B2B wholesale and distribution automation

A contractor sends a bill of materials from a design or cost estimate with several hundred lines. The sales rep spends half a day looking up item codes, prices and availability before sending a quote.

AI recognises the lines in the list, matches item codes and checks customer prices and stock. The sales rep gets a draft quote with items not in the range flagged and substitutes suggested.

When an item is out of stock, the sales rep looks for an equivalent in the catalogue and their memory. The customer waits or orders from a competitor.

The system compares technical specifications and suggests substitutes available immediately, including from other manufacturers, with the price and differences in specifications. The sales rep chooses, and the customer gets the proposal in the order confirmation.

Each customer has their own terms: price list, group discounts, thresholds, credit limit. The sales rep checks them by hand, and a pricing error only shows up on the invoice.

For every order, the system applies prices and discounts from the customer's contract and checks credit limit usage and overdue payments. An order above the limit goes for approval before confirmation.

Customers add lines, change quantities and ask about dates in follow-up emails. Changes get lost in threads, and the warehouse receives an old version.

AI recognises which order a message refers to and what is changing, updates the draft in the ERP and sends the customer a new confirmation. When the manufacturer's delivery date moves, the customer is informed automatically.

Invoices are issued at the end of the day or week, after delivery notes are collected. Partial shipments and direct deliveries from the manufacturer are easy to miss.

After goods are released, the system issues an invoice based on the delivery note and order, sends it to KSeF in the FA(3) structure and passes it to the customer with the KSeF number. Rejected invoices trigger an alert.

Manufacturer invoices are compared with the order and goods receipt by hand. Volume bonuses and retrospective rebates are calculated in a spreadsheet at the end of the quarter, and some of them are lost.

Purchase invoices are downloaded from KSeF and linked to the manufacturer order and goods receipt. The system tracks turnover with each manufacturer continuously and sends reminders about bonus thresholds and rebates to be claimed.

Overdue invoices appear in a report, but reminders are sent irregularly. The sales rep does not know the customer is behind on payments until they accept another order.

Before and after the due date, customers receive reminders with a list of invoices and the bank account number. The sales rep sees overdue amounts with every order, and once a set threshold is exceeded, the case goes to the finance team.

Manufacturers send price lists in different formats and at different times. Entering price changes and new items into the ERP takes days, and in the meantime products are sold at old prices.

A workflow recognises the price list format, matches lines to the item master, shows price changes and new products and updates the ERP after approval. Purchase price changes that push the margin below the threshold are highlighted.

In construction and installation supplies, sales depend on the season. Orders to manufacturers are based on experience, so some items pile up while others run out at the peak.

The system analyses sales from previous seasons, current orders and delivery times, warns about items that will run out and prepares a draft order to the manufacturer.

Customers and building inspectors ask for technical data sheets, certificates and declarations of performance. An employee searches for files on the drive and sends them one by one.

Documents are linked to item codes in one database. The customer receives them automatically with the order confirmation or on request by email, and the system sends reminders about documents that have expired.

Installers call from building sites to ask whether an item is in stock, how much it costs and when it will arrive. Sales reps answer the phone instead of preparing quotes.

A voice bot, chatbot or WhatsApp assistant checks availability in the ERP, the price for that customer and the order status. It can also take a simple order and pass it to a sales rep for approval.

A sales rep notices that a regular customer has stopped buying only after several months. Sales analyses are prepared rarely and by hand.

Every week, each sales rep receives a list of customers who are buying less than usual or have stopped ordering certain product groups, with their order history and a suggested talking point.