How CNH builds better agricultural machinery, 50% faster with Dovetail
How Dovetail centralized CNH's vast, global customer feedback into a single system, empowering product teams to make faster, higher-quality decisions that build better agricultural machinery.
7
tools down to 1
100+
team members sharing the same customer knowledge
100s
of hours of customer data—all in Dovetail
Ch.01
Intro
CNH is a world-class equipment, technology, and services company, serving over 180 countries worldwide. From the iconic Case IH Axial-Flow combine harvesters and high-horsepower New Holland T8 tractors used in global grain production to the heavy-duty CASE excavators, backhoe loaders, and skid steers that power major infrastructure projects, CNH ‘s equipment is foundational to the world’s most critical industries.
With more than 35,000 employees and a portfolio of over 100 products, the company’s mission is to deliver next-level performance through a Customer-Driven Product Definition (CDPD) process. Hear from Matthew Klopfenstein, Portfolio Management—Cash Crop Segment Specialist, to discover how CNH moved from fragmented notes to an AI-powered operating system, ensuring that every design decision, from cab displays to combine performance, is validated by their authentic voice of the customer.
CNH Industrial is a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment, primarily focused on the design, production, and sale of advanced machinery under iconic brands like Case IH and New Holland.
Ch.02
The challenge: scaling the Voice of the Customer
For a company the size of CNH, "Voice of Customer" (VoC) data was historically fragmented. Before Dovetail, customer interviews were rarely recorded or centrally stored. From product managers to engineers, everyone relied on personal notes and memory.
When a specific design question surfaced, teams spent hours, sometimes days, searching shared drives or attempting to reconnect with customers. This lack of transparency led to "stakeholder fatigue," in which multiple teams unknowingly interviewed the same customers, and critical insights were diluted as they were passed secondhand from managers to engineers and so on.
Ch.03
The solution: a centralized operating system
CNH implemented Dovetail to turn raw conversations into a searchable, high-integrity knowledge base. By democratizing access for over 1,000 employees, the CNH team ensured that everyone from executives and engineers to product managers and designers could hear directly from customers with no middleman.
The Dovetail process in action
To validate new technology, CNH utilized a rigorous workflow to ensure data quality and team alignment: As the team worked on launching an updated software and display for their flagship combine line, they put this process to the test:
Massive scale: the CNH team conducted 100+ interviews, generating 2,900+ tagged items and identifying 500+ unique insights.
AI-Powered analysis: CNH used AI tagging to organize high-volume data and AI Chat to allow cross-functional teams to interact with the findings instantly.
High-fidelity context: employees without farming backgrounds used Dovetail to observe voice inflection and facial expressions, which Matthew Klopfenstein notes "carries 100x more weight than a quote on paper."
Ch.04
From intuition to intelligence: how 2,900 data points redefined a launch timeline
The most impactful application of this intelligence occurred during the overhaul of the software and display for CNH's flagship combine product line. The goal was to modernize the user interface while unlocking next-level machine performance. Because the software and display are the heart of the operator's experience in the cab, the team knew the design had to be perfect.
The transition from the Pro 700 to the new Pro 1200 was as much about operator experience as it was about added capability. In a $500,000+ machine, operators expect an interface that matches the vehicle’s premium performance. By leveraging Dovetail, CNH ensured the new Pro 1200 featured a brighter, higher-resolution display with smartphone-like navigation and customizable run screens, specifically designed to reduce cognitive load and operator fatigue during long days in the field.
Through continuous interviews tracked in Dovetail, the team asked one consistent question: "Would you buy it?" The data provided a resounding no. While the launch was imminent, the CNH Industrial team had the clarity and confidence, backed by 2,900 data points, to ensure the market timing and customer experience were perfectly aligned by refining the product until it met every user requirement. The following year, that answer turned to a unanimous yes. By delaying, CNH protected its brand reputation and ensured the machine delivered the high-performance experience customers expected.
Ch.05
Quantifying the ROI: efficiency and risk reduction
Cost avoidance
Late-stage changes at CNH can delay a release by two months or more, costing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in engineering rework, testing, and lost schedule. In the most severe cases, ignoring early validation has led to product buybacks. Dovetail allows CNH to identify these issues and pain points early, moving them into the backlog before they become multi-million-dollar liabilities.
Ch.06
The impact: better decisions, better machines
Dovetail has evolved from a repository to an essential tool for synthesizing and operationalizing insights. It has empowered teams to refine their scope, yield higher-quality datasets, and make customer-focused decisions that were previously based on off-the-cuff assessments.
Dovetail’s AI centralizes and analyzes your customer data to pinpoint the work that drives usage and revenue, so your team can build with confidence.
