The smart home opportunity: why connectivity Matters for Zimi

For years, smart home technology has been touted as the next big frontier for our households.

And it’s easy to see why.

Imagine having a connected home that can react to its inhabitants, and to internal and external conditions? A home that can be communicated with to turn lights on or off, or heat or cool, in advance of you returning home, alongside many other household tasks. It’s obviously all very appealing.

However, to date, while consumer demand has been consistently strong, adoption of smart home tech has not been smooth sailing. Smart home devices traditionally have worked in isolation, not together, which has stifled market penetration and limited potential.

Those connectivity issues, as well as cost, were cited in Mintel research from early 2025 as being blockers to mass smart home take up.

“I think smart home automation has been expensive and smart products have had some novelty about it, up until now, and in truth it’s been quite cumbersome,” says Jordan Tentori, CEO of Zimi, which is distributed by Trader.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to set something up and it not being relatively straightforward. The reality is that 93% of homeowners now own some form of smart technology in their homes – even if it’s just a video doorbell application from their smart device.”

The good news is that those connectivity and cost barriers are in the process of being dismantled.

How smart home tech is changing

It’s not just homeowners who’ve encountered stumbling blocks with smart home tech.

“If you say ‘automation’ to your average electrician, and they’ve had any experience of it, they’ll probably have PTSD,” laughs Jordan. “If they’ve encountered it before, they probably don’t want to know about it now, as it’s all been too hard.”

All of that could be about to change, however, with Matter.

We’ve explored Matter in more depth in this article but essentially it’s a common standard by which all smart home tech can connect.

Just as USB-C is the common standard for connecting cables to devices, Matter is the new unified standard for connectivity and security that moves beyond brand ecosystems.

Zimi, along with 800+ members of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), including the likes of Amazon, Apple, and Samsung, alongside Gemcell suppliers Schneider Electric, Signify, Legrand, and Hager, have joined forces to create a common standard to build a new standard for smart home connectivity.

“Ultimately, it means customers will be able to get a seamless, smart home experience, regardless of manufacturer. Different products, that have never known each other, will work together, connect seamlessly. This means we’re removing the major pain points for the consumer that have so far prevented mass adoption.

“Today, cost is very reasonable – you can automate your home with a combination of smart switches, smart plugs, smart light bulbs, and a smart TV from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, which represents exceptional value compared with other similar investments like premium bathroom fittings.”

The smart home opportunity for electrical contractors

While some contractors may understandably have lingering reservations about smart homes, Jordan believes this is a huge opportunity for contractors in Australia.

“This is the biggest opportunity we’ve seen in the electrical industry,” he says.

“It’s one logo, representing one standard, meaning they can have the confidence to recommend products, safe in the knowledge they’re dealing with best-in-class technology that really prioritises security, too.

“Every home in Australia, every customer, whether they’re a child or a senior, has a value – from safety to security, from energy management to lifestyle convenience – and the electrical contractor is going to be able to suggest product, and make product selection easy, because they don’t have to validate the product. It’s already validated by Matter.

“There’s a lot of revenue opportunity in the upsell too – it’s a problem solver. If you think of timers and locking power points out and two-way, three-way switching that you would have had to run extra cables for in the past – these solutions are now more economical than even traditional solutions.”

Smart home products with added value

In addition to the connectivity aspect, the products brands develop have to add value; the small team at Zimi have been working hard to create products that do just that.

Jordan says, “Of course, we were around pre-Matter and adopted Bluetooth Mesh originally, but we really wanted to innovate in this space. For example, the switch has typically done the same thing for 100 years, which is turn something on and off. We’ve developed Senoa, a touch switch, which has that ‘wow’ factor as the smartest switch in the market today.

“We’ve built energy monitoring into switches, dimmers, and powerpoints – and it’s not just about monitoring how much energy is being used, it’s also about assessing whether your fridge is still working and identifying potential issues, perhaps before they even happen

“You can use your existing fans and appliances, making them smart through our switches rather than replacing all your appliances with expensive smart versions, which can be both costly and complicated.

“That’s a core principle of our DNA. We focus on three core areas that work together: energy management, safety and security, and lifestyle convenience – and how this adds significant value. It’s not about the product, it’s about how smart homes change your lifestyle.”