“Consumers’ willingness to take on responsibility for some aspects of monitoring will continue to change the industry. Whether it is a DIY with 100 percent self monitoring, or some subset of events the customer self monitors, this will impact the next evolution of monitoring. In addition, the way the monitoring centers communicate with the consumer is evolving … to be more responsive to consumers, communicating with them via the venues they prefer — this relates to alarm response, service requests, billing payment options, and even sales. ”Staying current is top of mind for most manufacturers, but with so much outside of the industry competition, it is even more critical for residential security manufacturers and their dealers. “That is what guides our product development going forward,” NAPCO's Jorge Hevia says. “We want to leverage those ecosystems that exist out there with the Internet and smartphones and everything that is already in place and still come out with products that keep our professional installers relevant. We have seen a lot in 2016 with DIY and other direct to consumer models. What we are going to concentrate on is enhancing professional security or connected home experience. ”From voice to video, the “it” technology of the moment has a positive effect on dealers, says Greg Blackett, of Tyco Security Products. “A lot of these products drive interest in security. There is an opportunity there in the form of reaching a customer that hasn’t had security before by delivering new products.