Machinery dealers use artificial intelligence to improve farmer service

Artificial intelligence (AI) is about to come off the field, and out of the clouds, this fall to offer serious help for overworked and understaffed farm machinery dealerships. 

CNH dealerships in Saskatchewan and Montana have announced partnerships with AGvisorPro, a technology company that connects farmers with questions to experts with answers, anywhere, anytime, according to the website.

Regina-based Young’s Equipment signed up on July 6. The dealership was followed on July 18 by Torgerson’s LLC of Ethridge, Montana. Both machinery companies operate multiple CNH dealerships, including equipment available through Case IH, Case Construction, and New Holland. 

visorPRO AI technology

AGvisorPRO co-founders are Robert Saik, former head of Agri-Trend Technology, and Patrick Walther, a Swiss-based agrologist focused on ag technology. The company was formed in November 2018, three years after Saik sold the international Agri-Trend network of independent consultants to Trimble.  

Saik said, announcing the new partnerships and website, “Our visorPRO AI technology is really resonating with equipment and precision ag dealers. The pinch point we are addressing with visorPRO is an acute shortage of technical staff, their burnout, and their churn at dealership level.”

Walther added, “The challenge for equipment dealerships is the sheer volume of questions and technical support required in a compressed season. Hundreds of requests arrive each day during seeding, spraying, and harvest. Considering the scarcity and expense of onboarding skilled talent, often these recurring questions tie up even more valuable technical resources.”

“Our team recognized this constraint and behind the scenes, has been working on a scalable solution leveraging the power of our visorPRO AI technology. We are now ready to showcase visorPRO with selected dealerships,” he adds.

visorPRO is based on a Large Language Model (LLM) AI system, which is designed to extract accurate answers from technical, operational, and service manuals. This visorPRO AI solution is designed to solve dealership challenges by automating referenced responses to repeated queries with a “human-in-the-loop” approach, freeing technical experts to focus on more complex issues.

Improving dealership support

Sean Young, assistant general manager of Young’s Equipment, comments, “Our partnership with AGvisorPRO in launching visorPRO marks a significant leap forward in the industry. The ability to streamline our support process using AI technology will revolutionize our customer service offering and set a new standard in the dealership landscape.”

“We’re not just implementing new technology; we’re reshaping our approach to customer service,” Young continues. “Through visorPRO, we’re increasing the efficiency of our technicians and ultimately supporting our customers better with immediate, accurate responses to their queries, and in doing so, we’re setting a precedent for efficiency, quality of service, and innovative thinking in our sector.”

CEO Brion Torgerson expresses his excitement, stating, “This is revolutionary. During our peak seasons, the pressure on our technical and service personnel is intense. The integration of visorPRO signifies a game-changing opportunity for Torgerson’s in terms of technician onboarding, training, and overall business operations. It’s like manufacturing time!”

Rising wage rates have posed challenges for dealerships, and Torgerson acknowledges the need to optimize efficiency. “This is changing the landscape of how dealers could do business. This speeds the service process up immensely,” he explains.

Dealerships can book a demo of the new A.I. support service through a new web portal.

How it works

VisorPRO uses a large language model interface, meaning that it can understand and respond to technical questions in everyday language. Here are the key steps for a dealer: 

• Set up an information vault for the dealer.
• Load the technical manuals into the vault.
• Service or tech staff forward farmer questions to visorPRO.
• visorPRO kicks out a response in less than 30 seconds.
• The response references the manual and page numbers. 
• The service tech looks at the AI response and sends it off. OR the service tech can add their own knowledge to the answer and send it off to the farmer.
• The service tech’s response is captured by the AI and added to the dealer’s vault, making every interaction with farmers more powerful.
• A legacy of applied knowledge is built for the dealer.
• New service techs access the manuals and the archived knowledge of the dealership team, thus reducing the learning curve of new staff.
• Less-experienced staff field questions with greater confidence.