Smart home technology is no longer reserved for the rich or tech-savvy, and the industry has responded with ever sophisticated solutions. While many people associate this automation with devices such as Google’s Nest, Amazon’s Echo or Apple’s HomeKit, the term is more comprehensive than that, and covers an array of options for your home. This includes everything from remote controlled heating and lighting to CCTV, home safety systems, doorbells, and smart locks. Some let you keep tabs on children pet, elderly relatives and other pets to monitor electricity or water usage; and more.

The key to a successful smart home system is integration. That is why the best products available are those that integrate with other systems and devices to make your property smarter. For instance smart lighting can communicate with the central hub to schedule your lights according to a predetermined schedule or to turn them off when you leave the house. Also, a video doorbell will alert you of unexpected visitors and trigger your alarm system to call the police or fire department. And, once you’ve mastered IFTTT (If This Then That) You can make use of services such as Stringify to automate your devices in more sophisticated ways.

Of course, bringing in new smart devices to the home bizcrisis.net/how-to-choose-home-security-system brings with it its own set of issues. This is why CNET strives to know company policies, raise privacy concerns and direct questions to the concerned companies.