CNH dealers expand use of AI customer support
CNH is expanding the use of its new AI-powered chatbot that its dealers can use to help support customers. CNH said the tool works by simulating conversations to provide a diagnosis and repair plan for CNH brands’ machines.
Pilot programs are already underway at dealers in Australia and New Zealand with internal CNH employees familiarizing themselves with it in Brazil and Europe. The tool could be live in four of our regions by March 2025.
“The AI Tech Assistant is transformative and sets a course in future tool development that is instinctive to resolving dealer needs. Our goal within the Global Parts & Service team is to simplify repair processes, improve uptime and customer satisfaction with their machine,” said Rosella Risso, Head of Agriculture Parts & Service at CNH.
The AI Tech Assistant in numbers
- 300 dealer groups using the tool
- More than 1,700 dealer employees using the tool
- 21 languages supported
- 1.5 million pages of manuals input
CNH explains how it works
The AI Tech Assistant tool simulates human conversations to provide the diagnosis and repair plans for CNH’s brands’ machines. The tool scans through terabytes of CNH technical documentation and responds instantly with precise answers to questions based on the input received. For example, if a dealer is having an issue with a particular machine, they can insert its serial number to ensure an accurate and precise response from the chatbot.
It enables dealer technicians to save time on repairs and even provides answers to technical questions about older “legacy” models. Some older CNH products could have been built prior to newer technicians even being born; CNH says this tool is useful where there is less first-hand knowledge.
“Over a year ago, we began to look at generative AI to assist our dealers,” said Andrea Rodella, agriculture and construction segments IT architecture at CNH. “We started in North America, running pilots and clinics around their issues to see how we could solve them with AI. Being able to obtain technical support as seamlessly as possible was a priority because of the time dealers were spending on the phone with customers. Now, an issue can be solved first time, without the customer having to call back.”
Rodella stresses that AI is not a “magic box” and that not all information is ready to be consumed by an AI tool. The team must first create this knowledge base in a way the AI can properly process the information and provide the correct answers.
“The long-term goal is for this tool to become capable of far more than transactional communication and for it to be intuitive and conversational. Instead of dealers having to access many tools to perform their daily activities, this technology can get them interacting with CNH in an easy way through one tool,” said Luca Rinero, a CNH parts and service engineer.
“The AI Tech Assistant tool really is a partner in solving problems that we haven’t encountered before,” said Brad Mayer, director of service at Titan Machinery, a dealer in ag and construction equipment with more than 100 stores on three continents. “The tool lets our employees find an answer without knowing where it is. The less you know about the problem the more this tool helps us. We are always encountering things we don’t know.”
