Many enterprises have decided to operate remotely after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new reality has opened opportunities for smart home technology to be used for business purposes that they were not designed for. Accelerated use of technology in the home creates privacy consequences that must be addressed. While digitalization may open up new possibilities, it also introduces hazards that are difficult to avoid or anticipate. Following COVID-19, it is probable that remote working conditions will remain unaffected and that home digitalization will proceed. Thus, whether it is useful or not, the smart house is likely to become the new office setting, and new applications and results of using the smart home in a professional context will only emerge.
Introduction
To ensure business survival, government steps to battle the virus have compelled businesses to adjust to new working circumstances. In such unforeseeable conditions, organizations were forced to digitize their working practices regardless of their resources and skills. The pandemic catastrophe has provided an opportunity to investigate the sustainability of remote work in a new setting where employees are confined to their homes (Rana et al., 2021). Such circumstances, on the one hand, put pressure on both firms and employees. The circumstance, on the other hand, has blurred the lines between home and work activities and locations. The usage of smart homes has expanded tremendously as work and home areas have merged into a hybrid environment.
As remedies to the COVID-19 epidemic develop, technology and data are colliding in unprecedented ways at home. It is becoming evident that the COVID-19 epidemic has not only transformed the way many companies work but has also hastened the demise of countless firms throughout the world (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021). This paper looks at the literature on the evolution of digitalization in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the widespread adoption of smart homes and is expected to continue. Furthermore, several technologies that have become especially important under these circumstances will be emphasized.
Smart houses today make people’s lives simpler and give convenience to their daily routines. Many manual jobs are automated or considerably improved by smart appliances and devices. A smart home includes Internet-connected devices and appliances that can be operated remotely from your smartphone or tablet (Gupta et al., 2021). The COVID-19 epidemic had a drastic influence on the future of smart home gadgets, resulting in rapid adoption as people transform their living environments into places to work and study (Maalsen & Dowling, 2020). The move of many organizations to remote work has been a critical factor in the development of smart houses. This led to a surge in the creation and spread of smart home technologies, which are strongly linked to the new working circumstances.
Methodology
A systematic narrative evaluation approach will be used for this literature review. Its goal is to find papers that describe the situation in question. The narrative review is a conventional method of examining the literature that focuses on a qualitative interpretation of past knowledge (Snyder, 2019). This style of review may be particularly useful for gathering and summarizing the body of literature on a certain topic area. Its major goal is to present thorough information to the reader in order for them to grasp existing knowledge and to underline the necessity of fresh research (Snyder. 2019). Descriptive reviews can assist researchers in generating research ideas by finding gaps or inconsistencies in the corpus of knowledge, allowing them to construct research questions or hypotheses. It is worth noting that descriptive reviews may also be utilized as instructional pieces to help practitioners get more familiar with certain issue areas.
This study addresses a topic that has received little attention in the literature. There is a small set of literature on the usage of smart home technology. The majority of prior study has focused on smart house technologies from a technological standpoint, while another flow of studies has focused on the services that smart home products can deliver. While the research on smart homes suggests that technology can enhance living circumstances and housekeeping duties, there is little evidence that smart homes have an influence on work-related results.
For this literature review, six studies were selected. Amankwah-Amoah et al. (2021) approached digitalization in the work settings and argued that the COVID-19 continues to be “the great accelerator” of the process. Gupta et al. (2021) tackled the phenomenon of the Internet of Things (IoT), one of the key drivers behind the development of all the “smart” solutions. Maalsen and Dowling’s (2020) research explicitly showed the difficulties that accelerated smart home development is facing in relation to privacy. Rana et al. (2021) provided the general outline of the possible smart home and smart home-office evaluation pattern, with a discussion on the impacts of adopting it. Umair et al. (2021) took notice of noticeable technological advancements in the “smart” settings and the implications for their potential massive adoption. Lastly, Yousif et al. (2021) discussed the impacts of IoT technologies in different fields and their potential in the post-pandemic situation.
