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The fridge isn’t the place for a home hub

The kitchen is the heart of any family home and electronics/appliance companies are starting to see this as an opportunity to add more value for their consumers, says Michael Cole, CEO and co-founder, Picniic.

Though the motive is clear: integrate new technology and functionality into traditional, stationary appliances like the fridge, this is not the best place for family management software. Specifically, Samsung has created the “Samsung Family Hub” which is a digital screen attached to refrigerators, that helps families with things like calendar displays, grocery management and family connectivity.

While it is an updated experience to use the refrigerator as a family hub, it also misses the mark of what a family truly needs. The family command center needs to be portable and flexible, going wherever individual family members go, on whatever platform or device they happen to be near, whether that’s a computer, tablet or smartphone.

This means software first, hardware second. Families want to be connected to each other and updated in real time. So, what’s the use of a family hub if you have to be home to take full advantage of it?

In today’s world, families have busier lives than ever before. Family life is always on the go, and no two days are the same. The modern family needs a solution that can move and change with them.

Companies that want to compete in the family space need to start thinking about how families actually live, work and connect. A family is so much more than the sum of individual schedules, activities and interests. Every aspect of running a family home is interconnected and each family member needs the freedom to contribute.

A family manager should flow with each family member throughout their daily activities without having to change habits to make it a part of their life. Today, people are constantly on their smart devices, wanting to be connected through apps, platforms and social media sites.

The family hub should revolve around these existing family routines, to enable real time updates so each individual family member knows what’s going on anytime, anywhere. By integrating a family hub on your smartphone and making it the central communication platform, everyone stays connected and doesn’t have to stop by the fridge, the computer or the wall calendar to get updates throughout the day.

While having calendars, notes and photos all showcased on your fridge is a novel (and fun) idea, it’s not the right solution for the majority of families. It’s also an extremely expensive solution. The smart refrigerators on the market range anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000, depending on where you purchase.

Justifying buying a refrigerator that does the same thing as all other refrigerators, but with a few added bells and whistles, is just not realistic for most families. The other important piece is: how does the software easily get updated over time? As you can imagine, technology would become obsolete on your fridge in a few years, making the fridge a lot less interesting.

I believe the time has come for a truly proactive home hub where family members get notifications when things are updated, schedules changed, etc., all while the hub takes over as the family manager. My desire to improve how families operate is what drove me to create Picniic—the best family management software.

Picniic is truly an integrated product, that flows seamlessly through all parts of a family’s daily routine and makes things simpler, more productive and more organised than ever before. Now that is revolutionary!

The author of this blog is Michael Cole, CEO and co-founder, Picniic

About the author:

Michael Cole, is a husband, father of two, entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Picniic, next generation family management platform. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Fit Brains.

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