Keeping Your Smart Home Running with Network Monitoring
It’s Sunday night, the latest Game of Thrones episode is about to air and you are ready with your popcorn for an hour of pure entertainment. All of a sudden, you realise your Sky box is not working and you have no idea why; rendering your entire evening a nightmare.
As we move on to a digital lifestyle where we embrace more home technologies on a daily basis, connected devices and the home networks that interconnects all our devices can go under immense pressure. It is a problem we can easily familiarise ourselves with when our connected devices stop working at a time we most need them, leaving us empty handed, only hoping a quick restart will fix everything. At a time we prefix the ‘smart’ adjective to every device that can do wonders for our lives, we believe it is time our troubleshooting also became smart and fully automated.
Enter Home Network Monitoring Tools
Home network monitoring tools are the brand new way to effortlessly maintain your home automation system. Network monitoring devices automatically keep track of all the connected devices in your home network; including your router, lighting system, multimedia players, TVs and security systems. They continually collect information on the status, connection help and properties of all devices in your system. If a device stops working or doesn’t work as expected; network monitoring tools immediately notify your integrator without you even realising the fault. A service can engineer can then remotely address the problem or rectify it without the need of a service visit.
For integrators, network monitoring tools provide a new level of customer service to provide quick support for whole house systems to minimise the inconvenience for the clients. It is becoming more and more important to provide after care options to craft a turnkey solution that work as expected in the long run without undermining system health, stability and convenience; especially considering that customer experience can make it or break it for consumer electronics.
What This Means to Homeowners
As we sail towards an upgraded way of living at our homes thanks to the connected devices, we are much more reliant on continuous stability and functionality on devices that enhance our lives. More importantly, the complexity of such systems can leave us empty handed with no actionable solutions. Network monitoring tools promote the health of home automation systems by ensuring that everything works as expected. They also communicate crucial technical data to your integrator, who can use the information to provide better service for you. This means minimal down times and an optimal digital experience at home.
Benefits of Monitoring Tools
The core function of remote monitoring tools are the opportunity they offer to remotely overview the entire home network. By continuously monitoring the system status remotely, integrators can identify the device faults before it even is noticed by the client. It is then possible to remotely fix the problem or notify the client so a service visit could be arranged. This provides a better, faster and more efficient customer service that ultimately provides a complete solution for clients.
There are already few home network maintenance tools available for integrators. These tools provide hassle free and secure remote management of all client systems. Here are few of the leading solutions that promise to improve reliability of your home technologies.
Ihiji Service Tracker
Ihiji is one of the first manufacturers to offer remote system monitoring device for home automation systems. With system integration, it can automatically identify the status and behaviour information of the other devices in the system. Custom modules, specifically designed for home automation systems Control and Crestron, enable monitoring of any home automation devices connected to the processor through IP, Zigbee or Cresnet protocols.
As better troubleshooting is the primary functionality of monitoring systems, that’s what Ihiji excels at. Trouble ticket tracking system offers integrators a seamless way to capture, track, and resolve client issues using the integrated Ihiji ServiceManager ticketing feature, where technicians can see trouble tickets from any screen.
Domotz Pro
What differentiates Domotz Pro from the competition is the iOS and Android apps available. This enables service engineers to monitor their systems on the go without having to carry around a desktop computer. It also provides the opportunity to invite team members to collaborate on remote tech support. For system devices that support switch control through IP, it could also be utilised to fix the problems.
On the professional dashboard, integrators can monitor all devices in client’s house. Remote access without the need for a VPN connection also enables integrators to remotely try to fix any problems without a service visit. Domotz plans to offer a customer facing app in the near future, offering an even better service for integrators.
Krika Connected Device Tracker
Krika connected device tracker currently offers two models. The Mini model is ideal for keeping track of small projects. However the Krika One version is what offers true functionality and control.
The tracker, which takes less than 10 minutes of engineering time to set up, executes a local check up routine every 5 minutes, continuously updating the service engineer on the status of the system.
Unlike other tracking systems, Krika detects the home network devices based on their MAC addresses rather than IP. This is especially useful for systems without static IP addresses assigned on devices.