Published papers linked to the development of smart homes and digitalization in the age of Covid-19 were summarized as part of the search for relevant material. Six internet databases and Google Scholar were used to conduct the literature search. The search was made using a certain combination of phrases and keywords (also found in the abstract). To evaluate eligibility and gather information about the study, each of the found publications was examined. The research issues discussed are extensive, as they are in most narrative studies. There are, however, four key questions that can be distinguished. First, how are these systems created, and second, what methodologies are employed to investigate these systems and occurrences. Third, what conclusions may be reached as a result of these systems’ development? Fourth, what are the most relevant examples of technology for addressing future possibilities and issues?
Discussion
As it was mentioned earlier, the literature exclusively dealing with the issue of smart home development and its relation to the future of work-from-home settings is relatively scarce. However, several articles discuss this issue within the broader topic of digitalization and the Internet of Things (IoT) settings. Several studies also touch upon the issue of possible dangers of further digitalization of working conditions and its direct link to the development of smart homes, cities, and building concepts. Overall, the issue of how a smart home will help people to work from home in the future is based on several sets of factors, directly or indirectly dealt with in most of the publications. The working environment is considered crucial in this regard.
A remote working environment represents new performance qualities, techniques, and situations that are influenced by the new work environment and equipment. Rana et al. (2021) research proved beneficial in examining the link between task and technology fit, which is crucial because users may stop using technology if they detect a mismatch between the task’s needs and the technology’s capacity to accomplish them (Rana et al., 2021). Smart homes can help people control their working environment and boost their productivity. Voice-activated assistants and other smart home technologies provide seamless communication and automation, making virtual collaboration easier to adjust to (Umair et al., 2021). Furthermore, smart houses are thought to improve the efficiency of personal duties. Remote work applications such as monitoring workplace conditions demonstrate the importance of smart home technology services (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021). Some of the literature considers that creating pleasant working conditions while working from home is linked to individual task performance, which, in turn, has a good impact on job results. Given the advantages of smart homes in terms of providing comfort in the house, their implementation might help to improve the settings for remote work, which is critical for greater productivity and well-being (Gupta et al., 2021). Smart homes are vital in this respect and give the required comfort, and the advancement of this component is expected to be critical in the future for working from home.
In the post-pandemic environment, IoT technologies are projected to play a big role. IoT has swiftly become one of the most well-known commercial and technical terms in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic (Yousif et al., 2021). The Internet of Things, when combined with other technologies such as cloud computing and the embedding of actuators and smart sensors, makes it easier to interact with smart devices, allowing access from multiple locations, increasing data exchange efficiency, and improving storage and computing power (Umair et al., 2021). The research by Umair et al. (2021) showed that these improvements are likely to have an influence on remote work habits, and they are ideally suited to make it simpler to keep this work environment going. However, while IoT-based technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we live beyond COVID-19, further study and validation is required before widespread use (Yousif et al., 2021). In this regard, the authors consider security and privacy problems as one of the key obstacles to installing smart infrastructures. Home automation attacks, for example, have grown widespread, with cybercriminals using Internet of Things (IoT) devices to gain access to a larger network (Gupta et al., 2021). Simultaneously, the move to a digital office employing smart houses is being hampered by factors such as organizational inflexibility, cash-based company practices, and the digital divide in the case of small businesses.
Besides the potential benefits of future smart home offices, several studies considered the downsides and difficulties in their development. Umair et al. (2021) study names expense and technical expertise necessary for home automation as two of the most significant impediments to smart home development (Umair et al., 2021). This necessitates the effective integration and analysis of data created and gathered from many sources. Additionally, to make it easier for people to adopt, the customization limit must be lowered. As a result, the study suggests, plug-and-play solutions must be developed that can be simply installed and utilized by those who do not possess certain technical capabilities (Umair et al., 2021). It was also brought to attention, that as a result of these advancements, the energy sector’s expanding demand must adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19 in human lifestyle and energy consumption habits (Yousif et al., 2021). People are likely to spend more time at home in the future, and the energy consumption is shifting away from commercial buildings and offices and toward households, with this trend projected to continue. Gupta et al. (2021) consider that in smart houses and smart buildings in general, energy supply and billing should be optimized based on occupancy patterns (Gupta et al., 2021). Thus, technology not only allows to access work from home, but also widens the home environment’s bounds. In the post-pandemic setting, the rapid integration and acceptance of technology in the home are likely to continue (Rana et al., 2021). The epidemic has accelerated the adoption and use of these technologies, which has implications for a careful assessment of their possible consequences.
