AI has justifiably dominated all tech discussions leading into 2024, to the point where you can rightfully assume that when googling home technology trends for the new year, you’re going to see AI pop up in some way. And that’s no different here.

Being deeply connected with members of the professional installation market, the editors here at CE Pro get to hear a lot and see a lot when it comes to 2024 home technology trends, which is why we always like to get together at the start of each year to discuss where we all think the market might head.

Aside from the obvious influences AI is going to have on the market, our editors see 2024 as being a big year for the growth of interior design influence in lighting control, a greater focus on network cybersecurity, and an expansion of video offerings in more way than home, with all of it focusing on how CE pros can become home lifestyle experts through their professional partnerships and expertise in home technology.

We’ll be including links to some longer-form articles alongside each trend, so if any of these topics interest you, be sure to click through to get a deeper dive on each trend from experts in the field.

AI Tools Will Help Impact Businesses in Multiple Ways

We’ll get the obvious one out of the way first: AI. It’s here. And while we still need to work out the kinks on the sheer amount of promises evangelists are tossing out with the technology, things have at least cooled to the point where people have begun to find some solid use cases for the technology on the business side of things.

2024 Lighting Controls and Fixtures Report

Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.

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Ron Callis, co-founder and CEO of One Firefly, tells CE Pro, “My advice to integrators who want to apply AI tools and methods on their own is start at the foundational level: ChatGPT. Get really good at prompt engineering in ChatGPT to help you generate email replies, copy for social media posts, project proposals, responses to challenging customer service issues, content for service and maintenance plans, etc.”

Read the full article with input from Ron Callis, here.

Smart Home Cybersecurity Moves to the Front Burner

Cybersecurity on the home network has always been more a question and less of an answer. Should we be talking about cybersecurity more? How do we implement it? Isn’t the network already protected? Well it seems the years have taught us quite a lot and that is: the smart home network is not protected, and bad actors can and will take advantage of that, especially now that plenty of company information exists on home networks thanks to the rise of remote work.

Cybersecurity practices common in enterprise networks like segmenting IoT devices from the main network, VLANs, secure gateways and monitoring will all be important in smart home projects going forward, but it’s password security that continues to be the most insecure part of any technology, says Brian Cory, CEO of Arsenal Cyber Force.

Bjorn Jensen, owner of network specialist WhyReboot, also notes that growing opportunities for education, as well as a growing product stable are likely going to push the industry towards a heavier focus on cybersecurity. “We’ve been pushing this forever,” he says. “it’s a slow adoption, but just like networks were and they continue to grow, I imagine this space is going to grow as well.”

See more on what Cory and Jensen have to say here.

An Attention to Design Principles Will Win the Big Projects in Lighting

Designers and architects have already seen the immense value lighting controls and automation hold and why it could be advantageous to work with integrators on projects. Well now, that realization seems to be happening in reverse, as integrators come to find that in growing competition, interior design chops are what are differentiating their lighting systems from others.

This also stems somewhat from a growing consumer understanding in how lighting impacts health and wellness. A 2023 Lutron study found that most homebuyers won’t even consider a home with unnatural-feeling lighting, and that’s a trap one can easily fall into if they’re not aware of even the most basic lighting design principles.

“Lighting is a very deep technical subject. It’s changing all the time. Lighting designers know how to select the right fixture to provide the right light in the right place,” notes Patrick Laidlaw of AiSPiRE discussing the value design knowledge brings to a project.

“I would recommend building a lighting designer network as soon as possible in order to be successful,” adds Charlie Derk, vice president, Strategy, Legrand Shading & Controls.

Brush up on the converging lighting trends here.

To the Streaming Curator Goes the Spoils

Live sports streaming has been an exhausting topic for sports fans ever since the big networks and carriers started butting heads over the entire ordeal. Couple that with the frustration a lot of people have with how fragmented streaming services have become and you have a recipe for opportunity.

Big streaming platforms have already signaled a willingness to collaborate with one another, however, for home technology professionals in 2024, this trend of consumers wanting a singular, easily understood interface for accessing all their favorite streaming content fits right into their wheelhouse.

Walt Zerbe, senior director of technology and standards for CEDIA, describes integrators as servicing more a concierge service for streaming content in the future, suggesting that integrators can educate customers more on what streaming platforms are hosting what content and setting up bespoke custom solutions on their suggestions.

Hear what Zerbe and Paramount+ executives have to say on the matter, click here.

8K Still Has a Lot to Prove

8K has been a bit of a divisive topic in the industry. Those on the professional side absolutely love it, while those on the consumer side haven’t quite warmed up to it just yet. While plenty of infrastructure exists to enable 8K, as a home technology standard, we can still consider it to be relatively on the bleeding edge, used primarily in commercial spaces due to the sheer cost and demands the format has.

However, if the rise of residential microLED and dvLED products have taught us anything, is that commercial technology trends have a tendency to bleed into home technology trends as well, which is how Brandon White, director of product development at Vanco sees it.

“If commercial market growth is any indication, we expect to see similar trends on the residential side,” estimates White. “The increased adoption of 8K and Ultra HD are key drivers, alongside smart home integration creating more intuitive experiences.”

Of course, to offer a differing opinion, John Bishop, president b/a/s/ bishop architectural-entertainment services notes a lack of native 8K content and issues in upscaling non-8K content as being major hurdles the technology still has to overcome.

Check out how the pros are weighing 8K’s market potential here.

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