Forterro has announced a huge leap in cloud integration for the window and door industry, which has the capability to boost efficiency right across the supply chain.
At the heart of the development is a new API (Application Programming Interface) for the Solidor Cloud ordering system which allows Solidor Cloud users to link their own ordering systems directly to it and enjoy the same degree of accuracy and advanced functionality.
Forterro now plans to roll out the technology behind the API to other door and component suppliers who are using cloud based ordering systems, as well as integrating it into Forterro’s market leading Quotila (previously TOUCH) online quoting and ordering solution.
The new Solidor Cloud API eliminates the requirement for any company stocking and selling Solidor products to code, check and maintain the Solidor data within their own online ordering systems. Instead, it lets them tether their own door designers and lead generators to the Solidor Cloud, and access all the up to date product information, images and options they need, including actual pricing and costs.
It has the potential to save Solidor Cloud users huge amounts of time – not just in programming data but in reinputting orders as well, because the API also lets users push completed orders back up to the cloud.
Richie Thornton, Senior Principal at Forterro, explained the wider significance: “The advanced technology behind this new Solidor Cloud API means the ordering system can now communicate not just with Solidor’s Forterro Evolution and EvoNet software, but also with any of Solidor’s parent company Owens Corning’s ERP solutions as well. In terms of integration, it effectively stitches the separate software systems back to back for the first time and will streamline so much of their operation as a result.
“Crucially, the technology will also be deployed within Forterro’s market leading Quotila software shortly. It means we will be able to make system and component suppliers’ data, rules and logic available seamlessly within Quotila much more quickly and easily than ever before, and give individual users a simpler way of adding manufacturers and product ranges to their own online quoting and ordering offerings.”
Forterro is already working with several other big name industry suppliers to develop similar APIs for their cloud based ordering systems, and these will be announced over the next few months.
Richie Thornton added: “This API technology from Forterro benefits the supplier, the fabricator, the trade counter stockist and the installer. It takes costly time out of the supply chain and reduces the risk of errors, all while enhancing the experience for the end user. It demonstrates once again the benefits of working with a software partner which is first and foremost an industry specialist and we believe it has the potential to be a game changer in terms of efficiency and user experience.”
