Over the past three months, custom installers, manufacturers and distributors from Australia and New Zealand have taken part in the first ever Connected Home Market Monitor.

The survey asked readers a range of questions designed to gain analysis on emerging technologies, business strategies and industry opinions from the people that matter.

The size of companies in the CI space vary widely from one-man shows to staffs of 25 and beyond.

From a business development standpoint, the results were very positive. The survey found that most companies are looking at developing new ways of doing business and to support this, they are also confident they are abreast of emerging trends in the market.

However, from a staffing point of view, a more negative reaction emerged. There is a clear view that it is difficult to find qualified staff in the industry and not only this, but it is also challenging to maintain existing staff. So unsurprisingly, over half of the companies involved in the survey declare they will not be looking to increase staff in the next quarter.

In current business projects, over 80% of businesses are using AV equipment, distributed audio and distributed video technologies with clients, however, with so much focus centred on saving energy in current times, it is surprising that over 35% of businesses are not using energy management with their clients.

A negative response was also gauged towards 3DTV in both trade and the residential market. A widely held view is that 3DTV is still several years away from being a significant residential technology. Also, it is unlikely that businesses will look to 3DTV to become a part of their product set any time soon.

With the introduction of NBN on the horizon, there is still some apprehension concerning its introduction and the understanding of the technology as a whole. Over 20% of people feel there is definitely not enough information available to make informed business decisions; this is a concerning figure since there was a response indicating that it will have a significant uptake on connected home technologies in the future.

This lack of knowledge also seems to be evident with IPTV technology as there was strong indication that it is a critical consideration in the specification of customer home theatres; however, it is widely misunderstood by customers.

The second Market Monitor is now open to readers, just click here to start filling it out.