Agrochem Maks (ACM) is the leading Croatian distributor of plant protection products, special fertilizers and bio-stimulators and seeds for arable crops. It has 15 field agronomists, its buyers are agricultural pharmacies and agricultural producers.
ACM wants instructions on the use of TORA fertilisers to be made even faster and more easily accessible to farmers and trading partners. At this time, the instructions are obtained either from agronomists or from promotional materials. Much of the communication takes place by phone, e-mail and through social networks. The same questions are often repeated and a greater burden is placed on agronomists.
ACM aims to reduce dependence on field agronomists to provide basic information. It also wants to automate the answering of repetitive customer questions, in order to reduce the burden on agronomists and employees of agricultural pharmacies. In addition, it is important to them that farmers are able to get information 0-24, including weekends and holidays. Consider as a possible solution AI Assistant (chatbota), which would be accessed via their website and potentially via Viber and WhatsApp. But before investing in new technology, ACM wants to better understand what type of solution suits their needs, how it will work and how much it will cost them.
Solution: Testing before investing in an AI assistant
The company contacted EDIH Adria to provide free service Pre-investment testing (Test Before Invest) examined the concept of a digital AI assistant.
After several meetings and workshops with ACM, the EDIH Adria expert team created a prototype AI assistant on Infobip's commercial platform, which receives a text query from customers and returns them a real-time text response. The prototype has the following characteristics:
- Hybrid AI Assistant It combines artificial intelligence (large language model, LLM) with predefined content.
- Very high accuracy of the answer
- Provides guidance on the correct application TORA products, recommended dosages for individual crops, weather conditions of application and compatibility with other agronomic solutions.
- Answers Frequently Asked Questions on product availability, storage and safety, and Dr.
- Supports communication in Croatian, Hungarian and Slovenian.
- Can be implemented the Website and on WhatsApp i Viber.
- Scalability i flexibility: The database can be upgraded at any time, in accordance with the new needs of ACM and its customers
Outcomes and way forward
In addition to the AI assistant prototype that will be tested by ACM, the EDIH Adria expert team has prepared a report containing, among other things:
- Description of the potential system that ACM could implement
- Recommendations of the EDIH Adria team
- Estimated cost of implementation
The report and the draft technical specification may be used as part of the application file national or EU sources of funding for the digitalisation of SMEs.
Through 2025, ACM will test the solution through a focus group, i.e. a representative sample of customers. After testing and depending on customer feedback, the implementation of AI assistants in full functionality is planned in autumn 2025. A marketing campaign is also planned to communicate its availability and benefits of use to customers.
Expected results
Although the project is in a testing phase, the expected results include:
- 40% Reducing the time spent by agronomists responding to the same questions
- Routing minimum 30% of questions Customers and Trading Partners on AI Assistant
- Release At least 2 hours per month by agronomist for quality work with partners in the field, instead of always providing the same basic information about products by phone and e-mail
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