Interview with Jason Tienor, President and CEO of Telkonet, Inc.
Jason, Telkonet prides itself on innovation of the Internet of Things. What advances are you watching?
Technology and the Internet of Things changes at lightning speed. Keeping up with cutting edge technology is a daily task and I make it my job to keep up with the latest IoT trends. Right now you can buy connected shoes, eyeglasses, wristlets; you can buy connected shirts and shorts that track your heart rate and muscle tone when you are moving. This isn’t top-secret military technology. This is what people can go out and buy today.
The IoT market is already exploding. How will we deal with the glut of smart devices at home?
If you look at the consumer market, everybody right now is buying smart products for their home: Amazon Echo, iPhone, tablet, connected thermostats…all smart products.
But here’s the problem that I personally face: I’ve got this folder on my phone. It’s got 3 screens worth of apps to go with all the smart products in my home. The problem is that when I go to bed, instead of saying, “goodnight, house” and the front door locking, the garage door shutting, the lights turning off and the thermostat dropping down, I have to open up a different app to do each one of those things. That’s not the promise of IoT.
The Promise of IoT
The promise of IoT is saying, “Good night, house” and all of those things happening, and I simply walk up to my bed. As we get closer and closer to that experience in the home, as you start to use Amazon Echo, Google Home, more of those one-app-to-accomplish-many-things, you are going to expect that same type of experience in the hospitality environment, or in your dormitory or in the hospital, the military barrack, you name it, because that becomes the norm. You’ll always expect the norm.
There is no reason a hotel room needs a flat screen television; the CRT gives the same picture, shows you the same show, but the reason that hotel has moved to a flat screen TV is that’s what everybody is watching at home. The reason that hotels started to provide mobile apps to guests is because you are using your mobile phone. That’s all driven by guest preference. So if you become accustomed to something, you are going to begin to demand that something moving forward.
Race to Be First
Now, intelligent commercial entities, they understand that this is coming so they are trying to get there first. The earlier you can gain the loyalty of your customers, the longer you are going to have those customers. They know they’re going to have to provide that at some point, they’re better off being first than last at providing those customers’ demands.
Keeping Pace with Technology
The Apple watch was developed four or five years ago, but within five years’ time, they’ve already come out with the third generation. Some products race from development to release within 12 months. And within the next 12 months they’re realizing a new iteration of that device. That’s an incredible turnaround time. Products used to take 4-5 years to come to market from conceptualization, now we’re talking about less than 12 months.
Speaking in terms of Telkonet, keeping pace with the technological developments of IoT is a mainstay of our business, the promise of our future. The possibilities are astonishing.