Indeed, the AgTech ecosystem is on a continuous growth trajectory: a recent report by Mordor Intelligence projects the market to reach US$ 20 billion by 2024, with an annual growth rate of 10.5% until 2029, where it is poised to near US$ 33 billion.
Yet, as assessed by Valoral Advisors, venture capital investments focused on this industry represent only 2% of the global investment pool. The landscape is ripe with untapped potential.
These five digital decisions are pivotal for seizing these opportunities:
1. Align digital projects with business needs
Every investment in digital technologies must be justified by its ability to address specific business demands, whether by rectifying weaknesses, fulfilling unmet needs, or enabling new services or products through digital platforms, among other benefits.
Similarly, it’s crucial to prioritize projects so that those with the potential for significant business impact or expedited results garner the utmost attention. Conversely, it’s prudent to refrain from succumbing to fleeting technological trends or the pressure of competitors adopting certain technologies. Business priorities must always take precedence.
2. Embrace open and interoperable technologies
Many companies in the sector still operate on outdated legacy systems and industry-specific applications that need interoperability. It’s time to modernize and integrate the IT landscape. With advancements in technology occurring rapidly, each step forward presents numerous growth and development opportunities for sector organizations. Holding onto an outdated or incompatible system stifles innovation.
Frequently, employees within these organizations must navigate disparate applications – each offering a different user experience – and input the same data multiple times, risking errors or duplications. Transitioning to an integrated and interoperable model that spans the entire business process, including backend, frontend, and field applications, is imperative.
3. Place data at the forefront
Data serves as a valuable asset for companies in the sector. When leveraged effectively, data optimization is essential for streamlining production processes, controlling costs, fostering innovation, anticipating customer needs, and supporting sustainability initiatives, among other endeavors. Artificial intelligence underscores this notion: to harness its benefits, organizations must have access to integrated, high-quality data at an organizational level.
In this regard, data governance strategies not only regulate data access and usage but also enhance privacy, security, and trust.
4. Prioritize user experience
Historically, the industry has often neglected user experience, leading to the development of complex solutions that are cumbersome to use, particularly on devices ill-suited for fieldwork. It’s time to shift focus: prioritizing user experience by offering friendly, intuitive, and appealing solutions enhances adoption rates, a critical metric for digital product success.
5. Choose a technology partner wisely
A technology partner such as Making Sense – blending extensive technological expertise with sector-specific experience – plays a crucial role from inception, identifying opportunities, to effective user adoption and tangible value creation.
Why are these wise digital decisions critical for AgTech? Because, beyond market metrics, they have far-reaching societal implications: the more efficient the operations, the greater the potential to address future food demands for all inhabitants of the planet.