Netafim is a global leader in precision irrigation, operating in 110 countries around the world. After pioneering drip irrigation for the last half century, Netafim today is focused on the next generation of farming technology.
Netafim
Turning precision agriculture into an intuitive experience
A farming tech pioneer
The product
NetBeat
NetBeat™ is a precision agriculture platform, conceived to bring farms into the 21st century. It controls connected equipment by using data from various sensors, visualizes data, and generates insights. As every farm is different, NetBeat is customized by the farmers to their own needs using in-product onboarding flows.
The challenges
NetBeat’s ambitious vision
- Data visualization
Netbeat works with vast amounts of data, presenting it in myriad different ways. Graphs, sheets, schematics, overlays, maps and more – every view has to be easily understandable and focused. - Scalability
NetBeat grows and expands with the user’s farm. Its interfaces have to support small family farms, huge industrial operations and everything in between.
- User Personas
NetBeat has to be useful for all kinds of people, from different backgrounds. Some are not tech savvy at all, and don’t use digital tools daily, while others are well versed. Our challenge was to serve all potential users in a suitable way. - Focus on insights
Among NetBeat’s greatest competitive advantages is its ability to help the farmers’ decisions using historical data and machine learning. The insights generated by this AI need to be accessible, understandable and actionable.
User research
Netafim clients are located all over the world, including India — among the most important agricultural markets today.
To better understand these clients, we sent a team of researchers for a focused trip to rural areas in India. On location, our specialists conducted numerous interviews and usability tests that directly influenced our design process.
Universal Design
With users around the globe, NetBeat was designed both with multilingual support in mind, but also with a universal set of 150 icons, who help even those who cannot read the interface texts. This made the product as language-agnostic as possible while retaining its ability to convey complex information.
Cross platform experience
On the field or in the office, the farmers of tomorrow have to be in the know. Using both responsive design and a native mobile app, each use case of the system was carefully designed to match the user’s environment and context.
Visualization and control
Using information sources such as humidity sensors, weather forecast and more, Netbeat helps create smart programs for irrigation and fertilization, and also monitor the array of equipment on the farm. The dashboard was designed to address the critical mission of viewing live data at a glance.
