Feb/March 2020

Smart Hardware
HARDWARE & ACCESSORIES
A LICENCE TO BE SMART
Smart windows and doors are a mass opportunity for the hardware sector, but the way
these products are sold requires a step-change in our thinking. Giovanni Laporta, innovator
and inventor of Smart Ready, explains more...
How many of you reading this are doing so
on devices running Windows or macOS,
protected with Norton or Kaspersky antivirus
software; or maybe you’re using Survey
Monkey for your latest marketing campaign? Who
is going home tonight to watch the latest mustsee
on Netflix or Prime Film? Call it licensing fees,
subscriptions or even membership, most of us
now engage with technology providers using a
retainer model to pay them for their technology.
It’s a $270bn industry. So why when it comes to
fenestration can licensing technology feel such an
alien concept?
Consistent quality
To date, the window and door hardware sector
has been promoting different products that claim
to be smart in different ways, but there has been
little or no consistency in the smart message,
leading to confusion in the market. That’s why
Smart Ready was created – to provide a standard
for everyone to adhere to, and a brand logo that
represents simple, affordable, consistency in what
smart should actually be.
But while we all accept it’s the norm to pay a
licence to be able to use someone else’s product
or service when it comes to software or TV, the
window and door hardware market is taking time
to adjust. Sometimes a licence fee can feel like
you’re paying for nothing, because you don’t have
anything tangible to show for your investment. But
in reality, the benefits of being a licensee are vast.
Let someone else do the work for you
Firstly, becoming a licensee means you can offer
a product or service without having to invest in
your own research and development – the most
lengthy and expensive phase of any new offering.
R&D might not sound like much, but, for example,
the monitoring sensors developed by Hug
Technology took four years and cost more than £5
million to develop. By entering into a technology
license with Hug Technology, hardware brands
and their customers can have a product that has
had this amount of investment, for significantly
reduced investment and also have access to
ongoing support and upgrades in technology. The
planned significant consumer marketing of the
Smart Ready standard will also be a critical driver
for its success, so again technology licensees
can take advantage of these bigger budgets with
bigger reach.
Licensing also saves companies time. Anyone
that wants a slice of the smart window and door
hardware market today but hasn’t yet started
their R&D or marketing, won’t be ready to launch
a product for at least three years, at least not one
that works reliably and meets market expectations.
Smart minds
Even if a business does decide to spend the time
and money developing its own offering to avoid
paying a license fee to someone else, they won’t
necessarily be able to find the right expertise
to develop the right product. Hug Technology,
for example, was lucky enough to find a unique
mix of creative experience from sectors such
as hardware, window and door fabrication, and
smart technology, to enable a great product that
is simple and works.
Buying a technology licence for smart hardware
may well take some getting used to, but the
market is entering a new phase which needs
a new approach. It goes without saying the
hardware companies that accept change sooner
rather than later will have the competitive
advantage over those that don’t at all and those
that adopt the ‘wait and see’ approach.
The need for smart windows and doors took off
last year and technology licensing is the best
way for the market collectively to meet that
need quickly and easily. To move forward and
genuinely become a mass smart market, the
industry needs to accept an entirely different
model. It’s no longer only about sourcing best
value for money products; it’s also about securing
your place in something bigger.
Contact Smart Ready
smartready.com
48 T F FEB/MAR 2020 CONNECTING THE WINDOW, DOOR & ROOF FABRICATION SUPPLY CHAIN