Following the Queen’s Award success this year, they’re continuing with the series of blogs talking to some of their strategic partners that helped make the award possible – this time they’re talking to Novus Fire & Security, their distribution partner in Dubai.
The team at Novus has a long history of working with our products stretching back to the 1990’s. In those early days, the region’s approach to fire system maintenance was very different to what it is now and certainly distant from the way in which maintenance is viewed and carried out in Europe.
Developing strong partnerships
This was not due to a lack of desire, but more because of a lack of awareness and guidance – something that Novus took upon themselves to challenge and improve on.
Poorav Shah, Executive Director at Novus explained: "When we first started out, the use of things like cigarettes and lighters to test detectors was common practice; it’s taken ten years to develop the market and build awareness but standards now are generally a lot higher." Working alongside Lasantha Mallawarachchi, Detectortesters Business Development Manager, marketing efforts have been key to growing the market with campaigns and newsletters playing a key role in expanding the reach. However, meeting people and developing strong partnerships is where the real wins have come from.
Regular training sessions
The team at Novus run regular training sessions so after purchasing Solo or Testifire
Poorav explained: “We’ve had to bring people together from the commercial and technical sides to explain what is wrong with their methods of testing and the detrimental effect they are having on detectors.” In addition to these meetings, the team at Novus run regular training sessions so after purchasing Solo or Testifire, users are suitable trained to get the most out of the product.
This approach has led to increased product take up across the region, in the UAE the Solo range is now the market standard and in other countries there has been a significant take up of Testifire. “Testifire was an immediate success in Oman,” commented Poorav “We worked closely with the Civil Defense authority to promote Testifire, they really liked the benefits of an all-in-one tester and found it particularly beneficial for commissioning at project stages.”
Buying test equipment
In terms of next steps for Novus the team have exciting plans, there are many countries within the region where testing standards fall short, the exciting thing is the industry is keen to learn and it seems that for many Testifire is going to be the tester of choice.
“Most engineers and fire companies we speak to want to invest in Testifire, if they are buying test equipment for the first time their view is that they want to invest in technology and buy the best available,” explained Poorav. Novus will be joining Lasantha on their stand at Intersec in January next month – drop by stand 4-H33 for more information or visit the Novus website.