Aside from the theoretical research on the issue of smart homes and their relation to the work-from-home settings, there are some practical considerations and examples. Smart home technologies, as demonstrated through them, definitely benefit people working remotely. A smart house, for example, may provide parents control over their children without disturbing them from their job. In this scenario, home security cameras in a child’s bedroom, playroom, or wherever they spend time can be a solution. Access live camera feeds from anywhere in the house through the special application (Maalsen & Dowling, 2020). This is important if a person works remotely while living with family and children. Controlling settings is another advantage of working from home (Rana et al., 2021). The smart home thermostat, for instance, makes it simple to regulate temperature and humidity in the home office, promoting comfort and productivity in the workplace. As previously said, pleasant circumstances at a remote workplace may contribute to higher productivity, and the smart home can provide this.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 epidemic has boosted the development of smart homes by empowering and recalibrating households digitally. In the aftermath of a pandemic, this pattern is likely to emerge. The extant research on the literature on the subject has shown that new technology adoption and digitalization are speeding up, while many organizations’ rapid shift to remote labour is unlikely to be reversed. Despite the numerous obstacles and constraints, the smart house has received generally good feedback. The potential adoption of remote offices with smart homes as the key paradigm for the post-pandemic scenario is being driven by the major acceleration of smart home and remote office installations, IoT technology, and individual variables (at least for some companies).
A big number of businesses have been compelled to employ new technology to move to telecommuting skills development as a result of the epidemic. Unintended effects of digitizing work, on the other hand, can result in long-term expenses for businesses in the form of lost productivity and health-related absenteeism. Finally, the benefits of work-life balance employing a smart homework environment may cause satellite sectors that support traditional office work to decrease, ranging from transportation and catering to office leases.
Recommendations and Challenges
It is important to understand that because each country’s technology infrastructure is unique, people’s perceptions and experiences with smart home offices may differ. Another disadvantage is that the literature covers a wide range of smart technologies, making it difficult to evaluate which is most important for improving smart home office productivity and people’s life satisfaction. As a result, future studies may look at the influence of a certain smart technology on the lifestyles and productivity of remote employees.
It may be beneficial for governments to give incentives for businesses to build digital skills and capacities, as well as to strengthen national physical-digital infrastructures as part of the recovery from the epidemic. Long-term use of remote work within smart home settings will minimize road congestion and pollution while increasing productivity.
References
Amankwah-Amoah, J., Khan, Z., Wood, G., & Knight, G. (2021). COVID-19 and digitalization: The great acceleration. Journal of Business Research, 13(5), 602-611.
Gupta, D., Bhatt, S., Gupta, M., & Tosun, A. S. (2021). Future smart connected communities to fight the covid-19 outbreak. Internet of Things, 13(4), 254-280.
Maalsen, Sophia, and Robyn Dowling. (2020). Covid-19 and the accelerating smart home. Big Data & Society 7(2), 205-209.
Rana, O., Ranjan, R., Papagiannidis, S., & Marikyan, D. (2021). Working in a smart home-office: exploring the impacts on productivity and well-being. Web Information Systems and Technologies 21(10), 275-282.
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 10(4), 333-339
Umair, M., Cheema, M. A., Cheema, O., Li, H., & Lu, H. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on IoT adoption in healthcare, smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, transportation and industrial IoT. Sensors, 21(11), 38-71.
Yousif, M., Hewage, C., & Nawaf, L. (2021). IoT technologies during and beyond COVID-19: a comprehensive review. Future Internet, 13(5), 105-129.