'The penny in the market is dropping!'

Huge increase in use of online calculator   

When Henk Weber and Didier Holslag of KUFA Raamsystemen in IJmuiden are asked about the current status of the KOC (Kufa Online Calculator, the configurator for designing and ordering window frames - and more!) they developed, a broad smile appears on the faces of the two. Back in 2017, the first articles about KOC appeared (also in this trade magazine!). "Especially this year - 2020 - we are suddenly experiencing unprecedented growth with this online platform. We think as much as 40%. The penny is dropping in the market," the two said.

So satisfaction trumps all there at the headquarters in North Holland. "In recent years we have invested a lot in the power of our innovation that ultimately benefits the entire market," says Didier, who has been involved in the development from the beginning. "We can now honestly say that we have developed a widely supported platform in which the entire technical world around window frames finally really comes together. Everything that hangs on, on or in a plastic window frame, down to the smallest component, can be found there. Everything has been digitized; of course the visual material is in tip-top order so that the user is helped on his way by means of a good visualization and the ease of use is of course at the highest level. We leave nothing to chance!"

Awareness

To what this year's huge boost is due, Henk and Didier find it difficult to pinpoint. "We have obviously communicated a lot about this in the trade press in recent years. And, we understand that these kinds of stories need time to land properly. Obviously, our advisors talk about this a lot along the way. So it has continuously been a matter of communicating awareness in the market. And well, then suddenly this year an acceleration occurs; a structural increase in the use of the platform."

Didier explains that of the 300 or so partners Kufa works with in the market, over 250 are now structurally using the multidisciplinary online calculation module. "When I study the user statistics, I think 90 partners can already be categorized as 'of a very high level', i.e. very regularly."

This year, Kufa has also managed to add at least 400 to 500 related products to the online calculator. "Then one can think of all Realwood^® products, the plastic cladding, sandwich panels, Reelstone and Reelblok. Preparations have also begun to add the RenoS9000 profiles as well as those with the specific properties of fire resistance."

Henk and Didier explain that KOC is the solution for every professional stakeholder in the market who needs plastic window frames on a regular basis. "It is available everywhere. One only needs one login code and one immediately ends up in the user-friendly dashboard. Moreover, for our partners there are no costs involved. On the contrary; we see it as our mission to help our partners with a number of entrepreneurial aspects such as time savings, a ready-made quote that can be deposited with the end user, even with the company's own logo. If we sum it up: we sell ultimate convenience!"