2018 was a year of great challenges for FIBARO. The company’s strategy of involving local distributors and installers in the development of FIBARO brand is being introduced to all German-speaking European countries. This is a huge challenge for our young company as the DACH (Deutscher Sprachraum) market is considered to be one of the most mature and conscious in the smart home area.
Why installers?
The installation industry is key to the further development of the smart home industry. Modern smart homes tailored to the needs of a specific user require relatively complex configuration procedures, which not everyone is ready to set up on their own. Therefore, a professional services in the end2end formula is needed. It consists of consulting a selection of specific solutions, support and the installation of the system itself in the customer’s home.
Although the FIBARO System can be installed and fully configured on your own, most customers expect support of an experienced installer. This is a global trend, which we can observe not only on the Polish market. We want to create a network of well-educated and well-trained professionals who will be able to support our activities in various regions of the world.
By developing a dedicated system of trainings for installers and trainers, we aim at expanding our staff of installers who can support customers, as is currently the case in Poland. The first in line are German-speaking countries, especially our western neighbor.
The focus on Germany
In fact, Germany, Switzerland and Austria are very much aware of the markets when it comes to building automation solutions. Let’s remember that the smart home is very well developed and is widely used since the early 1980s. Until now, however, it has mainly used wired technologies, which have adverse consequences in terms of high installation costs, excessive labour costs associated with forging walls and alterations to home infrastructure as well as other inconveniences for the customer.
Wireless systems have a significant advantage over them, although they are still relatively unpopular. However, they are quickly gaining recognition in the market and we believe that this will give us a lot of interest both from new customers and from those already using wired smart home systems.
Germany is the largest sales market in Europe. According to our research, along with France and Great Britain, they are among the top three countries whose citizens are most interested in installing smart home systems. Geographical proximity is also an important factor in our increased activity. Although the German customer seems to be conservative in the choice of technology, we believe that we will be able to convince him to cooperate with us. Our biggest advantages are certainly the quality and design of our products. I believe that if we manage to convince such a demanding client to cooperate with us, we will gain his loyalty for many years to come.
Echoes of Light & Building fair
Recently, we participated in the Light & Building trade fair, which take place every two years in Frankfurt am Main. This is a very important event for the European installation and lighting industry. During this exhibition a lot of attention is paid to smart home systems, however, a huge stress is put to promote traditional cable technologies.
Our smart home system turned out to be a very interesting alternative for the participants of the fair due to its wireless character. The FIBARO stand was filled with visitors looking, on the one hand, for possibilities to extend the existing smart home systems based on cable communication and, on the other hand, for people looking for new and unique solutions using wireless communication.
The breadth and size of the trade fair also prove that Germany is currently the most developed economy in Europe, whose citizens are very aware of the issue of modern technologies. It is also a country where there are many professional installers hungry for knowledge about new solutions for their customers.
Interestingly, Germans does not see us from the angle of a Polish company. For them, we are rather a European brand. Let’s remember that most of the manufacturers offering smart home solutions come mainly from the Far East. The fact that we are a company with European roots strengthens our competitive advantage and makes it much easier for them to identify with it.
Germany is a huge market, requiring a lot of commitment. So far, we have trained several hundred installers here, but our main goal, the main ambition is to grow this number to several thousand. It’s not an easy task, but if it succeed, the prize will be the satisfaction of our customers.