A peek into our ever-changing industry

Over the years, product creators have faced and overcome many challenges as technology evolves across mediums and networks. We have seen the growing number of platforms as new smartphones, computers, and IoT gadgets enter the US market. To complicate matters, network providers have experienced a shift from broadband to 5G, adding further complexity to accommodating technological change. To stay on top of the game, companies must be able to adapt and conform to new industry trends to continue the cycle of innovation. Understanding the needs of the customer is key to this transformation for creators and providers alike in order to remain at the forefront of technological advancement.

Providers have been able to monetize their features through tech evolution, such as charging for call minutes and text, and tiered prices for varying amounts of data. Now, unlimited everything is expected by customers causing value-added services and bundle packages to really drive growth. These now service dependent providers need to find new ways to bring the best offerings to their customers in order to address the evolution of both platforms and networks. This combined with the shifting parenting needs based on the technological change causing children to spend more time online, more time away from home, and easier access to the internet, places providers in a well-timed position to provide parents with useful services such as location tracking, screen time management and content filters.

This is an industry required to change with technology to consistently provide value to their users. Network providers will continue to adapt their offerings to meet the needs of consumers, contributing to the technological revolution and allowing innovation to keep moving forward.

A study on Avast’s family product evolution

Avast has been working with T-1 US mobile operators for over a decade, contributing evolving solutions matched to the changing landscape of technology and subsequent security risks faced by parents and families. We have innovated products to best serve our partners and the needs of their customers first as a location only provider, call and text services, to data limits services, and now parental controls. Currently, new trends in parental needs allow the opportunity for Avast to develop products to help partners keep a competitive edge when it comes to family protection.

How a parent would like to raise their child cannot be dictated by technology, and parental control services must have the flexibility to accommodate these many different parenting styles. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach for all children and parents, Avast Family Space allows for parents to select specific functions of the controls for each child. This adaptive pairing lets parents use location-only pairing for their teenagers, but keep content filters for younger children, or any other combination of services that best suits a family’s wants and needs.

Parents also want to see more features than just screen time management and content filtering to make sure their children are safe outside of the internet as well. Built in integrations to Family Space such as GPS tracking and driving detection provides parents with peace of mind knowing where their children are and when they’re driving, complete with a driving safety score. This brings further value to parents as they watch their kids grow older and need to have these layers of safety.

Finally, as the number of IoT devices increases, so do the number of child-accessible network entry points. Families are seeing further integration of video game consoles, smart TVs, and smartphones within the home, requiring a router-based solution to keep all access points safe and secure. As we continue to develop 5G capabilities, network security will innovate to continue providing a safe space for families and children.

About Avast 

As one of the largest cybersecurity providers in the world, Avast prevents 1.5 billion attacks every month using its unique cloud-based machine learning engine. Serving businesses for over a decade, Avast has protected millions of users through service provider partnerships and updated features to keep up with technological changes. 

Avast Family Space gives parents peace of mind through location services and internet parental controls. Along with giving parents peace of mind by letting them know where their child is at all times, Family Space’s parental control features allow parents to monitor their child’s internet use and encourage healthy online habits.