Software for electrical and building technology companies cannot be invented at a desk. It takes shape where someone understands how a report actually comes about on site, why a schedule falls apart on Monday morning and which rules apply in the background. That understanding comes from contact with companies, and part of it happens inside the industry associations.
This is why we are involved where the future of the industry is discussed. We have newly joined EIT.swiss, we are already a member of suissetec, and the EEV will follow in 2027.
EIT.swiss: the association of the electrical industry
EIT.swiss represents electrical installation and telecommunications companies in Switzerland. The association is a party to the collective labour agreement, is active in vocational training and sets the professional framework our customers work in every day.
That framework is decisive for time tracking. How overtime is handled, which allowances apply, how travel time is assessed: these questions are settled in the collective labour agreement, and software has to reflect them correctly. Membership keeps us close to changes instead of reconstructing them afterwards.
suissetec: building technology beyond the electrical trade
suissetec is the association for building technology and represents companies in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and roofing. The planning and reporting questions resemble those in the electrical trade, but the workflows differ in the details.
For us that is an important reality check. What works in an electrical company does not automatically fit a plumbing business. Talking about these differences keeps us from building solutions that only serve part of the building technology sector.
The EEV from 2027: close to electrical retail
The EEV, the Swiss electrical purchasing association, is a cooperative of the ELITE Electro-Partners and therefore oriented differently from the other two. It is about electrical retail and about companies that combine sales, service and installation.
These businesses plan differently. Service work, short-notice jobs and the shop floor run in parallel, and planning has to cover both. The membership starts in 2027, but the exchange begins for us before that.
What companies gain from it
An association logo on a website says little in itself. The benefit comes from what follows.
We hear earlier when something changes, whether in the collective labour agreement, in training or in documentation requirements. We see a broader range of how differently companies work, and build fewer features that solve only a single case. And we are approachable, including outside of sales conversations.
Digitalisation in this industry does not succeed when a software provider imposes it from the outside. It succeeds when it is created together with the companies that are meant to work with it. For us the memberships are part of that, not the goal.