Essay Example on Technology: Nest Smart Learning Thermostat

Introduction

No one said it better than Joseph Wood Krutch when he articulated "Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable." This reference and the dilemma of the colossal global population growth speak to the fact that the human footprint is growing exponentially. As a result of this, we rely on technology and innovation to reduce the impact that the human footprint is making on Earth. The product that I recently purchased and many others globally are purchasing is the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat. Smart Thermostats have numerous features that can help lower costs, provide greater convenience, and ultimately enhance comfort at home. These 3 factors are what led me to buy the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat and what led others including my friends and extended family to buy it as well, including other variations such as the Ecobee, and Sensi by Emerson.

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While these Smart Thermostats can range in price anywhere from $150 to a staggering $500; they may just be worth the hype. In a report from Ben Schiller of FastCompany, after three studies were completed in over 41 states, it was determined that a Nest Smart Learning Thermostat owner saved on average of 10% to 12% on heating and 15% on cooling. This entailed a savings of $130 on average a year meaning that the device would pay for itself in about 2 years. Although, what the article doesn't mention is the possibility of government grants and programs in place for incentives and rebates when purchasing the thermostat. When I bought the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat for my parents' home, I not only bought it while on sale which also included a free additional external temperature sensor but I also got it at a time when Enbridge was offering its customers up to $100 off their next bill if a smart thermostat was fitted into the home. Where the products I received should have cost me $430 including tax; after the sale price and rebate from Enbridge ended up costing me $240 including tax.

Secondary Research

The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat thrilled me with its features and the capabilities to do the work very efficiently and effectively than the previous thermostats we were using before. Despite its recent deployment into the market, Nest Smart Learning Thermostat has caught the attention of many buyers all over the country. Apart from that, there are numerous academic articles, magazines, and a variety of research works written about it. The secondary research on this device was therefore straightforward due to the easy availability of information about it. Burrough and Gill (2015), in their book entitled "Smart thermostat security: turning up the heat," wrote about the device pointing out to its numerous benefits with a candid comparison with the traditional one. Golden et al. (2018) observed that the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat saves customers a lot of money and energy. According to Darby (2018), homeowners who use the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat save approximately 12% on heating their homes and about 15% on cooling the home. Based on the research by Darby (2018), the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat gives an advantage of saving more than $ 140 every year. It is agreeable that the $ 140 is not such little as it can be invested into other better uses. Apart from that, Porter and Heppelmann (2015) noted that Nest Smart Learning Thermostat uses artificial intelligence to sense the presence of a person at home and adjusts the temperature of the home to be favorable for the stay. The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is easily connected to the smartphones from which it can be easily controlled from anywhere you are. This enables you to adjust the home temperature to the favorable conditions even while at work so that it becomes favorable when you get back home (De Bock et al., 2017).

Nest Smart Learning Thermostat can also be auto-programmed to suit the environment and time of application. Sometimes, one might be very busy to look into the temperature frequently. Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is capable of learning your favorable temperature conditions and automatically adjust to that temperature when it senses your presence at home. The device also controls the airwave appropriately. It has an effective capacity to turn off the AC earlier and keep the fan still running. By doing so, De Bock et al. (2017) added that Nest Smart Learning Thermostat helps your home stay favorably cool with your AC running up to 30% less. Another ecological benefit of the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is that it has a nest leaf icon that normally appears to signify an energy efficient temperature thereby aiding saving more energy (Sonmez and Dincer, 2016). One of the cutting edge advantages of the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is that customers can adjust the device remotely. When you have the device installed in your room, you can adjust the thermostat from your phone wherever you are as long as you have the smartphone with you. The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat can generate for you the home energy reports to help you know how much energy you consume every day. This can be found of its Energy History feature which makes it a more efficient device to use. The device comes in four different colors to match the home background color and produce a beautiful experience at home (Porter and Heppelmann, 2015). The four colors include black, white, stainless steel, and copper.

