An idea
goes global

What’s on the slip accompanying this sample? Just what field does it come from? And do the photos from yesterday’s mail belong with it? Ariane Knauth is at a loss. Yet the data is so valuable. Our field service has collected various plant and soil samples in all sugarbeet cultivation regions in Germany and Austria since 2001. They reveal the dynamic pace at which pests and diseases are spreading.

Up to now, the samples were sent to the laboratory in Einbeck along with a manually completed accompanying slip. Field service then read the geocoordinates for the field in question from the navigation device or sent the location via WhatsApp.

Finally, Ariane Knauth had to assign the bits of information to one another and enter them in Excel. “But when a consultant had 10 to 15 meetings a day with customers, a lot tended to get muddled up,” recalls the specialist for office and project organization. She therefore had no choice but to sit down with the heads of the consulting offices and jointly sort and arrange their information. “That took hours.”

From analog to app

There had to be a better way. But what was it? “I simply got down to the job,” says Ariane Knauth. She first asked her boss for a budget in 2018. Then she sought advice from her CRM colleague Ingo Schröder – a short hop across the hall. The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) team administers and maintains all customer data. Having gleaned this customer data, Ariane Knauth turned to Global IT because she wanted to link the data with the information about a sample. There, Julita Emersleben put Ariane Knauth in touch with a suitable service provider, who explained what she required at a minimum: “I needed a sample name that can be assigned to a customer, and I wanted the precise coordinates of the area from which the sample was taken.”

Advantages also for field service

No problem at all, promised the developers. And true to their word, after just one week Ariane Knauth had the first version of the app SEAD (Sample Evaluation and Documentation) on her smartphone. Field service now uses a smartphone instead of writing everything manually on an accompanying slip. The geocoordinates of the location where the samples are taken are automatically recorded and photos are also assigned directly to a sample.

The SEAD app also makes collecting samples more of a pleasure for field service. “Yes, I wanted the data. But I also wanted to make field service’s work easier.” A further advantage: Our employees can call up the results of the samples in talks with customers and use them in their consulting work. To enable that, the app can present the data on a map that can be sorted by regions and positive identifications.

The SEAD app is now being used internationally

Ariane Knauth is enthusiastic about the app. “First and foremost, it gives me the assurance that our data is recorded cleanly and accurately. The potential for error is incredibly small. And the possibilities are enormous.” The next step will be to integrate the laboratory, which needs the data to be shown in a different way. Ariane Knauth is currently accompanying the app’s international rollout. The first countries started using it this year, and they are to be followed in 2022 by all those that send their sugarbeet samples to Einbeck. The Business Unit Cereals has likewise adapted the app, and Ariane Knauth has also presented the digital aid to Corn. And that is not all: The SEAD app was the basis for an application that also eliminates the need for slips in evaluations– another idea from Ariane Knauth, who terms herself a “friend of the paperless office.” Thanks to her commitment and the time she has saved, the office and project organizer has created a new task for herself and is living up to our slogan “Make yourself grow”: “I’ve sort of evolved into a project coordinator.” |