New Holland India’s Mobile App Ensures a Field Day

On a blazingly hot summer day, a farmer surveys his field in a remote district in Gujarat, waiting for it to turn into a snowfield. A snowfield in summer? Well why not, especially if the farmer was planting cotton, which will look like a carpet of snow, when flower buds appear. Some of that magic will take place thanks to a mobile solution from  New Holland Fiat India, a subsidiary of CNH Industrial.  New Holland Fiat India manufactures and provides advanced farm mechanization crop solutions such as cotton pickers, which automates the process of removing cotton lint and seed from the plant from multiple rows at a time. The tractor maker is already a leader in the sugarcane harvester market segment with over 400 sugarcane harvesters in operation across India, giving the company an over 85 percent marketshare in this niche. Each of these is priced above a crore. “Considering the specialized nature of these heavyweight machines,  we want to empower large farmers, business owners, or contractors as much a possible,” says Parna Ghosh, SGM and ICT head, India, Far East and Japan, CNH Industrial Group. For instance, in order to facilitate rapid agricultural growth, New Holland Fiat India has set up new agri-training centers to equip farmers, operators, and technicians, with the know-how and the training needed to use these agricultural machines. “Our main aim is to provide value-added services which will help us address the pain-points of our customers,” says Ghosh. In order to take a step further and ensure even higher customer experience, the company decided to give free iPads to their customers on the purchase of a crop solution—and empower them with data. “Each iPad is customized with an app which provides customers with actionable information to optimize machine performance, ensure lower fuel consumption and idle time, and lower the machine’s total operating costs. It provides fleet owners the ability to gain in-depth knowledge about their machines–delivered conveniently to their iPad.” The app idea was conceptualized in 2013 and the company worked with a partner to help build the iPad-based app. In September 2014, the company rolled out a pilot for 25 New Holland India’s customers. “The iPad app will allow customers to review actionable parameters of the machines such as fuel, engine heating condition, among other things. The app also helps the farmer calculate the ROI that he has received since the purchase of the equipment,” says Ghosh.  It doesn’t matter if the farmer is on the road or at the farm, the app provides real-time information about the equipment. It gives them the ability to locate machinery, review and create geo-fences, check utilization and working status durations, and will soon allow them to review and analyze fuel consumption, and monitor machine health through the report of key parameters set within the application. The application, meant only for iPads, also allows customers to request for service and chat online. The field force and dealers get an alert and they send a trained executive to visit and service the machines. “Although we sell these equipment through dealers, the knowledge base remains with the CNH’s IT and customer service teams,” says Ghosh.The company has already sold more than 180 machine equipment in the segment, and this unique proposition is only a measure to woo more customers into the CNH fold. 

Our main aim is to provide value-added services which will help us address the pain-points of our customers.