Has the development of software to help retailers run their business better reached the point where it's essential for success? David Harris looks at the history...

There are many readers of kbbreview who have been selling kitchens and bathrooms for a very long time. Can you imagine what the you from, say, 30 years ago would think if he was transported to the showroom of today?

The sophistication of the showroom itself would be one of the key differences with the common studio-style set up eclipsing the borderline merchant view of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

But, as with all businesses, one of the biggest changes they would face would be the use of computers in all aspects of the operation. The first personal computers did go on the market in the mid-1970s but it was many years before they became standard office equipment.

And their ubiquitousness as a design tool would have seemed, even in 1980, like something out of a science fiction film. This was a time when customer details were still routinely stored, if they were stored at all, in hefty files in even heftier filing cabinets. The idea that a KBB design could be produced by a machine rather than a person would have seemed bonkers.

So perhaps the most remarkable thing about computers in the kitchen and bathroom business, as in society generally, is how quickly they have taken a grip on how business is done.

And this has meant that the companies that produce the software have become one of the retailers' most important suppliers in a relatively short space of time.
Even the longest established companies, such as 20-20 Technologies, are relatively young. 20-20 came into the UK in 1991 (it was founded in Montreal in 1986) and now believes it has around 60% of the CAD and business software market for independent retailers in the UK.

20-20's managing director, Craig Rothwell, puts emphasis on the company's ability to offer both CAD and quotation tool in one package, so cutting costs for retailers - typically an upfront price of £1,500-£3,200 plus a £600 a year fee for training and access to the helpdesk.

Unsurprisingly, Rothwell characterises computer software, particularly CAD, as now being "a major part" of the kitchen and bathroom business.

But as technology advances and, perhaps more significantly, the understanding of how technology can be applied practically to solve problems, the more its usefulness becomes apparent.

For example, among the more recent developments that 20-20 has added to its CAD package is the ability to use exact depictions of specific appliances, rather than generic shots, so that customers will be able to see their kitchen or bathroom exactly as it should look rather than an approximation.

All this is designed to help sales and perhaps kick-starts a debate about the role of traditional catalogues in the sales process. Neil Schofield, marketing manager for EQ Software, says: "More and more retailers are saying to us that if you try to get sales with paper catalogues you are not likely to have much luck."

The adaptability of CAD has become its key asset, the software continues to be developed with feedback and consultation with the users themselves and this is what makes its popularity exponential.

Fernando Bataller, of Microcad Software, contrasts hand-drawn designs with CAD because "once the design is done and shown to the customer, they [customers] can and will ask for changes, which means that the designer will have to draw it all again, while in CAD you can edit the cabinets at the click of a button".

And the tipping point has been reached, where the production of a 3D render is now expected by the vast majority of customers before they commit to a purchase.
And the need to give the consumer what they want in the easiest and most cost effective way possible is perhaps the biggest drive of all. This can be summed up with figures from ArtiCAD, which has 2,600 KBB retailers using its system, and more than 400 joined just in 2010. Director Theresa Turner argues that CAD has become "essential to an independent retailer's sales process".

She adds: "Consumers are increasingly aware that most retailers use design software and there is a widespread expectation that if they engage with a retailer, they are engaging with a design specialist who is going to develop their individual design and present it using a CAD system."

"This face to face involvement in the design process means the consumer's preferences are fully captured and catered for, the design can be readily adapted and agreed - alongside an automatically generated price - and the customer has the confidence to place an order there and then."

Maurice Green, managing director of Stockport-based CAD software supplier M'n'G, agrees, saying good systems should be "quick and easy".

Some may regret the inevitable assault the CAD culture involves on the old-fashioned skills of the draughtsman, but Green argues that CAD systems such as M'n'G's are versatile and practical, "can do in minutes everything you need" and offer "not just beautiful 3D but plans, true elevations, electrical service layouts, quotes and item lists".

While CAD has, of course, been widely used for some time, it has often been seen as a purely functional tool, now its role in combining with other software to essentially help run your business is becoming clear. Software isn't just about design, it's also management and the production and manipulation of data to help you sell and, put simply, make more money.

EQ, formerly known as EasyQuote, was only set up in 2000, but since then it has become a major player in business management software dedicated to those kitchen, bedroom and bathroom retailers that have an increasing realisation that technology can help rather than hinder. 

"What we offer started as a simple quoting and ordering system," Schofield says. "But customers wanted extra bits and we now have and end-to-end solution that can completely run your business."

So what's next? It's simply all about the data, how it's stored and how you can access it - and that's via something known mysteriously as 'the cloud'.

The cloud, now being offered by to the industry by Smart Systems, is actually a simple enough concept. It removes the need for businesses to store data themselves by offering to store everything remotely in large, secure well-protected data centres. In practical terms this means that businesses can do much of their work from any PC or laptop with access to a broadband connection.

Not only do you no longer need filing cabinets but you don't need to store your own data at all - it's all kept for you, in the "cloud" for you to access anytime and anywhere.

Smart launched its system, KBB Connect, at KBB Birmingham last year and says that hundreds of retailers have already registered to use it.

The KBB industry, compared to other sectors, has not always been the most forwarded thinking when it comes to technology. But it's at a turning point now where it is seen as a solution to manage the entire business rather than just a tool to simply use for design. So if there is one thing for sure about computer technology in the KBB industry it's that it will continue to advance with ever increasing speed.

Case study: Westag & Getalit

Specialist manufacturers are among those who now routinely use software programmes to help retailers sell their products.

Worktop maker Westag & Getalit, for example, has a 'cutdesign" programme for retailers which allows them to simplify the planning, pricing and ordering process.

In essence, the programme helps the ordering of worktops based on the measurements and specifications supplied by the customer. The Westag system, just like most CAD systems, supplies a sketch based on the dimensions given by the customer, which can then be given to them along with a quotation.

The company reasoned that most kitchens are unique, so its ordering process should reflect that.

Further information and a demo version of the software can be found on the company's web site at www.westag.co.uk