FARM CREDIT SERVICES OF AMERICA
Revolutionizing the digital experience of agricultural financing for farmers across America.
Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) provides financing that helps agricultural producers sustain and grow their operations. In response to increasing financial uncertainty and a rapidly digitizing customer landscape, FCSA is pursuing a digital transformation focused on delivering a seamless omnichannel experience.
Background
New consumer expectations, economic pressures, and technological advances are driving change. Farmers and agribusinesses must rethink efficiency and sustainability to remain competitive, as well as having to face the challenge of policy compliance from their governments.
Challenge
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Timeline: 2024 - 2025
Position: Researcher
Solution
To combine their deep agricultural expertise and local presence with digital tools that give customers and internal teams easy access to financial and insurance products, along with data-driven insights for whenever and however they choose to do business.
Logistics
Project Goals
Digital transformation of products and customer engagement: FCSA is focused on empowering their customers to do business where, when and how they desire. FCSA is also enabling their teams to capitalize on digital investments to create more value for customers and the FCSA teammates at the heart of the customer relationship.
Maturing the XD team towards leading organizational change: I teamed up with FCSA’s XD team leadership to guide the team towards maturing how they do the work of research and design, while also promoting the leadership skills and strategies for sharing design work throughout the organization.
Establishing design systems and structured approaches to digital transformation: FCSA’s design systems continue to evolve and develop. Together, we are building new design systems, both customer and teammate facing, to aid in the scaling of their digital platforms to support a seamless omnichannel experience. I also helped to provide the strategy and delivery of content and communications that share the story of the evolving organizational transformation and its digital experiences.
Holistic view of the customer experience, now and into the future: I helped FCSA expand their understanding of their customers’ experience through qualitative research and the development of research operations and artifacts from personas to service blueprints. Working in conjunction with FCSA’s customer experience and innovation teams, this effort is also accelerating identification of new opportunities in both the market and in closing the gaps of customers' needs.
Research Process
I began the process with secondary research, looking through annual reports, studies, other companies’ systems, as well as the database for FCSA.
Secondary Research
Raw data may form the foundation, but I needed to understand the bigger picture. Therefore, I decided to take a digital approach to ethnography to reach wider audiences. I extracted posts and discussions from apps and online communities revolving around the trade of agricultural equipment, the fear of technological advancements, and how younger farmers are balancing their education, income, community, and family expectations.
Netnography
I wanted to learn more about what else is out there; what can we learn from other companies and their tools? I conducted a competitive analysis of existing tools, organizations, and companies to understand more about what’s out there, as well as what’s missing.
Competitive Analysis
I took all of the information I collected from speaking with stakeholders and members of the FCSA board and put together the concept of an app to move forward with streamlining agricultural finance. Instead of turning straight to technology, I found a way to integrate AI-integrated support with real farmers and their needs.
Wireframing
48%
Amount farmers are noting about price increases as the main risk factor, recognizing the increase of overall costs rose 13% within the last two years.
50%
Of farmers who think extreme weather is their top risk expect to spend about 30% more on agricultural purchases and were 50% more likely to buy or lease more land for preparation.
72%
Farmers facing said issues revolving around commodity prices are 3x more likely to use hedges and are more likely (72%) to use crop insurance to protect themselves.
18B
A suspected $18 billion in revenue is projected for 2024-2025 in regards to the booming growth of "AgTech."
Which companies will capitalize on this momentum and help shape the next era of agriculture?
“Inzovu has been instrumental in the advancement of our organization's design maturity and digital transformation. From the onset of our partnership, Inzovu contributed to critical initiatives. They didn't merely focus on the aesthetic elements of design; but rather, delved into the strategic underpinnings that drive customer experiences and business outcomes. This has amplified our in-house capabilities and fostered a culture that appreciates the long-term benefits of a well-executed digital strategy”.
- VP of Experience Design & Digital Strategy
Learning Opportunities
While working with FCSA, I had the opportunity to use Figma and Miro for the first time. I have applied it to my current projects, providing me with new ways to present findings and insights to my team.
Working in the financial sector, I was able to apply my background with the R language in order to interpret mass sets of data.
This was a unique project, due to the gap between those who use technology as a tool in their daily lives and those who rely on methods from generations back. Stepping back and listening to shared fears about the boom of the digital realm forced me to adjust my language and presentation in ways I wouldn't have thought otherwise.
“Innovative financial solutions are the next step in agricultural lenders’ sustainability journey.”
- Environmental Defense Fund