Description:

PDL Wiser™, the new, market-leading smartphone application helps consumers navigate and integrate wireless and scalable smart home technology on their terms, via a thoughtfully designed dashboard.

Our reliance on connected devices is growing and research shows Kiwi consumers are excited about smart home technology. However, it’s often seen as complex, so Wiser’s design needed to focus on a robust and technically sound back-end for electricians, coupled with a simple front end-user experience.

We worked alongside tradespeople to establish a solution that would allow easy installation and integration with everyday electrical products (switchgear). It gives consumers the ultimate control to create ‘Automations’ which trigger the smart home to do set functions based on certain conditions and ‘Moments’ which group together actions as they decide, so their home is flexible and customisable to their lifestyle.

The vision for Wiser was to be adaptable enough to slot into any home - even those with existing Bluetooth switch technology; be aesthetically pleasing; easy to install; scalable, and be the perfect middle-ground between expensive top-end and plug-and-play solutions.

It allows ultimate choice for consumers’ electrical devices and usage by integrating ‘behind the wall’ with existing wiring and standard electrical products, reducing visual clutter in the home. The battery-operated devices can be placed in almost any practical location and easily relocated. The system helps consumers with energy-saving and enables small daily tasks to be improved: synchronise blinds with daily habits/sunrise and sunset; heating control – schedule the house to warm up as you wake up and save on energy, including heat pumps that click on before it cools down; and lights that dim as you drift off to sleep. All are controllable from one app. Effective safety and energy management can be achieved with sensors (temperature and humidity sensors for a healthy lifestyle, and water leakage sensors in the laundry/bathroom).

The benefits include easy installation, suitable for new builds or a retrofit; compatibility with existing electrical wiring and switchgear ranges; and integration with a broad range of everyday home electrical products (TVs, Heat Pumps, Garage Door openers and Smart Voice speakers).

Homeowners can improve security by enabling remote access to their home through the app to schedule lights to come on and off (at varying times) while away and improve safety by ensuring electrical devices don’t remain on for prolonged periods. Other benefits include scalability - homeowners can start small add more smart devices at their preferred pace, connectivity of switches or timers via smartphone, dim lights or schedule the towel rail to go on and off (all through an integrated app for full control automation).

It allows people to access home technology at a pace they are comfortable with, by having Bluetooth mechanisms that can be remotely upgraded to Zigbee 3.0 technology at any time, and a selection of battery-operated products which can be moved around the home without the need for an electrician, providing a beautiful balance between reliability and consumer access and control.