Greenworks Training Academy, part of Saint-Gobain, has experienced a surge of interest in its Smart Home Awareness days with day courses being booked months in advance. The training provider has been hosting fully-booked sessions, with installers and house developers keen to know more about the emerging market and the technology that is available.
Nest, Honeywell and Worcester Bosch support the course, which is held at Greeworks’ 15,000 sq foot facility. With access to the latest product and market-leading expertise, the day is designed to explain the benefits of smart home technology, as well as some hands-on installation guidance.
Business-savvy installers, who keep their ear to the ground about new technology and emerging trends, tend to invest in training ahead of the curve. This way they are ready to take advantage of the business opportunities once the end-user market starts to take notice.
The spike in interest is in direct contradiction to survey results launched in early January that suggested that only one quarter of UK participants had purchased smart home technology. The survey that interviewed 2500 people across UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, uncovered that 63% were not even aware of what a ‘Smart Home’ is.
However, across the pond the results couldn’t be more different, with 45% of Americans likely to invest in Smart Home technology by the end of 2016.
Marcus Jefford, Director at Greenworks, commented on the spike in interest: “The start of 2016 has seen us being inundated with requests for training and information on Smart Home Technology, showing that despite the pessimistic outlook by the survey launched in January, there’s clearly an appetite within the industry.
“We saw a similar trend with renewables a few years ago. Business-savvy installers, who keep their ear to the ground about new technology and emerging trends, tend to invest in training ahead of the curve. This way they are ready to take advantage of the business opportunities once the end-user market starts to take notice.”
