How the marriage of AI and IoT in home security drives better CX and intuitive protection

In an era where AI and IoT promise hyper-personalized experiences, technology that once felt state of the art can often create friction rather than seamless protection. The next wave of innovation focuses on systems that adapt to user behavior, understand habits, and leverage always-on intelligence to solve core usability challenges.

For Hervé Muller, VP & General Manager, North America at Telecom Design, this shift is crucial for delivering true peace of mind. He sees AI and new IoT technology as key to evolving home security from an inconvenient necessity to an intuitive, adaptive safeguard.

Adaptive intelligence: Telecom Design has patented technologies specifically designed to deliver this "always on" security experience. "We are going from a time when it required a lot of interaction from the user to manage the security system. It was really inconvenient," Muller says. "Now, with artificial intelligence and new IoT technology, you can have a better user experience where the system can adapt to your behaviors."

Everyday friction: Traditional home security systems are generally only turned on when residents leave their homes, Muller points out. "Most of the time if you're at home, you're not turning on your security system because if you do, and then you open the door to let the dogs out, it's generating an alarm and it's waking up the kids and it's stressing everybody," he explains, "and then you may have the police showing up, or you'll get a call from your alarm provider." This reality means active protection is extremely limited, as users often don't arm their systems when home, leaving them without the security they paid for.

Niche innovation: Telecom Design tackles this by focusing on the core technology components, acting as an innovation engine within the larger security ecosystem. "We work with some of the largest security companies that handle [the user experience]. We provide some of the technology blocks that they can use," Muller says. "We are very, very good at making very small form factor devices that will integrate a lot of intelligence and processing power." This highlights how niche players obsessed with specific AI-driven components can drive innovation forward in massive markets.

Closing the gap: Some of Telecom Design's technology, marketed under the name 24ON, aims to keep alarm systems active 24/7. This directly addresses the fact that current systems often protect homes only about 20% of the time, leaving significant gaps. "So we really want to bring the bar up and to bring that percentage towards 100% of the time when your alarm system is actually protecting you," Muller emphasizes, "We think that that's going to be a big shift in how we think about home security."

Smarter hardware: Enabling this requires intelligent, user-friendly components. The company has developed camera systems characterized by their very small form factor and long battery life, incorporating facial recognition capabilities directly within the camera module itself. This onboard intelligence allows the cameras to recognize if an entity is a human or a pet, and even identify specific authorized individuals, significantly improving the user experience.

These advanced IoT components—notable for being very small, easy to install (wireless and cable-free), and offering battery life up to five years—represent a significant step forward. "You need to have components that are easy to install, that are intuitive, that will connect themselves and configure themselves automatically without requiring a lot of user interaction," Muller notes.

Industry direction: Feedback on these newer technologies has been positive, confirming the market need. Muller notes that industry leaders are also exploring this space: "We know that ADT has got some components that attempt to go in that direction, validating the use case and validating the fact that there is a need to make the experience better for customers."

Ultimately, the goal is to leverage AI and IoT not just for features, but for a fundamental shift in how security feels and functions. "What we're seeing is that IoT and artificial intelligence gives you the ability to have a home security system that's going to be on all the time," Muller concludes, envisioning a future where security is constant, intelligent, and truly user-centric.