Company news
Case IH training goes from paddock to ‘virtual’ classroom
05 Aug 2020
Pandemic
restrictions have forced Australian businesses to take a new approach to their
day-to-day operations and ag machinery company Case IH is no exception, with
dealer training sessions this month taking on a very different look.
Six months
ago, Case IH training with its dealer network would have involved dealer
representatives travelling to a central location to undertake face-to-face
sessions with Case IH staff, but under current restrictions the company opted
for a new approach which is opening training up to increasingly more dealership
staff throughout the network.
“We’re
obviously committed to adhering to the government guidelines around COVID-19
and the health and safety of our staff and dealership representatives is
paramount, so the way we’ve previously conducted machinery training for dealers
was out of the question at this time,” said Pete McCann, General Manager Case
IH Australia/New Zealand.
“But equally
our business operations must continue and training for dealers on current and
new machinery is an extremely important part of what we do to ensure they have the
most up-to-date and comprehensive information for customers interested in our
product lines.”
The answer
was to move the training sessions to a virtual classroom, where for the past
few weeks Case IH dealer representatives from across Australia and New Zealand,
from the comfort of their homes and offices, have been undergoing important
tractor product training with Case IH High Horsepower Product Specialist Jason
Wood, from a tractor in regional NSW.
“None of us
know how long these pandemic restrictions will be in place, so it’s reassuring
to know we don’t need to stop what we’re doing. Using some ingenuity and with
the help of online technology, we can continue to reach out to our dealerships
and through them, our customers, by providing the most current information
related to every aspect of our product range - Pete McCann, General Manager Case IH Australia/New Zealand
It’s a new
experience for Jason, looking at training participants – more than 200 over three
weeks of sessions - via a laptop screen in a tractor rather than face-to-face,
but he says the feedback from those involved had been extremely positive.
It’s the
first time Case IH ANZ has conducted on-line training from the cab of a
tractor, with numerous cameras mounted in the cab to assist Jason in showing
dealers all the features via his laptop, and illustrating the increasing
connectivity abilities of the Case IH tractor fleet. Jason’s ‘classroom’ was in
a paddock on his property between Gunnedah and Mullaley in North West NSW.
Sessions
were limited to 20 people to maximise the opportunity for interaction by those
involved, and participants were encouraged to ask questions throughout the
course of the session. Jason said it had proved highly successful and came with
a number of benefits.
“There’s
cost savings when participants don’t have to travel and conducting our training
in this way actually allows us to get to a wider audience because dealerships
can involve more of their staff when it’s in an online format,” he said.
Pete McCann
praised the efforts of the Case IH team in ensuring an engaging and successful
training experience for dealers – considering the challenges - and agreed it
was a great addition to the current training structure.
“None of us
know how long these pandemic restrictions will be in place, so it’s reassuring
to know we don’t need to stop what we’re doing. Using some ingenuity and with
the help of online technology, we can continue to reach out to our dealerships
and through them, our customers, by providing the most current information
related to every aspect of our product range.”
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