Smart Home Tech Review for Home Services: Ecobee vs. Nest
- July 7, 2019
- By: Vonigo
This post comparing the smart thermostats from ecobee and Nest is from iPropertyManagement. Read below for an analysis of how this smart home tech can be useful both for your customers and your home service business.
New Tech, New Ideas
The demand for smart home technology continues to grow. Homeowners, business owners, and service professionals are finding new ways to incorporate these products into their lives (and business plans).
Smart home tech is opening up a world of new possibilities. They are making life easier, more cost-effective, and more environmentally friendly for homeowners and business owners. And it’s inspiring some in the home service industry to incorporate new ideas and expand their business.
One of the best-selling products available in smart home technology is the smart thermostat. With its popularity rising, two companies are on top in this race: Google and ecobee. Google’s Nest Smart Thermostat and ecobee’s Smart Thermostat have become must-have devices for smart home enthusiasts everywhere. Let’s take a dive into how these great products can help in different use cases.
Ecobee vs. Nest in the Home
Both offer the same premise of controlling the temperature of your home from the comfort of your smartphone. Both operate with voice commands and artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. Still, the Google Nest and ecobee offer a few distinct advantages over each other.
Nest
The Nest uses AI to learn your temperature preferences and patterns, helping you save money on energy bills. This ensures you never even have to think about adjusting the temperature yourself.
This smart thermostat will learn how you like your temperatures over time and adjust accordingly. It is a perfect device for those who just want to sit back and not have to worry about the temperature, letting the Nest handle the heavy lifting for them.
ecobee
The ecobee, on the other hand, is a little more clear on its mission to help you go green. With Alexa baked right in, you can control it with nothing but your voice. The ecobee features a software learning system called HomeIQ, giving you energy efficiency tips based on your unique preferences. Said to pay for itself through saving money on your energy bill, ecobee is a great option for folks who want to go greener with their heating and cooling needs.
Ecobee vs. Nest in the Office
Of course, smart home technology is not limited just to the home. with business owners and offices everywhere adopting the tech to their work lives, including smart thermostats. Saving money on energy bills in the office is always desirable, but by learning the habits of those who occupy the office, the ideal temperatures that smart thermostats provide can be a huge productivity boost for employees, too.
Nest
Google Nest can learn what hours your office is open and adapt the heating and cooling of the building during those times, using less energy when everyone goes home. This can save a good chunk of money on electrical costs.
ecobee
The ecobee allows you to tell it your schedule and operating hours through the dedicated app, as well as presetting preferred temperatures. It uses the same adaptive technology as it would in a home environment to save energy while no one is in the office.
Both devices have companion apps that allow you to control them remotely through your smartphone at any time, and each integrates with existing AI assistants for voice control.
Smart Home Tech in Home Service Businesses
Service business owners have found new ways to incorporate smart home technologies into their services. Air quality companies have become resellers and installers of the devices and an entirely new business vertical, smart home automation, is emerging.
Examples of Smart Home Tech as a Service
The ability for an HVAC specialist to bundle smart home automation with a homeowner’s new HVAC system is an obvious one. Not only would the service professional install all the hardware — they could also offer a training session with the companion app to control the thermostat from the customer’s smartphone. They’ll wow their customer when they walk them through the integrated voice assistant capabilities with Google Assistant and Alexa.
But it’s easy to imagine a first-mover-advantage for other verticals as well. For example, a window installation company could give a smart thermostat away with a complete home window replacement. If they install it before the job begins, they can compare the energy consumption data before-and-after the new windows.
Not only will they have happier customers, but they’ll gain valuable user testimonials with supporting data that will help close future sales.
The Same, But Different
So which should you choose for your business? The Google Nest and ecobee offer a lot of the same advantages, but also have a few distinct differences.
Is machine learning at the top of your list, or energy efficiency? Google’s Nest comes at a more premium price, but the ecobee is no slouch in the features department. Both are well reviewed by their users and both are selling like crazy.
Read the full review of both, including pricing, at iPropertyManagement.
