Bushel unveiled a new AI-powered assistant called Buddy at last week's Buddy Seat Conference, designed to help agricultural businesses extract actionable insights from customer and operational data without complex reporting.
The assistant, integrated into Bushel's CRM platform, combines customer relationship data with accounting information including contracts and invoices to provide rapid insights into customer interactions.
"Buddy makes it easier for agribusinesses to know where to focus and how to move faster," said Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel. "We're working to streamline the entire customer workflow—helping teams go from identifying opportunities in the CRM to completing payments seamlessly."
Using natural language processing, Buddy allows staff to ask straightforward questions such as identifying customers who haven't been contacted recently, have past due invoices or open contracts. The system can even generate conversation scripts for specific customer interactions.
The company also announced that agribusinesses can now accept debit and credit card payments for grower invoices and balances, expanding payment flexibility for farmers while improving cash flow for businesses.
Another addition to the platform is Quotes in Customer Portal, now available for agricultural retail customers. This feature enables businesses to send quotes directly to farmers through branded portals where they can view, respond to and accept offers digitally, reducing manual processes.
Bushel revealed plans to add Contract Management functionality later this year, which will automate contract creation and simplify management processes. The system will allow merchandisers to enter contract details directly in Bushel, track full contract history, edit existing contracts and create amendments with role-based permissions.
These enhancements aim to help agricultural businesses streamline operations from customer relationship management through contracting and payment processing.
