Its not often the world of tech and fenestration come together in the mergers and acquisitions arena but today is that day, with the announcement that Business Micros have acquired Echo Digital Media (EDM), better known as The Consultancy and The Glazing Vault.

“Exciting Acquisition”

This was the announcement made on the Glazing Vault website:

Business Micros has announced the acquisition of Echo Digital Media (EDM), better known in this industry under its twin brands of The Consultancy and The Glazing Vault, for an undisclosed sum.

The move brings together two of the sector’s biggest digital specialists; and demonstrates the scale of Business Micros’ continuing ambition as it looks to strengthen its market leading position in its 41^st year.

Graeme Bailey, Managing Director of Business Micros, says the investment in EDM will have long term benefits for both businesses, giving them the opportunity to share expertise and resources, as well as to develop new opportunities together.

He says: “EDM is already a really good business, with a great team and really exciting products, particularly in terms of its pricing and ordering portals. With Business Micros’ backing, we think it has the potential to be even better, and we will certainly be looking to invest further in both the team and the product range.”

For customers of Business Micros and EDM, Graeme says it is very much business as usual. He adds: “Customers probably won’t notice any differences in the short term but, over time, we are confident that they will see some really significant improvements in how we both operate. For instance, EDM will now have access to the datasets held within Business Micros to make their portal development quicker and easier, while Business Micros will be able to utilise the digital design expertise at EDM to enhance the interface on many of our products.

“We’ve got some really exciting new plans as well which will make the most of the obvious synergy between the two businesses, building on our individual strengths and making us even better as a group.”

Moving forward, EDM will operate as a separate business within the Business Micros group, in the same way that BM Aluminium, the specialist aluminium software business, has done since 2007. Paul Callaghan, EDM’s Managing Director, says that he sees only positives for EDM and its customers following the acquisition: “We’re becoming part of the industry’s biggest software provider, which has spent over 40 years building a deserved reputation for service and innovation. That’s a really exciting opportunity for us and gives us the platform we need to push on to the next phase in our growth.”

Industry tech powerhouse

This kind of acquisition is a perfect example of my argument that future development and forward progress lies in technology. Business Micros and BM Aluminium power many of the pricing platforms we all use every. Indeed, I use their Evoution satellite product as a customer of John Fredericks every day. I also use the Solidor quoting engine every day, and this was built by EDM. Two great tools that make my job of selling a ton easier.

The companies are both leaders in their respective parts of the industry, and although in the statement above it makes clear that both companies will continue to operate seperately, I am looking forward to seeing what these two companies can do together.

As a merger, this is a major one. Alone these companies were doing great things, together they will create a tech powerhouse that will continue to spread the influence of their existing products as well as create new innovations that will help bring the fenestration industry the progress that it desperately needs.

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