On 7 June 2018 we ran our 8th Export Action Plan competition with BubbleBum (UK) Limited taking home the £3000 cash prize.
In the latest of our finalist case studies, we speak to Wondrwall about their export plans and their tips for future entrants to the competition.
What does your company do at the moment and what’s next?
Wondrwall is a pioneering intelligent living system that makes your home adapt to your needs and desires – automatically controlling heating, lighting, security, safety, and music with voice control technology to override any adjustments at any time. The Wondrwall home learns and works around you, observing how you actually live, which rooms you spend the most times in and how you use heating and lighting. In doing so, Wondrwall seamlessly and intelligently supports and enhances your living environment without your input. Wondrwallis being rolled out by over half of the top house builders in the UK. With the UK covered, we are now focusing our efforts on our international sales in to Europe.
How are the exports going?
Starting well with considerable interest and the first agreements in place in France, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands.
How has the Export Action Plan helped with your exports?
It helped us to focus ourselves rather than go too broad and was a useful cross check to make sure we had everything covered.
How have you found the experience of the final today?
I think a lot of investors missed an opportunity to see 10 cutting edge companies pitch their ideas and take the opportunity to engage with them.
What three tips would you give to other new exporters?
Never underestimate the benefit you get from native language speakers and the ability to engage your customers in their own language and understand their needs and culture. Hire nationals or native speakers and make an effort to learn just a few words for when you meet the customers. Just give it a go, don’t be scared, if your offering works well in the UK, the chances are very high that it will work internationally as well. And make sure you plan and do it right.
Enter your Export Action Plan into the Open to Export International Business Awards for the chance to win $5000 at a showcase final in Geneva this October.
About Wondrwall
Wondrwall is a Manchester based technology company that developed a pioneering intelligent living system that makes your home adapt to your needs and desires – automatically controlling heating, lighting, security, safety, and music with voice control technology to override any adjustments at any time.
The Wondrwall home learns and works around you, observing how you actually live, which rooms you spend the most times in and how you use heating and lighting. In doing so, Wondrwall seamlessly and intelligently supports and enhances your living environment without your input.
The real power of Wondrwall lies in our light switch running its own operating system and housing 13 different sensors covering temperature, humidity, power, motion, luminosity and sound creating a sensory network of over 100 sensors throughout the home that monitor your habitational patterns, as well as your home’s overall efficiency and performance. Amazon’s push-to-talk Alexa platform offers added functionality with voice control.
Once installed, Wondrwall begins to build a detailed picture of exactly how you use your home. With a complex understanding of your habitation patterns, Wondrwall plots the optimal running of your home while making continual improvements. Using machine learning and predictive modelling to make intelligent decisions to control your home efficiently, save you money and to make your home more comfortable and safer.
With Wondrwall technology, your home gains the intelligence and insights about your living patterns and how your home functions it needs to control the heating, lighting, security and safety of your home exactly as you want them, without you having to tell it. The technology in Wondrwall has been carefully designed to make your home intelligent, not more complicated and improve your comfort and make your home a better, safer place
Wondrwall has been primarily developed for the house building market and is being rolled out by large property developers in the UK. It is also available as a retrofit solution for existing homes direct from Wondrwall and via traditional consumer electronics sales channels. Wondrwall is now expanding its business to Western Europe, specifically Germany, France, The Netherlands and Sweden in 2018 with plans for USA and Japan in 2019.
T: @wondrwall
I: wondrwalluk
