Italian vehicle manufacturer CNH Industrial is teaming up with Accenture and Microsoft in a move to imbue its industrial vehicles used in the farming, mining, agriculture, and transportation fields with enhanced digital capabilities, the company said today.
The five-year agreement will see the partners create a global network of digital hubs supporting connected vehicles. Backed by those hubs, the vehicles will support new services such as computer-aided farming, predictive maintenance, enhanced fleet management, and green transportation.
By complementing its historical product-sales-based business model with new digital-driven services, CNH intends to achieve significant revenue growth, the company said.
Behind the scenes of that effort, Accenture will use Avanade, its joint venture with Microsoft, to design, build, test and scale a range of digital services to support connected products that leverage advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), and cloud computing. The work will also leverage Accenture’s Industry X Innovation Network of centers that combine startup thinking with rapid prototyping, delivery, and ramp-up capabilities to turn ideas quickly into scalable products and solutions, the partners said.
“In this economic downturn and critical time for the industrial vehicles sector, we partner with CNH Industrial to support the development of an ecosystem of connected services to streamline daily operations of CNH Industrial’s brands’ customers and contribute to the sustainable growth of the industry,” Marco Giletta, global business director of automotive at Microsoft Italy, said in a release. “With the close collaboration among all players, CNH Industrial will have access to the most innovative technological platform and industry skills, as well as the ability to create digital projects, fostering the company’s digital transformation.”
CNH’s brands include: Case IH, New Holland Agriculture, and Steyr for tractors and agricultural machinery; Case and New Holland Construction for earth moving equipment; Iveco for commercial vehicles; Iveco Bus and Heuliez Bus for buses and coaches; Iveco Astra for quarry and construction vehicles; Magirus for firefighting vehicles; Iveco Defence Vehicles for defence and civil protection; and FPT Industrial for engines and transmissions.
