Parks Associates: Over 50% of U.S. Broadband Households Feel They Get Nothing of Value in Exchange for Their Data

DALLAS, Dec. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Parks Associates today released research showing 54% of U.S. broadband households see little value in return for sharing their data. In addition, 42% do not trust companies will be able to keep their data safe. The research firm hosts the 12th-annual CONNECTIONS™ Summit: IoT and the Smart Home, January 9 at CES® 2018 in Las Vegas, to discuss strategies to flip these perceptions and make consumers more at ease with connected products and the value they receive.

Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates, will moderate the session "Privacy and Support: Creating Seamless Connected Experiences" at 12:15 p.m. Presenters include:

• Autumn Braswell, COO, Global Solutions, Marketing, LinQ, iQor
• Leon Kuperman, CTO, CUJO AI Platform
• Alton Martin, Co-Founder/Chief Evangelist, Trusource Labs
• Sami Nassar, VP, Cybersecurity, NXP
• Richard Wolpert, Co-Founder & CEO, HelloTech

"Consumers are caught between their security concerns of sharing personal data and desire to unlock the value in the complete IoT ecosystem," Braswell said. "Manufacturers and service providers need to ensure security concerns are met but also work together across the IoT ecosystem to create the unprecedented personalized and frictionless value proposition that is the potential in the connected world."

"Over 50% of U.S. broadband households feel they get nothing valuable in exchange for their data. It is not clear what they consider 'valuable' in the first place. Users see the quality of provided service, ease-of-use, and comfort as a given. They can't receive all the benefits of the IoT world and not share any of their data: IoT devices are designed to improve user experience using user data," Kuperman said. "The balance between benefits and the data you provide is something a user has to consider when choosing services and products they use. Consumers have to get informed and take precautions to protect their data and privacy whenever possible."

"It isn't sufficient to provide excellent customer care. That's table stakes," Martin said. "OEMs need to convey and instill confidence that not only do their products work well, but they are secure and will not allow a consumer's home and family privacy to be violated. I can't imagine the negative blowback if IoT devices in the home suddenly became untrustworthy. They'd be disconnected in droves."

"Privacy and reliability are recognized consumer concerns in smart connected devices," Nassar said. "The key to IoT's full market depends on a number of factors. IoT brands need to work with ecosystem partners to set security and quality benchmarks. Data privacy protection legislations from government need to be in place to help enforce certifications. The promise of IoT could be lost if consumers don't trust their devices. We need to work together to build that trust."

"As a company that specializes in the installation, setup, training, and support in the smart home category, we often see many barriers to consumer adoption that we can easily help them overcome," Wolpert said. "In an emerging category that is quickly growing, it's important for manufacturers to obtain feedback and data on how to better improve their products and to offer their customers an in-home installation option. This is especially true when it comes to the smart home. Sharing data will significantly help to improve customer satisfaction and mitigates the possibility of future returns."

About CONNECTIONS™ Summit
CONNECTIONS™ Summit is an annual research and industry event hosted by international research firm Parks Associates at CES in Las Vegas. http//www.connectionssummit.com

Contact:

Julia Homier
Parks Associates
972.996.0214
[email protected]

SOURCE Parks Associates