Auckland-based Home Vision Blinds has been around since 1987 but the lagging economy and a slowdown in construction has made business increasingly competitive.
Home Vision's sales manager Tim Mann said because times are tight there has not been enough money to spend on upgrading the company's computers and information technology systems.
"We've looked at it over the years, and we were getting a bit left behind," Mann said.
"Especially as far as sales go, you get the next [salesman from another company] coming in and he's got a swanky laptop and printer that can work out all the prices and print off a nice quote, whereas we've got a quote book, push-button calculator and a price book."
However, this situation is set to change for the blind manufacturer, which has just won a $25,000 IT makeover after entering a Herald competition for businesses battling with ancient IT. The prize, courtesy of Dell, aims to free a business from the shackles of poor technology and includes desktop computers, laptops, printers and software.
