Making money from Smart Tech

There’s undoubtedly a huge level of interest in Smart Technology in this industry at the moment, but what we have sensed is a degree of questioning amongst fabricators and installers about how they can actually translate that interest into increased sales and of course profits.

Some of the solutions coming to the market take a fairly long term approach in terms of changing the consumer mindset around the concept of smart window and door locking. In contrast with that, Mila’s new offering – the AppleHome Kit compatible Avia smart door lock from Mighton Products – is very clearly focused around a simple solution with an almost immediate payback. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it is already ticking a lot of boxes for our customers.

What makes Avia most attractive to this market is that it is retrofittable. It is a stand-alone, fully functioning smart lock which uses a standard sized 220mm or 240mm backplate. That means it can be fitted and crucially also retrofitted to virtually any composite or PVC door with a standard multi-point locking system and on any 92PZ lever door lock.

It also sits on the inside of the door with a conventional Mila SupaSecure PAS24, SBD accredited stainless steel handle fitted on the outside. That arguably makes it the simplest way to start selling smart doors right now. Fabricators can add Avia to their range without having to change their production set ups, while installers can use it to revisit all their previous door installations and offer customers a quick and easy upgrade to high security keyless entry.

As the exclusive trade distributors of Avia, we demonstrated it at FIT on a range of doors and in a variety of configurations. On some, it was being shown with fingerprint operation, on others with facial recognition and on some paired with a keyfob, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch for remote locking and unlocking.

What visitors to the stand told us they really liked about Avia was the simplicity and the demonstrable levels of security. One of the biggest plus points from several retail fabricators we spoke to was that, because it works with a conventional door lock, it comes with the reassurance of both a traditional key and 3 star cylinder and an internal thumb turn override for emergency back up. That immediately takes away any worries the consumer might voice about tampering, performance in adverse weather conditions or targeting by opportunist thieves.

One customer in particular who fabricates high end garden rooms told us that it will be ideal for clients who want to be able to move between their house and their garden room without keys but still with the reassurance that there’s a visible SBD accredited TS007 3 star solution fitted on the outside of the door.

Obviously, Avia has all of the features and functionality which tech savvy consumers want so that they can control access to their home from anywhere in the world.

Visitors to FIT said that the Apple HomeKit compatibility was a big plus point and a key differentiator, not just because of the power of the Apple brand in the retail market and the number of consumers who use Apple products, but because it demonstrates that Avia passed all the most extensive cybersecurity checks.

Some of those who were comparing smart locking options told us that they particularly liked Avia because it has benefits which many others don’t – including combining keyless entry with an activity tracker which provides instant status updates and a full audit trail, and compliance with the ETSI TS103 645 Consumer IoT security technical specification

The new Avia product will be available to order from the Autumn with full details available from the Mila website at: www.mila.co.uk