If one had to plot human social development over the past ten thousand years or so on a graph, one would notice something very interesting: the line remains more or less straight for thousands of years, indicating very slow progress and then, suddenly, it bends sharply upward around the 18^th century. This bend in the development curve, which authors Erik Brynjolffson and Andrew McAfee call an “inflection point”, was caused by the rapid innovation of the Industrial Revolution and, more specifically, technological advancements such as Watt’s steam engine.

In their New York Times bestselling book The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, Brynjolffson and McAfee make the case that we are again seeing an inflection point because of computers, writing that “The key building blocks are already in place for digital technology to be as important and transformational to society and the economy as the steam engine”.

Certainly, it’s difficult to think of a single area of our lives that hasn’t been made easier in one way or another by computers and the advent of digital technology. Information and communications technology (ICT) has led to the democratisation of knowledge, while the rise of the “prodsumer” – a person who simultaneously produces and consumes content (think of YouTube creators) – has resulted in a spectacular explosion of creativity comparable to the Renaissance. As Brynjolffson and McAfee write, “Abundance is the norm rather than scarcity”.

In an age of such brilliant technologies, “combinatorial” innovations often yield the most – and best – fruit, and it is with this mind-set that we created our SMART solution, combining the power of the IoT with mobile technology to create a robust product that is not only intelligent, but supremely easy to use by both installers and end-users.

From a commissioning perspective, we have digitised key touchpoints so that the installer has a living interface to guide him through the setup and configuration of the system. The MyCentsys Pro app provides this interface, giving the person in charge of commissioning a visual dashboard to set limits, manage remote controls and program a vast array of additional features such as beams and automatic closing. In addition, the app monitors system health and provides in-depth diagnostics to further enhance the installer experience while ensuring that the SMART solution always lives up to its name.

The solution also boasts a plethora of mechanical improvements and enhancements, again in the name of making lives easier, which we’ll explore in more depth in a future blog article.