Industry overview from Trimble

There are so many factors affecting the electrical industry, and the construction industry as a whole, that it can be hard to isolate individual trends or subjects for analysis. The fall of Carillion, the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, uncertainty around Brexit and emergence of new technologies (the Internet of Things) have provided the year’s big news stories but here we will look more closely at another trend, the digitalization of business processes which, while generating fewer column inches, is changing the way we all work.

A major disruptor to the supply chain

Digitalization of supply chains is a major disruptor, providing great opportunities for business growth but also reducing entry barriers for new suppliers and offering a major threat to existing suppliers who are unable to adapt.  This has already happened in the high street, as rows of empty shops bear witness, and it would be naïve to think that the electrical sector is not subject to the same market forces. 

Buyers are well used to using online information sources such as Voltimum and Luckins and increasingly, product selection decisions are made at the desktop or on site before the buyer has even engaged with a supplier.   The next generation of contractors will have grown up with e-commerce and building supplier relationships through social media.   To compete successfully, manufacturers and distributors will need to increase their reach using a combination of digital marketing methods and making rich, detailed data about their products available via multiple channels.

Contractors are also adapting

Contractors too will need to adapt to take advantage of the greater efficiency offered by adopting digital procurement methods.  They will also need to consider how they engage and interact with their own customers.  A quick search on Google reveals electrical contractors with modern, mobile-friendly websites who are making effective use of both search engine marketing and social media to drive traffic and raise awareness.  They are a small minority when viewed in the context of the sector as a whole, but the number will certainly grow.

The need for a consolidation of standards

There is growing acceptance of a need for consistent structured product data to feed e-commerce sites and digital marketing channels and there is a parallel need for product data to drive engineering design and BIM.  This includes both structured technical data and product coding and classification structures designed to enhance the process.  Emerging industry standards such as ETIM, COBie and CIBSE’s product templates, as well as proprietary solutions are all attempting to satisfy one or other of these requirements.  There is likely to be increased collaboration in future between standards design for commerce and engineering applications, a necessity for a fully effective industry solution to develop.

Here again, the electrical industry is mirroring a trend already seen in consumer markets.  GS1-UK, the body responsible for barcode and e-commerce standards in the retail sector, recently launched its Product DNA project, described as “a single catalogue of high-quality, independently-verified data that enables retailers and suppliers to use one shared language to describe and share products”.  

Will something similar emerge in the electrical industry?

Please click here to see the top 30 contractors report in association with Trimble Luckins.