NETx Automation Software GmbH is one of the leading providers of innovative software for building automation. The company’s product range consists of reliable server systems, shading control systems, visualizations, energy reporting systems and hardware components. System integrators and electrical engineers across more than 100 countries all over the world use its software in their building automation projects. In an exclusive chat, Paul Furtak, CEO of Austria-based NETxAutomation Software GmbH, talks about the great growth potential that the Indian market offers and how the building automation industry will pan out in the short-to-medium term.
Building automation has scaled up its market in India in the recent past. How has your experience been as a technology provider?
India is one of the most important markets in the world. We have been able to be part of many landmark installations with our offerings in the past and currently engaged in some prestigious ones.
The country offers great growth potential which shall be sustainable for companies like us to invest now for the future. We are working towards mutual building of trust and getting to know the country and people to enlarge our footprint here. We are also proud to have partnered with some very technical companies here and looking for more in the coming days. Convenience, efficiency and savings are the three key highlights of automation. However, the new customers look beyond these.
In my opinion, the building automation market globally is seeing a paradigm shift in how the technology is perceived by the users, our main clients. We are seeing the advent of software solutions managing complete building services and this is happening at a very rapid pace. The clients see clear differentiation between management/control side of the buildings and the implementation side of it. We are happy to see the same trend in India, where clients are not only thinking about the hardware reliability and performance but paying equal attention on how the end user will interact with the building – this is where we strongly come in as a global brand with our software expertise, managing complexity of building automation thereby translating it to an user friendly platform for end users to interact with. To realise these objectives, we need a perfect blend of service, security, design and partnership with system integrators.
What is your pitch to your potential customer? Why would they choose your service?
We, by virtue, of our 20 years of experience, have seen the industry grow in front of us. We are proud to be part of all the major milestones it has passed. We have been glued to the developments happened so far, adopted our offering accordingly, readying our offer with the upcoming. Hence, we have been the top choice of system integrators/end users year after year, being most relevant when comes to dealing with building automation technology.
Our approach has always been to open to the new ideas/mentality/regional habits and address it with product development and improvements. Our key partnerships in more than 100 countries give us a huge window to look into various market and listen to our customers on a daily basis. This makes us the most agile company in terms of fast response to concerns and new ideas.
We really believe in “No Man Left Behind” mentality – whether it is a small company or large consortium.
Reliability and scalability are of utmost importance for home and building automation systems. What approach do you follow to integrate these critical factors into your processes?
Quality and stability in the software is of paramount importance to us. We are proud to have excellent team in Q&A, customer service, support and development for years together and committed.
Once identified, every problem is analysed thoroughly and a solution is provided in the shortest time possible. I personally own the KRA of Customer satisfaction as the owner of the company and my team is totally aligned to this key aspect.
How are technologies such as IoT advancing building automation beyond mere optimizations?
IoT has long been an undefinable term, but now such technologies open up completely new possibilities. It’s all about exploring the symbiosis – through higher-level networking and cooperation of local intelligence. That is how we reach new levels of possibilities, and at the same time, resource consumption optimization is raised to new levels.
What future trends do you envisage in the building automation space in the short-to-medium term time frame?
Let’s define it in this way: (IoT + AI) * Cloud = future, which means we shall see software and software-related services dominating the game because it will not only ease the life of building owners/operators by how the building is managed but also bring in new possibilities to the installers in terms of offering value additions. I see this already happening very fast so the short and medium term vision will be only to the extent that this will happen. It’s just matter of time.
