The Smart Grid was the basis of a Parks Associates conference last week in Austin. Unfortunately, ViodiTV was not at that conference, but we did get a preview of some of the challenges and opportunities that suppliers of electricity face. In this interview, filmed at the 2010 CES, Chris Deutschen of Direct Energy explains the rather counter-intuitive notion of how, by helping their customers save money through efficiency, his company can actually be more profitable (think churn reduction).
Posts Tagged ces 2010
Kurt Scherf, Vice President and Principal Analyst for Parks Associates, summarizes the panels he hosted on the connected home and 3DTV at CES2010. He talks about the proliferation of connected televisions; he estimates 30 million of the TVs sold this year will be Internet ready. He points out that these connections will go beyond entertainment and include other applications, such as health care and energy management. He also provides his sage thoughts on 3DTV, as well as the general mood of the consumer.
Two common themes throughout the Parks Associates conference were the importance of simplicity for the user and the infiltration of cloud computing, regardless of industry segment. Scherf suggests that the cloud computing approach could help service providers and manufacturers simplify things for the consumer.
Tricia Parks, CEO and Founder of Parks Associates, discusses her research into consumer behavior surrounding the purchase of electronic equipment. The shift in the last couple of years has been away from the impulse buy to a more studied purchase. Going into 2010, she suggests that consumers are still uncertain about the future, although things have stabilized somewhat from a year ago; she suggests that consumers are Worried, Optimistic, Pessimistic and Hopeful (WOPH). She does suggest there are opportunities for manufacturers and service providers in 2010, especially for those product categories that have low NPS (Net Promoter Score) or poor word of mouth.
