I think the pandemic will turn out to have been an even bigger catalyst for change in the window and door market than we can yet appreciate.
From Business Micros’ perspective, it has obviously massively accelerated the shift to remote and online sales to consumers. But I think it will have much wider implications as well in driving online connectivity and cooperation between manufacturers and component suppliers, as they acknowledge just how co-dependent they’ve become.
As a Group, we spent much of 2020 in the final development of our exciting, new TOUCH software platform. The first product – TOUCH Vendor for installers – is now live and the response has already been fantastic.
Our immediate priority is to get as many installers as possible using that product to generate leads from their websites and use for remote and socially distanced sales presentations. Then, over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out the accompanying TOUCH Portal product for fabricators, which will mean installers will be able to use TOUCH Vendor to place their orders online with their fabricators as well.
We can promise lots more innovation in TOUCH during 2021, so customers who get on board with us now will have lots to look forward to.
We won’t be neglecting our existing products though obviously. Evolution and EvoNET are living, breathing systems and are constantly being updated and improved. We’ll continue working closely with customers on new developments and features and providing the same outstanding levels of support.
One specific area we’ve already identified is helping those fabricators who still run EvoNET on Internet Explorer make the switch to Microsoft Edge before Microsoft ends support for Explorer in August.
We’ve also taken the decision to offer free upgrades to Evolution for the twenty or so customers who still have support contracts in place for our legacy software Winstar. The market is changing quickly, and we want to make sure that nobody gets left behind.
Graeme Bailey, Business Micros
