The BP Barometer has quickly become a key indicator for the industry and continues to be shared by the media. We took a look at why installers wait to see what the barometer is saying each month.
It was clear from the start of Business Pilot, that a system which holds so much data could easily be used to benefit installers at large. It was no surprise then that the industry press wanted to share our data in their publications. Now, major brands within the glazing industry refer to the BP Barometer, so how has it become a mainstay?
The data is easy to read.
It sounds obvious, but often data analysis is so academic that it has no real world use. We always aimed to provide real time data that had an immediate benefit to installers. Something actionable that would help them to make better decisions in real time.
The data is in real time.
A lot of research shows what happened over a period that could be very different to the market today. Take Covid as an example. If a report had been published in February 2020 showing all the latest industry insights of 2019, it would have had very little relevance to what is happening now (mid 2020). It was important that we could deliver our findings with a level of immediacy. For the first time ever, we were able to provide industry specific information within just days after the month end.
The data is backed up with real time commentary.
The installation industry doesn’t exist in a bubble. For that reason, external factors often have an impact on the data coming out of the industry. For example, the Green Home Grant scheme. We pick up on news coming from areas outside of the industry and reference this against our own data to build a picture for installers.
The data is averaged.
We take all of the (anonymous) data and provide the average. This provides a great benchmark for installers to see where they fit among their industry peers. Too often we think the world we see, is exactly whats happening across the industry. With data taken from a range of installers, it is now easy to compare yourself with what’s happening elsewhere in the market.
