SAN JOSE, CA - “Every business is a technology business, even in the agriculture industry.” This is the knowledge that Greg Gatzke, President of ZAG Technical Services, recently shared with me as we took a moment to explore the many benefits provided by the industry innovator. After discussing the advantages of robotic process automation for agriculture companies with Vice President of Data and Software Services Thuan Ngo, I tapped Greg for further insight into how strategic IT services can bolster ag-tech integrations.

“In the world we live in today, technology is a central part of any business,” Greg shares with me. “A strategic IT vision is how the company plans to deliver the goods and services promised to customers. At the core, technology enables all of it, so building a solid foundation around technology from a security standpoint becomes integral to being successful.”

As Greg explains to me, the ultimate goal around strategic IT decisions and this investment in technology is to make ag companies more competitive. This applies to not only technology that keeps production up and running at all times, but also to the use of data to capture information about the business. Optimizing efficiencies in areas like back-end office tasks allows ZAG’s partners to improve their processes, increase optimization, and shift resources and budgets toward more meaningful work.

“When companies know the cost of downtime, what’s causing it, and when it’s needed, they can better understand that predictive maintenance can take care of multiple issues in a single downtime, making the plant more efficient,” Greg elaborates. “Technology makes this possible.”

As Greg already noted, tech-forward advancements like these can benefit any business, but ZAG’s deepened understanding of the fresh produce industry brings the company a competitive edge when it comes to supporting its ag allies.

“ZAG understands the industry and the criticality of the manufacturing process. We understand the impact that technology has on fresh produce. As just one example, understanding the electronic data interchange (EDI) piece and our industry knowledge provides ZAG with a unique advantage over other IT consulting and managed services providers,” Greg shares. “Additionally, coming from Silicon Valley, we deal with enterprise-level organizations and the stringent security requirements of these companies. We can take this expertise and blend it with the knowledge of the agriculture industry to better implement security strategies that make sense for the organization. This puts us at a significant advantage on behalf of our clients.”

All of the insights you need to strengthen your fresh produce operations await you here on the pages of ANUK, so be on the lookout for our next update.

ZAG Technical Services