What will it take to make smart devices work?

Our Connected Homes project, run with the Disruptive Innovators Network and supported by landlords across the sector, set out to understand why pilots aren’t translating into adoption. The findings have just been published in our new report, If Homes Could Talk, which I co-authored with Matthew Gardiner.

We combined interviews with landlords, suppliers and sector bodies, workshops and surveys with residents, and a review of evidence and market data, triangulating operational insights, customer perspectives and industry trends.

The findings were consistent. The issue isn’t the devices. It’s the system we are trying to fit them into.

The consequences are immediate. Damp and mould remain among the most common complaints. Fuel poverty continues to deepen. Repairs still come reactively, often after families have endured months of discomfort.

Connected technology could change this. Moisture sensors can highlight risks long before mould becomes visible. Energy platforms can help people track and reduce consumption. Remote monitoring can give landlords a real-time picture of compliance across their stock.

But unless these tools are embedded into everyday practice, they remain hypothetical. As one respondent told us: “The insights are there – about which buildings are failing, which tenants are struggling. But unless you have a team ready to act on it, it’s just noise.”

Our research showed the same stumbling blocks across organisations. Procurement still treats connected technology like a product, not a service, and contracts are written for boilers and lightbulbs, not data and partnerships.

Information sits in silos, and valuable sensor alerts remain on dashboards with no one accountable for action. Residents are often introduced late in the process, so trust is fragile and uptake is patchy. And culture lags behind: services are still organised to react once problems occur, rather than prevent them.

These are not technical glitches, they are systemic failures. Unless they are fixed, landlords will keep installing devices without changing outcomes for the people who live in their homes.

Yet there are reasons for optimism. One landlord has linked damp and mould sensors directly to case management systems, triggering early visits before complaints escalate. Another has built Internet of Things into its retrofit strategy, using data to target energy efficiency measures where they cut bills most. Others are experimenting with resident co-design, giving people choice over how technology is used and clear communication about the benefits.

“The sector has tested enough. The next step is to stop circling in pilots and start embedding predictive practice at scale”

These examples show that success isn’t about the gadgets themselves, but the conditions around them. We need leadership that makes connected homes a strategic priority, procurement that rewards openness, staff trained to act on data, and residents treated as partners.

The challenge now is to turn isolated progress into business as usual. That means leadership taking ownership, embedding connected homes into strategy and budgets. It means rewriting procurement to commission for outcomes and demand interoperability. It means building resident trust through genuine partnership, not token consultation. And it means shifting culture and skills from firefighting to prevention, so that when data highlights a problem, it leads to swift action.

None of this is simple, but it is essential. The sector has tested enough. The next step is to stop circling in pilots and start embedding predictive practice at scale.

When I sit with a resident in a damp home and know there’s a sensor that could have prevented it, the cost of delay feels personal. We already know what works and what doesn’t. The challenge now is to share those lessons openly and start doing this at scale.

Every month we wait, more families live in unhealthy homes, more carbon is emitted unnecessarily and more money is wasted on pilots that never go anywhere. The technology works. The real question is: will we?

Philippe Demougin, property innovation manager, Bromford Flagship