These provide a fantastic experience, especially for color lovers. Nest Smart Learning Thermostat lights up automatically when you walk into the room displaying the weather, time, and temperature. According to Shann et al. (2017), the display on the screen is very conspicuous, large and bright enough to let you see it easily. Moreover, Nest Smart Learning Thermostat enhances safety in your home. It can sense any anomalous effects in the room and alert you for a suitable step. For example, the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat can alert you when a furnace malfunction or if the temperatures are extremely cold that can lead to freezing of pipes. According to Warren et al. (2015), Nest Smart Learning Thermostat brings an incredible comfort at home with the ability to be controlled from multiple options including the voice option, and the mobile app. For example, one can simply say, "Ok Google, please set my temperature to 50 degrees," and it is done automatically. The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is compatible with many apps and automation systems such as Pebble, Ivee, Rachio, Life360, and SNUPI Technologies. This makes it very convenient to operate with little effort. The target markets for Nest Smart Learning Thermostat are the middle-income homeowners who need this device to enhance the temperature of their homes. The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat's market is demographically segmented to target a specific range of age, majorly the parents, and income. It is also psychologically segmented to target majorly the energy-conscious individuals who own homes or with a dire need to reduce their energy consumption by reducing costs of energy consumed in their homes (Sonmez and Dincer, 2016). The product was just recently introduced to the market and is still in its growth stage. It uses the competitive pricing strategy to capture a wider market and gain the loyalty of its customers. The promotion strategy of this product involves the strategic use of television advertising campaigns. The product is also advertised greatly on the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and in the other special events (Sonmez and Dincer, 2016).

Primary Research (Methods)

Gaining direct and more credible information on the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat means that I had to contact some of the people with knowledge or experience with it. I decided to use the interview method to get the primary information concerning the product. Among the people I wanted to meet for this interview include the real dealers of the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat so that they could give me extensive and more detailed information concerning the product. I also thought of using the customers who have bought and have experience in using the device so that they could tell me something concerning the product. Therefore, I set out to conduct the investigation to interview the persons concerning this issue. The people interviewed were eight in total. They were all customers of the product who had bought and tested the product, and they had a sure experience in using it. They were the right persons to interview to come up with the correct information concerning the product and find out if I could try it out. From these respondents, I sought to know exactly what brands they bought, what motivated them to buying the product, the factors which influenced them to purchase the device, when they bought it and how the product has affected their daily routine. I also sought to know how they felt the product was different from the one they had previously used. The people interviewed were free and ready to answer every question I asked them and they offered me satisfactory answers to all of them. The detailed questions I used in the interview and summary of the answers obtained from the respondents are as shown in the appendix section of this paper.

Analysis

Before purchasing the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat, I considered several factors and I was also influenced by several factors. First, I wanted to know the price of the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat. The price of the product was very significant since enables one to make an adequate consideration to determine if the product was worth its value. The marketing mix for this product was one that was very present in almost all the social media sites I visited daily including Twitter and Facebook. This enabled me to interact with its concepts practically every day. On most of its advertisement campaigns, the product is highly praised as having the advanced capacity to case a significant improvement in life at home. This captures the customers' interest and draws them closer to learn more about this new product. Everyone always seeks to obtain high quality products, the ones that would make life more comfortable and enhance user convenience. Considering all the possible factors that might influence the buying a product by the consumer, I can attest that the promotion strategies for the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat were wonderfully done. The features of the Nest Smart Learning Thermostat were well explained in its advertisement campaigns so that one could easily be enticed into trying it.

The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat is one of the products belonging to the homestead appliances category (Sonmez and Dincer, 2016). As one of the homestead appliances, it proves to be very efficient and complementary to other appliances at home with a direct advantage to the homeowner. By regulating home temperatures at the lowest cost possible, Nest Smart Learning Thermostat has become a necessary device for every homeowner with the need to make home experience better. There are several brands of smart thermostats in the shops including Nest, Ecobee, Sensi Thermostat, among others. These are all brands of the thermostats from which a consumer can choose based on the level of conviction to which the seller exposes on the buyer and the buyer's interest to purchase it. The Nest Smart Learning Thermostat was more appealing to me by its name that made me consider buying it with the aim of enjoying operating it in our home. After purchasing and installation of this device, it actually delivered its purpose effectively that I felt I had obtained the real value for money.