Clearview National September 2019 - Issue 214 | Page 42

WINDOWTECHNOLOGY
Are You Ready?
Giovanni Laporta, inventor of the Smart
Ready® certification standard talks about
the realistic potential for smart technology
and why he thinks installers that aren’t selling
Smart Ready® windows and doors, soon
won’t be selling windows and doors at all.
» » SOME OF US LIKE NEW TECH
and some of us don’t. Whatever your personal
preference, you can’t deny that smart tech is
coming. A recent PwC survey suggests 30%
of people are planning to buy a smart home
device in the next two years and the trend is
set to grow even more. Although the window
and door sector has been in the mix, selling
smart door locks (albeit not in any great
number), installers haven’t yet seen an easy way
of making the most of this mass opportunity.
Smart Ready® is here to change that.
The fenestration industry deserve a slice of
this lucrative pie too, because windows and
doors are one of the most important parts of
the home to be made smart. We already know
that up to 33% of burglaries take place when
doors or windows are left open (home office
statistics) but a recent research paper reveals
that over 50% of burglaries in the UK occur
when someone is at home. Clearly this is not
acceptable and if the figures can be reduced,
then we all need to sit up and listen to how.
BUILDING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
The Smart Ready® certification standard
and brand ensures product consistency and
forms the standards on which all smart doors
and windows will soon be made. Thanks to
HD Ready™, Smart Ready® already has a
strong brand feel to many consumers, meaning
42 » SE P 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
it is going to quickly gain momentum as a
household name. It works in a very similar
way to HD Ready™ and how TVs were sold
some years ago. Just as TVs were HD Ready™
before any shows were being streamed in HD,
businesses can now sell windows and doors
that are Smart Ready® – ready for smart
technology to be bought and activated by the
homeowner, once they are fitted, or at any
point in the future.
The Smart Ready® logo is a guarantee and
a sign of quality, whilst also telling consumers
that their doors and windows have certain
upgradable features in that they can be made
smart at any point in the future, by a quick
scan of a QR Code. Unlike other opportunities
seen in the industry, Smart Ready® is free.
Smart Ready® allows for the fact there
needs to be some sort of transitional period to
make it easy to sell and buy smart and Smart
Ready® does precisely this.
SMART REPORTING IS COMING
Sac Hardware and Hug Technology have
already developed a new Smart Ready®
certified window and door reporting system
that will help with the transition. Technology
that reports on the security status of doors
or windows, without involving any locking or
unlocking has consumer appeal, making it a far
easier sell for installers. This smart technology
can report on a phone that someone has left
the back door or bedroom window open
as they leave the home. Leaving people in
absolute control of closing and locking the
doors and windows, while being alerted if the
home is at risk through open windows and
doors, the moment they leave their houses.
But that’s not where the benefits of
this system from Sac Hardware and Hug
Technology end. Their Smart Ready® certified
system also alerts the user when a window
or door experiences any level of impact. This
moves it into the realm of burglar alarms and
makes this a particularly exciting proposition
for installers. It’s not only an opportunity to
upsell windows and doors now, it’s an easy
opportunity to break into the alarm and home
security market.
SMART IS COMING, READY OR NOT
Selling “readiness” is the answer when
selling smart windows and doors. The “being
ready” marketing phenomenon is firmly stuck
in the minds of millions of consumers and like
HD Ready™, Smart Ready® is quickly set to
become the new Standard for smart. The brand
power and marketing psychology exists, so
let’s be smart and all benefit. Contact Smart
Ready® to learn more.
smartready.com