“The updated web shop, which we are continually working on improving, has been live since the end of 2020 in all Kramp countries, as is the Kramp App", says Arnoud. Customers everywhere can now order any product we stock directly through the app, with revenue through that channel steadily increasing. Customer feedback is very good, aided by the access to MyAccount, where customers can carry out self-service, saving them having to make calls for less complex requests. A win for customers and a win for us.

“We see farmers increasingly buy online. This is a real threat to the dealer and therefore for us. This is why Maykers is crucial for our strategy. Maykers is fully focused on supporting the dealer to move forward in a digital world. Most dealers do not have the funds, nor the experience, nor sufficient scale to do this themselves. We are in this together, so it’s to our mutual benefit to help dealers and farmers alike. During 2021 we’ve also been taking steps towards more digital integration with suppliers, to make it easier to plan ahead in partnership, and we’ll be continuing our work in that area through 2022.”

“In 2022 we will continue to improve our various digital channels, as well as increasingly digitalise our customer service. We will also continue to roll out new pricing engine technology, which uses data to set prices for dealers which support them in making the best of their business. We’re looking at more unified communications channels for customers as well, to make it easier to get in contact.

“What is also critical is making even better use of our data. We are an increasingly data-driven company so we’re putting together some high value use cases for identifying more opportunities to make use of it. One example is adding recommendations to the web shop: where if a dealer orders something, they are recommended other products which would be good for their business. This is far more challenging in B2B than in B2C and requires a lot more technical insight – after all, we are knowledge partners for dealers, so our recommendations need to be right,” Arnoud concludes.

“Our partnership with John Deere has exceeded our joint expectations and we’re very proud of all the local teams who worked so hard to make that happen. We continued our roll-out to Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Poland, with more countries to come next year. We are very pleased with the excellent results we have achieved with strategic partner Vapormatic. We have also initiated new partnerships with several companies, such as Deutz AG and SIP.

“All partnerships are about adding value for the customer, while also benefiting both partners. When that balance is no longer possible, sometimes it is right to part ways. Our Agricenter partnership with SDF ended in 2021; our goals and approaches have not evolved in quite the same direction. That doesn’t mean we don’t respect each other anymore, just that we are each evaluating our priorities; there could well be a time in the future when a joint approach is right for us both.

“Looking forward to 2022,” Etienne continues, “we’ll finalise the roll-out of our John Deere partnership to the remaining countries in Europe, embarking on new partnerships, developing our partnerships model for the new markets Kramp has in scope, and bringing our value proposition in line with Maykers, aligning our partnership approach to this ambitious growth path.”

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“We’re committed to helping farmers make better, data-driven decisions and leverage technology to be more productive and more sustainable,” Paul explains. “For example, we’ve already automated most on-board functions of a tractor, and our first fully autonomous tractor capable of executing a high-quality tillage job will go into production in 2022. Running a tractor when the field conditions are right, even when labour is not available, can positively impact yield while boosting productivity and efficiency.

“2022 will also see more progress with our next generation See and Spray technology for ultra-precise, plant-level chemical application. Traditionally, a farmer might choose to spray every part of his field to secure yields. In the future, John Deere technology will allow farmers to detect and treat individual weeds. Plant-level selective spraying should reduce chemical use by up to 90%. It can improve yields, will be better for the environment and offer significant financial savings for our customers.

“All of this is supported by our Operations Center, which is free for customers and open for data exchange with other software companies. It allows farmers to safely store and share their data. They can analyze their data to drive better farming outcomes, plan their work, even push jobs to a specific machine in their fleet. And of course, they decide who can see the data and share it where they need to: with their agronomists and advisers. “All these developments - from the Kramp partnership to data collection to greater automation - are designed to help farmers do their job more efficiently and make decisions that are good for their land, our environment and their business.”

“What we have seen over recent years is how rapidly digitalisation is happening in the market,” says Katrien. “This is something that we are looking at carefully: what does digitalisation mean for the market and for Donaldson? Of course, we were already becoming more digital in our approach before COVID-19, but the need to adapt has accelerated. It’s certainly an area where we will be investing a lot of effort in the coming years.

Our partnership with Kramp has involved a number of digital activities. Our collaboration is key; we want to help more customers, but we need the support of the people who make sure a filter ends up in the hands of the end user! We value good communication and clarity about who is doing what – the more open we are when working together, the more successful we can be.”