500th Post: How Technology Is Changing The Double Glazing Industry

Technology over the past few years has advanced at an incredible rate. And what's more, we have embraced it so much so that if the technologies we have integrated into our lives so completely disappeared, we would find working a much more difficult task.


Probably the biggest focus of our energies at the moment is the internet. As little as ten years ago most companies would have thought the necessity of a company website to be little more than hype. But now in a world of instant information, if you aren't on the internet in the smallest way your going to be left behind very quickly. The old ways of customers looking through their Yellow Pages, Thomson or BT Phonebook for window companies has all but now gone. 


But the internet hasn't just changed the way customers look for installation companies. The relationships between installers and their suppliers has begun to change too. Take for example companies being able to order their products online, just like you can with Door-Stop's composite doors. 10 years ago, being able to specify the finest details of a door and turn it into an order online would have been inconceivable. But with the ever expanding software capabilities and speed improvements, this is now possible, and threatens to change the whole world of ordering windows and doors. I know other companies are close to setting up similar online ordering systems.


Along with the development with the internet, the way in which we can access the internet, namely the devices now available. As the internet grew and developed, phones turned into smart phones and had the capability of displaying full web pages on touch screens. Again this has made it much easier for customers to search for what they want while they are on the move. And it's not just phones. There are iPods, the very successful iPad, and all laptops with wireless internet capability. I can now order a door online, travelling on a train across Siberia...if I felt the need to do so! Again, this demonstrates how far the industry has come with the help of technology and the internet.


But it's not just the internet that has made working with windows easier. We now have laser guided measuring tools, CAD conservatory drawing software, doors that now open and lock without keys, and all the every improving manufacturing equipment. The industry must be applauded for the way it has embraced new technological advances and used them to their fullest advantage. I suspect that over the next ten years there are going to be many more changes, bringing many more new gadgets and online improvements which will shape the way the double glazing industry operates.