– How do you feel about AGA today compared to the company you knew in your debut?
It has experienced significant changes, but always maintaining its initial values. Many changes caused by the needs of clients and the market. We continue to manufacture locks and cylinders, but everything much more personalized. This adaptation is the result of collaboration, which defines us as a dynamic and open company. We still have a way to go and ambition to do it.
-And the sector, how has it evolved?
After a great crisis at European level, the sector is successfully recovering, being the in our case the industry, the engine of this recovery. Clients are very optimist and open to new solutions. Ahead, new opportunities are opening up in increasingly demanding new markets, in which the price-quality ratio is more present than ever.
– How would you describe the customer of the 21st century?
There is no doubt, technology is in the middle of a vortex; Internet and social networks are at the forefront in terms of communication platforms. This forces us to adapt to new ways of selling and to new consumers. The buyer of the 21st century makes us change our sales strategies and it is important for us to know what their features are. This is their profile, global consumers, demanding with their purchases and information holders.
Nowadays, anyone has a mobile phone with an internet connection in their hands, which tells us that any dissatisfied customer can upload a photo or a comment to the network. This can be done by a client in the United States and then anyone in the rest of world could see it and could also be influenced by it. Today’s consumer is more aware of their incomes and expenses, from their phone they can access to a wide range of the same product or even compare other similar products. Having a good policy of value for money is fundamental. Now the clients have all the necessary information in a single click. I think that everything a seller can know, a client can find out. Hence, transparency is fundamental.
– How do you see the future of security in the locking and unlocking systems?
Electronics is the future. Interior electronic locks and commanded from the outside so they cannot be forced. The opening systems can be several, cards, Smartphones, control or iWatch, just by approaching or moving away we can lock or unlock the door of our house. With a single device we can open all the doors of our residence (external gate, garage door, garden gate, etc.). We could even open the doors remotely so that the cleaning staff, the technician, the gardener or a relative could access it.
In order to enjoy all these advantages, we will have to use IOS or ANDROID platforms, or through the internet through a mobile web and that is where the great dilemma lies: will we ever trust the security of our house to an electronic system? Today, there is no system that cannot be “hacked”, even if the information is encrypted or you can make a copy of the virtual key or the passwords through an intermediate attack (The Middle man). I think it will be some time until all these advances are fully armoured and we can fully trust them. Meanwhile, we will continue to use conventional keys, with more or less inconvenience for us.
