Smart Lock Stories #2 | The Busy Working Professional

Sometimes it can be hard to strike up a balance between work and home life. Particularly when you’re expected to travel and leave your home regularly as part of your job, it can sometimes feel impossible to always be ‘in the know’ over your home when you’re many miles away.

But this is one of the many reasons why the improvements in technology have allowed us to strike the perfect balance that works for our busy, working lifestyles. Smart home technology has opened doors, and in this case quite literally, for homeowners, particularly utilising the most in demand smart home product of the moment – the smart lock.

Smart locks are a great asset to the modern-day home, allowing us to check in, control and follow an audit trail of activity from anywhere at any time, simply using your smartphone. The perfect addition to your smart home collection, a smart lock helps many homeowners across the world be fully in-control over their door security.

We recently heard from new smart lock user, Simon, on how he uses his favourite smart home gadget to help fit in with his working lifestyle. Here’s Simon’s ‘Smart Lock Story’:

Simon lives on his own with his pet dog, also looking after his 12 year old son, Sam.

5am: My days always start early with me heading out of the door to get a workout in. This week, I’m in and out of meetings and travelling around the country, so I try to get a head start on my exercise whilst I can. As I have a smart lock, I don’t need to carry keys with me, I just grab my smartphone and I’m out of the door with Max, my pet dog.

6am: After my workout, I let myself in via my smartphone and the Yale Access app and get ready for the day ahead. I need to leave by 7am to get a train into the city, but I leave enough time to ensure all my smart appliances are programmed as I’ll be out of the house for the evening.

7.15am: I was a little bit later than scheduled, but I’ve made it to the train on time. But what’s great about having a smart lock is that I can check in and see that the house has been left secure if I leave the house in a rush. There’s really nothing worse than leaving your home for a long period of time and are worried that you haven’t locked the door behind you – but with my smart lock that’s a thing of the past.

10am: I get into the office ready for my first meeting of the day, and I check in on my app via the audit trail and see that the dog sitter has come to collect Max as I’ll be away for the night.

Lucy has looked after Max for many years now, and as I trust her, as soon as I got a smart lock, I issued her with her own virtual key. This means that I can set certain time frames for her to be able to access my house, and there’s no need for me to give her a house key. I’ve always been a person to worry about giving keys out, particularly as you can’t always be sure who they’ll end up with, but my smart lock lets my create and revoke keys with just the tap of a button.

1pm: Out of my first meeting of the day, and I can once again check my Access app to see that the housekeeper has let herself in and locked the door securely behind her. Susan isn’t one for technology, so I gave her one of my key fobs for my front door so she could easily let herself in and lock up behind her. As she pops round two or three times a week, not having to worry about setting a time frame for her is a great benefit.

3pm: Whilst I was in the office, at about 3pm, by friend popped round to drop a few things off for me but wasn’t aware that I was in the office today. He’d called to say that he was around, and the beauty of my smart lock meant that I could remotely let him, so he could leave his items, even though I’m many miles away. And again, I can just quickly check that the door was locked behind him.

The next day

1pm: After another meeting, I’m heading home for the day to be able to work from home. Lucy has dropped Max off as she knows I’ll be back today, of course, letting herself in via the Access app, and my son, Sam, will also be staying with me tonight, so he’ll let himself in on his way back from school.

Although we’ve decided that Sam isn’t old enough to have his own smartphone just yet, he instead has both a key card in his wallet and a key tag on his backpack so he can easily let himself in to my house. With the worry that he could take a key to school and lose it, it makes for much more reassurance for me that I could just simply revoke and give him a new key card or tag in replace of that.

In general, I couldn’t be happier with my smart lock - I chose to invest in one as I’m a great fan of getting all the latest tech for my home. I know some homeowners can be sceptical, but the security of the Yale products is second to none – I know they’re a brand I can trust.

And with my job meaning I’m always on the road or staying away from home, these smart products give me reassurance that my home is securely protected, even from afar.

Want to find out more about the range of smart locks available from Yale? For further information or product details, please visit your local site.