The connected smart home is a development of the traditional system using Wi-Fi technology. This allows all devices to be connected and managed from a single point in the home. A smart plate with an interactive interface can act as a command hub, but a dedicated app on your smartphone can also perform the same task. Home devices can also be operated individually via voice command, using assistants such as Alexa, Amazon Echo or Google Assistant; which is particularly helpful for people who have motor or functional disabilities. 

By connecting home devices to the internet, you can communicate with them from your smartphone and use remote control from wherever you are. In addition, thanks to communication between the various connected devices, alerts can be set up to receive real-time notifications via the app. This enables you to check on activated devices or the status of the home, e.g. if a window is accidentally left open that would compromise temperature or home security, enabling timely intervention to remedy the situation.

Living in a smart home gives you limitless options on how you manage your home. You therefore have the option to manage lights, shutters, controlled sockets, stereo system, and scenarios according to your needs or depending on season or occasion. Customisation and also energy savings are possible by monitoring consumption, adjusting the temperature in the various rooms and setting the radiators and air conditioners to switch on and off, so you can create a cosy environment while keeping consumption and costs under control.

A smart home enables the connection of different devices according to your habits, increasing the level of everyday comfort. Not only can it adjust roller shutters and blinds, manage the intensity of lighting points, act on controlled sockets or motorised awnings but it can also connect to a watering system or an electric vehicle charging point, or it can activate the burglar alarm and entertainment devices.

Turning your home into a smart home also ensures a high level of safety, as abnormal situations such as water leaks, excessive humidity levels in rooms, smoke and gas detection inside the home or any external intrusions will be reported in real time through the connection with the alarm system and video surveillance. A smart home makes your time away from the house worry-free with minimum effort: on activating the going-out scenario—provided by some smart switches—for example, a single command ensures shutters are closed and lights switched off and any open windows signalled.

The smart home makes significant contributions to sustainability, as a result of functions that monitor the energy consumption of the entire house and individual connected smart appliances. There are also checks on whether consumption thresholds have been exceeded so that the house can be managed efficiently. In addition, through the activation of household sensors, the status of lights and windows—and their adjustment to outside light—can be checked for perfect optimisation of consumption.

A smart home significantly raises quality of life by simplifying the practical management of your home wherever you are; moreover, as we have seen, wastage and consumption are reduced, thus protecting the environment. There is, therefore, a dialogue between technology, safety, comfort and sustainability, that also takes into consideration the design and style of the home itself. Smart plates, which are innovative connection and control tools, fit discreetly into rooms, blending with the style, colours and nuances of the house itself, becoming smart design objects. The home thus becomes personal and customisable in terms of finishes and smart functions.