The Business Micros Group is set to launch its new Touch software platform at the end of lockdown. As the industry looks for ways to generate business remotely, Business Micros says it has developed a new generation of Touch based products which will use powerful new software to transform what is possible in terms of remote selling, pricing and ordering.
What will set the Touch products apart from the other remote quoting solutions, claims Business Micros, is what the Group is calling ‘the perfect partnership between data and design’. The data is provided by Business Micros, which claims to hold the industry’s most comprehensive list of datasets from every systems house, hardware and glass supplier in the UK, while the design is provided by digital design experts at The Consultancy, which is now part of the BM Group.
Jim Cronie, technical director at Business Micros, said: “The Coronavirus crisis has made every fabricator and installer review how they do business. Everyone is looking for software solutions which will enable them to design, quote, price and order online, and it’s true that there are already plenty of options out there. However, up until our launch of Touch, none of these has really been data driven, and that is actually what is needed to make doing business remotely more efficient and successful.
“We’ve recognised that installers need solutions driven by real time data, which allows them to get accurate product and pricing information and which can talk directly to fabricators. In turn, fabricators need solutions which can talk directly to their ordering and production software. Without that data which is integral to Touch, stand-alone design, quoting and ordering systems are actually all style and no real substance.”
Paul Callaghan, managing director at The Consultancy, said: “What installers in particular need to realise is that enabling a homeowner to design their own window online and submit an enquiry is the relatively easy bit. Yes, the design needs to be engaging and intuitive and the results need to make them want to submit an enquiry; but the really complex part is partnering that design with the relevant data so that the amount of additional work required to turn that enquiry into an order is as minimal as possible.
“I can promise the market that our Touch products will combine both style and substance. They will all work from end to end starting at the dataset and ending with the design configurator making it possible to design, price, order and manufacture using one seamless solution.”
The Business Micros Group says it will be rolling out the first of its new Touch products over the coming weeks and months. A new Touch website will be going live ‘very soon’ so that fabricators and installers can preview the products for themselves.
