Are we connected?

Are we connected?

Technology at the forefront: a new in real time portal for Hager Group networks customers, installers and traders.

Are we connected?

Our digital toolbox
Apps like myHager are practical tools with which we can respond more quickly and accurately to customer needs.

1

The world of the toolbox

With our products and services, today we play an exclusive role in living and working environments: our solutions control such as security and well-being functions 24 hours a day. It functions so well that consumers rarely have to contact us directly. Consumers therefore don’t actually know who manufactures the electrical boxes, meters or wiring in their home.

If you want to reach customers in future, you have to bring more than just a toolbox – you have to bring a whole world; a virtual ecosystem where the various players network with each other and have access to data and services as well as to people and products. The toolbox of the future is the smartphone.

2

The world of myHager

Thomas Burkle speaks about these developments with palpable fascination. He represents Hager in France as the Manager of Marketing and Applications and is speaking about the new platform ‘myHager’. In the future this virtual space will network individuals, installers, traders and other players in the world of Hager with the aim of facilitating direct teamwork. “For example, if a consumer is looking for a new lighting system for his home, they can configure this virtually on myHager, connect with other users if there are questions or contact wholesalers or specialists directly to order the products they want online and to agree the assembly with the installer.”

According to Thomas Burkle, as a classic production company, Hager is now entering a whole new world. In this world products or electrical parameters alone are no longer the key factors; there are also issues such as customer journey, design, social networking or the question of brand popularity on the Internet. The transformation through digitisation is forcing companies to act. He comments that “…the Internet of Things is changing everything. In the future, even more than today, with our products and services we will be able to ensure that a house or apartment actually becomes a home for people.” This is a great opportunity for us. The challenge is the competition. “In the future, we will not just be competing with other industry giants, but also with IT corporations like Apple and Google.”

Digital sales on site Internal processes are also becoming increasingly more digital at Hager. For example, for two years now, sales staff in Australia and the UK have been using the application ‘e2go’. This app allows them to create an offer on site with the customer or even place an order straight away. In the past, after a sales meeting, they always had to go back to the office to check prices and availability and only then make an offer.

Now, with ‘e2go’ they can check prices and availability directly on their smartphone. In Australia, sales growth thanks to ‘e2go’, which will soon be introduced onto other markets, is estimated at four million Australian dollars. One of our wholesalers even recently asked where the app came from – he wanted it as well.

3

The world of customers

In this competition, it is no longer just about junction boxes, it’s about networking, it is not just about backups, it is about intelligent software and apps rather than just tools. In this environment of limitless possibilities we must be guided by the needs and expectations of the actors operating here. Hager already has close ties with most of them.

Do we also know what services people expect, which product features could help them or which applications they want to use to get in contact with tradesmen, wholesalers and Hager directly? “To succeed in future, we really need to better understand our consumers,” comments Thomas Burkle. “The better we know them, the better the products and services we can offer will be.”

How can we know what the customer wants? We can learn a lot from our sales teams’ feedback, as they are in direct contact with wholesalers, installers and consumers. We also can get more information from our call centres, where several thousand customer calls are answered each month. “We also interview private individuals directly to analyse quantitatively and qualitatively,” explains Thomas Burkle. Subjective opinions, wishes and expectations from such inquiries are tested, for example, in online surveys of several hundred participants to thus establish generally valid findings. Hager regularly conducts these types of online surveys. Thomas Burkle speaks of a customer-centred approach with which the world of myHager will be built in the future.

4

The world of tomorrow

The first results from this wide-ranging dialogue paint a picture of consumers who want to control and customise their living and working environments primarily with mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, or with devices for home automations that are just as easy to use as a smartphone. “People want to simplify their living environment with new offers and networking with all market participants and other users.”

Virtual mobility will also change the world of work by Hager in the real world of things. “Our sales staff will be able to, for example, prepare without having to come into the office first – which is the case today,” says Thomas Burkle. In the field, installers will be able to enter Hager’s virtual product world directly with the customer to configure, for example, a renovation together.

The myHager platform acts as a hub that brings together a wide variety of actors. This allows access to other users, expertise, products and services – but also data. “We can, for instance, calculate a region’s average power consumption from individual consumption data and allow each customer to compare these values with their own data,” he explains.

A direct link to the utility company would allow people to ask them about their own consumption, or find out information about efficient consumption behaviour or energy-efficient products. Ideally, it would then also be possible to order them directly and have them installed.

5

One world

Virtual space will lead Hager to new customers, new partners and entirely new business models. What is important for customers is that these many new pieces of the puzzle always act like a complete work. “myHager aspires to create a consistent world for users in a digital environment. Hager brand will be consistently reflected, follow uniform ergonomics and it will not matter if the gateway to the digital cosmos is a mobile phone, tablet or a computer.
And this, be the customer a private individual, tradesman, administrator or wholesaler, be things bought or sold, services offered or asked about,” concludes Thomas Burkle. All is one in the world of myHager. In marketing speak they call it a unified look & feel. Ultimately, it means nothing more than feeling at home with myHager.

Hager Group Annual Report 2015: ListeningListening?Listening.Understanding.Doing.Getting a conversation startedDawn of a sunrise industryExpanding the horizonThe world modelThinking aheadGetting onUnderstanding customersWe have to convince usersCreating networksAre we connected?Thinking ahead togetherSparring PartnersOvercoming boundariesHow to overcome ‘kuuki yomenai’Stay curious!Listening is…E3Worldwide contacsInnovative across the boardImprintHager Group Annual Report ArchiveHager Group Annual Report 2018/19Hager Group Annual Report 2017/18Hager Group Annual Report 2016Hager Group Annual Report 2015