COMMENT
Driving data forwards
F
or as long as I can remember, people in this sector have been talking about the importance of data, and getting the right data, in the correct format. With the increasing amount of digitisation this has become more and more vital.
Initially, the idea behind digitising all the product information was to save time, to save the inevitable errors that creep in when you have human beings typing and retyping things from one spreadsheet to another. It was also about saving the time involved in all that typing, so that people could be better employed doing other tasks, selling perhaps, or chasing down errant payers, reducing bad debts, or dealing with suppliers. We’ve had a lot of different attempts over the years to get the data issue right, some more successful than others. Buying groups, in particular, have been pushing on this issue because they have to be a conduit for information flowing from myriad suppliers to myriad merchants.
The problem has always been that each supplier, each merchant and each buying group has developed a slightly different set of criteria, different ways in which it wants to receive and send data.
In the past few years, the need for clean, accurate, regular data has become more pressing. Partly, that was to do with the Covid 19 pandemic, when all of a sudden, merchants that had been toying with the idea of ecommerce realised they needed to get on that bandwagon pretty quickly. Which meant having accurate data on those products to allow customers to be able to search, find and purchase those products.
Then there’s the increasing use of AI across all
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EDITORIAL
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sectors and industries; navigate those algorithms without consistent, accurate data at your peril. Arguably more important, is the fact that the growing need for accurate, verifiable, trustworthy data that will confirm the products perform the way they are supposed to, is the driving force behind the Code for Construction Products which developed out of this industry’s response to the Grenfell Fire and the subsequent inquiry. The Industry Data Pool aims to get the sector working from a level playing field in terms of data. A joint venture with NMBS and the BMF, who have both been working on this issue behind the scenes for years, it’s going to ensure that there is one consistent data set that everyone can work off. It’s early days – the company behind it, Building Materials Digital Services Ltd, was only set up in March – but a baseline set of data that suppliers need to use has been established.
If you’ll forgive my incredibly simplistic analogy, the end target is to get a chocolate cake, (and eventually, other flavours and types of baked goods) with a standard recipe, one that ensures everyone gets the same end result. The IDP is a way of whittling down all the possible ingredients from Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsburys et al, so that the recipe uses only those basic six ingredients that are in the kitchen cupboard.
The IDP will improve accuracy, consistency and accessibility of data, improve supply chain efficiency through seamless data exchange, and ensure increased regulatory compliance and transparency, all things that this sector needs to demonstrate if it is to thrive and survive. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
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CONTENTS 4 Newsround
What’s happening in the sector 8 News Extra
The Industry Data Pool launches
10 People Who’ve moved where
11 Business Helpdesk The implications of the Employment Act
12 Apprenticeship Focus Ways of opening up the industry to new people
14 Viewpoint
Our guest columnists, from Knauf Insulation and H+H
16 In Person
Julie Chandler looks back on 44 years in the sector
18 Merchant Focus Two years from the MBO, John Nicholls is moving on apace
21 Insulation
Making the most of trends in the sector 25 Kitchens
What’s hot in the heart of the home
27 BMJ Industry Awards Voting opens next month 28 Bathrooms
An extended feature examining what good looks like in terms of merchant bathroom showroom design
45 NMBS Exhibition A round-up of what was new at the NMBS Show
46 BMF Industry Voice The latest from the Builders Merchants Federation
48 Product News What’s new from suppliers
50 And Finally News and the Prize Crossword
May 2025
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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