I grew up in the land of corn and farmers. John Deere was connecting their sales teams to the farmers in the field over 20 years ago. The salesmen took their portable computers out to the farmers in the field to show them photos of the parts they could order for their tractors.

I’m sure my grandfather, who bought the first John Deere tractor in his part of Nebraska many years ago, may have met one of these salespeople! 

My uncle, also a farmer in Nebraska, was the first person to show me how you can see the prices of grain online from his computer many, many years ago.

I co-authored a “best seller” in the French business-techno world: “L’avantage internet pour l’entreprise” published by Dunod in 1996. It was the first book in French that talked about internet and intranet from a non-technical perspective. The John Deere case illustrated how the customer-facing workforce was on the front lines of technology!