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Robin Saluoks, Co-Founder and CEO eAgronom.
Do you speak Klingon, Dothraki, or Valyrian? No, neither do I. But that’s what it sounds like when I try to explain the details of our technology to a customer.
My customers are farmers who work toil from dusk till dawn to get food to their table. You don’t have time to spend hours on your laptop keeping it up to date with the latest software updates. Things just have to go well, and if something goes wrong, you have to call someone.
I think there are many industries, or perhaps elements of any industry, that need to convert high-tech to low-tech applications, and it’s a no-brainer. Having spent the last eight years of my life with him just like that, I want to share some tips on how to do it right the first time.
1. Know your users
This may sound obvious, but it’s harder than it sounds. confirmation bias— The human tendency to prefer information that matches our existing beliefs — is a major problem in software development that the industry struggles to address. You may think so, but it may be far from reality.
Ideally, you should have personal experience as a user in a particular field before embarking on product development, but if that is not possible, fully immerse yourself in that world. . Of course, there are also examples of disruptive innovations that have taken the world by technology that no one knew they needed. But for the most part, technology is life-enhancing, not life-changing. Amazon might have made us all shop online, and Apple might have made it possible for everyone to carry a mini-his laptop in their pocket, but such disruptive There are very few examples.
2. Collect ongoing feedback
At my company, we don’t sit in the office and think about how to make farmers’ lives better. we talk to them. When we first launched our farm management software in 2016, our platform was anything but sophisticated, all singing and dancing. I went to meetings with farmers, returned to the office with new information and insights, and the development team got to work coding.
This rudimentary and, to some, seemingly haphazard way of working was developed because of the serendipitous events that led to the formation of our company, but that we always work in perfect harmony with our customer base. This means that we were able to build an intuitive platform that feels natural to use.
It’s also important not to be afraid of feedback. don’t hide Instead, take negative feedback on board and face your mistakes. No one can get everything right the first time.
3. Digging deeper into new markets
When planning to enter a new market, confirmation bias should be recognized again. You might think that neighboring markets work the same way as your home market, have the same culture, people, challenges, and that you can get by with an English version rather than localizing your software, but those decisions hurt you. may come back to..
For example, when I decided to move to Poland, I temporarily moved there. Poland is Europe’s second largest grain producer and she knew from the start that she had to get the market right. I’m not saying that such dramatic steps are always necessary, but it is very important to involve a field expert who can provide insight into your target audience to refine your strategy, message and approach. It is important.
4. Humanized customer service powered by technology
The past decade has seen a shift toward technology-oriented customer service, leveraging a combination of artificial intelligence, speech recognition, and big data analytics. These technologies are incredibly powerful tools, but completely removing the human element and making them customer-facing isn’t always successful.
I believe it is important for companies operating in traditional low-tech industries to have direct contact with their customers and keep that communication open as they grow. This has always been my approach. Some industries, such as agriculture, are traditionally tech-skeptical, requiring large companies to build their reputations on personal, human customer service, face-to-face or over the phone.
However, this human front-end can take advantage of high-tech databases that make all the information consultants need at their fingertips. We believe we can create the best of both worlds.
5. No-code development
Of course, no two end-user organizations are the same, and every entity has distinct needs and requirements. In these “one size fits all” situations, the emergence of code-free software development approaches offers exciting opportunities.
Here, the complexity of the back-end technology allows anyone with the knowledge required for an organization, but with little or no technical know-how, to create applications using an easy-to-use visual interface that requires no code. increase. No-code has incredible potential for personalized products and services in the low-tech industry, and is an area that will likely expand in the coming years.
Digital transformation is spreading like wildfire across all industries, albeit at varying paces. My farmer father is more tech-savvy than he was 20 years ago, but like most of society, his day job is in the fields, and the technology he uses is intuitive, supportive, and It should be relevant and trustworthy. This translates to the end-he user, wherever they are and in any situation.
Ease of use is the absolute key. As a developer, you need to know exactly how your customers work, what processes they want, and what outcomes they want. Now back to my first point. Know your audience.
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