The importance of strengthening partnerships and creating a consistent networking

One of the goals of entrepreneurs is to have a product, service, or business that is scalable, whether by opening new establishments, franchises, or partnerships. In the case of Hexagon's Agriculture division, we have an increasing focus on the third modality and we only prove the benefits of working in this way. We are talking about increasing our competitiveness in the market, at the international level, with less bureaucracy, adding regional intelligence in prospecting and business development. It is important to highlight, within Hexagon's strategy, which is the definition of a partnership. And for that, we need to consider this term in its broadest sense. Partners are those who benefit together with the company from the offer or use of our technologies and products. In other words, they are distributors/resellers who enrich their offer portfolio, they are manufacturers who add technology to their machines, they are end customers who use technology in favor of the much sought after benefits of precision agriculture and digital agriculture. Optimising processes in agriculture can mean, for example, savings of over 20% in applied inputs and 10% in mechanisation costs.

The strategy has worked very effectively for us. Today we have operations through partners in Ukraine, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Australia, Thailand, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador. In Brazil, we are present in all agricultural regions of the country.

One of these companies is the forestry manufacturer Komatsu, from the city of Suzano (Brazil). From this union, initiated in 2015, the mechanised planter emerged. The D61 Planter Komatsu is an equipment that opens the new phase of the sector by passing the planting from manual to mechanised. With Hexagon technology, plant management is fully automated, where seedling channeling, pit opening, seedling feeding, pit closing, soil compaction, and irrigation occur. Thus, the speed reached is three plants every 12 seconds, reaching more than 900 seedlings per hour.

We have to think of partners as "ambassadors" for our brand, strengthening the relationship and creating a network that brings consistency to sales and an environment that makes clear the returns from the use of technology. And how to do that? Offering the necessary training and our entire structure and forms of service and support (commercial, engineering, consultancy), so that each partner gets to know the products in-depth and exploits their capabilities to the maximum.

Partnership to always be in the right place

We still have areas that we want to explore, also aiming at more benefits to the final consumer. This year, we entered into a partnership with a strong cooperative, headquartered in São Paulo, which operates in the states of Paraná, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso do Sul. In this case, the members will have a share in the profits, in addition to facilitating financing.

It is also important to say that the dynamism of the sector allowed us to reach the goal of closed partnerships for the year, even in the current scenario. Yes, the strategy is so important that we set specific goals within that context here. But we like to exceed expectations and go beyond pre-established limits. The focus is to increasingly strengthen recently developed partnerships, as in most regions the potential for business growth is enormous. Search for new "ambassadors", strengthen ties with current ones and thus multiply our sales force.

Is that you? Do you really enjoy the full potential of partnerships?

Bernardo de Castro
President
Hexagon’s Agriculture Division