Orders don't come through the front door
Wholesalers and distributors have spent years building web shops and ordering apps. A large share of orders still arrives another way: an email with a list in the body, a buyer's system sending a PDF purchase order, a spreadsheet, a photo of a paper sheet, or a voicemail left after hours.
Behind each one is a person reading it, working out the products, checking prices and the account, and keying it into the ERP. When volume rises, the business hires another order processor. When that person is off, orders back up and the warehouse waits.
Where the hours go
- Interpreting. Customers don't use your product codes. "The usual rice, 2 bags" has to become a specific item and pack size.
- Checking. Is the price right for this customer? Is the account on stop? Is the product discontinued? Can you deliver on that day?
- Keying. Every line typed into the ERP, then checked again.
- Replying. Confirmations, out-of-stock messages, delivery-time questions and "did you get my order?" calls.
What we build
An AI order desk connected to your system. It reads every incoming order, matches each line to your catalogue using the customer's own history, checks it against your rules, and creates the order. Anything uncertain goes to your team with the original and the extracted order side by side. Customers get a confirmation on the channel they used, and questions about unclear lines go back in the same thread.
Overnight orders are a good place to start. Voicemails and emails that arrive after the office closes are transcribed, read and entered, so the morning shift starts with a short exception list instead of a backlog.
A typical pilot
One order channel, such as the order inbox, run on a sample of real orders for two to three weeks. We agree the measures up front and report them at the end, including every reason an order was flagged. That list alone usually shows where the order process loses time.
Getting started
Order entry is built around your catalogue and system, so it starts as a custom build: free proof on a sample of your real orders, then a guaranteed pilot. See the order processing solution for the detail of what the AI checks.