for things like communicating with each other. If you have multiple smart devices at home, they'll be more demanding for your network. That means you'll need a good internet connection in different locations throughout your home in the future. In order to create a stable network everywhere, you make a wireless network with multiple stations. You can do this with a pack of WiFi mesh routers, for example.
Tip 3: choose a hub that manages your smart devices
With a smart home hub, you can connect the smart devices in your home to each other. They do need to be able to connect to the same platform for this. For example, the Google Nest Hub works with Google Assistant. When you place the hub in a central place in your home, you can control all of the smart devices in your house with it. In the future, you'll be able to manage all of your devices with your hub.
Tip 4: choose energy-efficient products
Since the house of the future will contain more and more smart products, you should choose products that are energy-efficient. There are smart products that use a timer or self-teaching thermostats that lower the temperature when you're not home. More and more smart devices take energy-consumption into account. That way, you'll be more comfortable in the future and you'll pay less energy costs.