Showrooms and dealer training enter a virtual world

It’s not just kids being forced by Australia’s pandemic lockdown to learn from home, with machinery companies opting for online learning and virtual showrooms to showcase new products. Here’s how it works.

Case IH high horsepower product specialist Jason Wood performed an online demonstration from the cabin of a AFS Connect Magnum.

Hold on to your hats and your smartphones because the ag-machinery industry’s move into the virtual age is gaining pace.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies, organisations and events to take to the virtual realm to maintain operations and Case IH Australia New Zealand is one of them, recently moving to fully virtual dealer product-training sessions.

With pandemic restrictions putting a stop to the company’s usual face-to-face, group-based training but dealers still needing to keep on top of new products and technology, there was no other choice.

“With the current scenario, we can’t just stop and not train,” says Case IH product manager for hay and harvest Tim Slater.

“For hi-tech equipment, training is really the key and getting it to the people that use it and are selling it.”

Case IH settled on a virtual-classroom model after exploring various options and put it to the test with its newly launched AFS Connect Magnum tractor, giving more than 200 dealers from Australia and New Zealand the low-down on the new machine over three days.

The sessions were led by Case IH high horsepower product specialist Jason Wood, who engaged with participants via a laptop from the cabin of a Magnum on his property in northwest NSW, with several cameras allowing him to walk them through the new tractor’s armoury of technology.

Tim said the virtual sessions had been well-received, not the least for their convenience, and would likely be deployed for more and more Case IH training.

“It definitely takes some adjustment, it’s a totally different way of doing it, but it also now becomes a lot more convenient,” Tim says.

“It takes out all the travel to a central point and allows them to remain within the dealership.

“It also allows us to do it in bite-sized chunks, to do it more regularly.

“You get through a lot of information in one big two or three-day session but it can be hard to retain, whereas now we can deliver it in a couple-of-hour blocks, once-a-week type thing.

“We’ve now done the Magnum product training this way and we’ve also moved to it for some of our technical training to the dealers. I think we’ll see it spread to more products as we have new-product releases.”

Agco's virtual showroom offers an online experience for customers.

SAY HELLO TO THE VIRTUAL SHOWROOM

Agco is another company diving into the virtual pool, hosting global digital media launch events for new products and, locally, moving to virtual dealer meetings and some virtual dealer-product training.

It has also launched a virtual product showroom for North American consumers that allows them to delve into products from its many brands without leaving their home.

AGCOvirtualshowroom.com takes the user on a virtual visit to its Jackson, Minnesota assembly plant, where they can see 360-degree views of equipment, watch product videos, download brochures or stop in at the company museum, visitor centre and merchandise store.

While it’s primarily North America-focused for now, AGCO’s local offshoot is keen to Australianise the experience.

“We’re seeing what’s involved,” says Agco Australia marketing communications manager Mario Capetola.

“We’re at a very early stage and just seeing how we can roll it out and whether it’s going to fit locally.

“We’ll see what we can take that they’ve already produced, what we can apply here and what we need to produce ourselves locally so it reflects the local market.”

Case IH consumers, too, are likely to see new virtual experiences as a result of the digital groundwork being done in the training realm.

“Further down the track, we’ll move into some customer-based things as well,” says Case IH’s Tim Slater.

“In the past we’ve had combine customer training and I think we’ll be doing that somewhat virtually this year as well.”