AN OPEN INVITATION H
Taking a community approach Burke Perry VistaComm Journalist
ow do you take a revolutionary product and make it beter? Tere are many answers to that question, but for tech-
savvy Raven Industries (Nasdaq: RVN), one stood out: Invite the world to help.
Te product, in this case, is Raven Slingshot. Simply put, when Slingshot is
installed in a tractor, applicator, or
other agriculture equipment, it enables operators in the field to connect with the Internet and receive precision guidance signals through cell phone networks. Tis in-cab connectivity opens up a world of possibilities for farmers, retailers, and others. Te issue Raven faced was how best to fully leverage the power of Slingshot.
“Tere is a high level of functionality inherent in the Slingshot platform alone,” says Kelby Kleinsasser, director of ag information at Raven Industries. “But there are so many other hardware and soſtware applications in the industry that could become exponentially more powerful by connecting with Slingshot. We’ve developed the interfaces for the hardware we produce. Now we’ve invited industry developers to build their own bridges to our platform.”
CREATING COMMUNITY Enter the
Slingshot API (Application
Programming Interface) Community website, a place where licensed developers (licenses are free from Raven) can access the Slingshot source code—a necessary step in creating applications connecting their hardware and soſtware to the Slingshot Field Hub.
“We believe that this API is unique in the agricultural industry,” Kleinsasser states. “In working with VistaComm to create both the API and the Community website, we answered questions commonly asked by
agriculture information integrators, and then asked ourselves a lot more.
We’ve incorporated the answers into the API and the community site.”
Designing, building, and deploying a site that facilitates the high level of interaction required for application development isn’t an easy undertaking.
“A great challenge in developing the API Community was the fact that our audience is so broad—soſtware developers, agricultural technology companies, and retailers, to name a few,” Kleinsasser says. “We needed a site that balanced our focus on the agriculture industry as a whole with our desire to speak directly to developers. Te site also has to have two different areas, one entirely public and one completely private for the developers”
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
It was a challenge VistaComm was ready to meet. Te VistaComm technology team worked in conjunction with Raven to build the new API Community website from the ground up, addressing the unique needs of both Raven and their target audiences in the process. VistaComm journalists and graphic designers created the content for the site, and also developed advertisements that helped get the word out about API.
“Te site is up and running, and we’re pleased with the
appearance and
functionality,” Kleinsasser states. “We have a public face and a secure developer area, and VistaComm was able to meet our specific requirements for account management and security. Tis is a site that will continue to evolve, and we believe we have a platform that is more than capable of handling that future growth and development.”
For a description of specific features of the Raven API site, see the Builder’s Toolbox article on the next page.
PAGE VistaComm • America’s Precision Marketing Leader for Agri-Business 7
Executive Summary
Raven Industries was looking for the best way to leverage the power of their Slingshot field hub. •
Their solution: Create a site where developers could access Slingshot source code and develop apps to link their software and hardware to the field hub. •
Raven enlisted VistaComm to work with their development team to create the API site from the ground up. •
The new API is up and running, and VistaComm developers were able to meet Raven’s specific requiprements for functionality, account management, and security.
“We needed a site that balanced our focus on the agricultural industry as a whole with our desire to speak directly to developers.” Kelby Kleinsasser Raven Industries
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