The short answer
Orders arrive by email and PDF, in a different format per customer, and get retyped by hand. The workflow reads them and prepares an order draft inside your own system. Someone from the sales desk checks and confirms. Building this one process costs 1,500 euros excluding VAT and takes ten working days.
Processes worth investigating
At technical wholesalers these are the handover moments worth looking at in the free AI plan.
Does a regular customer email '24 of the same coupling as the last order, delivery Friday at project X', and does the order desk piece together customer, previous order, product code and project address?
Does every large customer send its own PDF format, retyped line by line?
Is an order released and only then does a customer price or a backorder turn out to be missing?
How AI order entry runs, from email to draft order
Order comes in
Email, PDF or free text.
Customer and reference recognised
From your own customer data.
Order lines structured
Each line matched to candidate products.
Price, stock and customer agreements retrieved
From your ERP, never from the AI.
Per line: confident, doubtful or no match
The order desk only resolves the doubtful lines and releases.
Draft order lands
In your ERP or as a separate check overview; what is possible is determined by the diagnosis.
Illustrative example: AI in daily work. A PDF order of twenty lines: seventeen lines matched, two lines with two candidate products, one line without a reliable match. The order desk looks at three lines instead of twenty.
AI prepares, the order desk decides
AI prepares
- reading the order and structuring the lines;
- proposing products;
- retrieving price and stock from the ERP;
- creating a draft order and a draft confirmation.
The order desk decides
- assigning doubtful lines;
- choosing substitutes and back orders;
- approving deviating price agreements;
- releasing the order and sending the confirmation.
The stop point sits before order release. AI-first, with a human in the loop: first look at which part of the order processing an AI workflow can prepare, only then who does what by hand, with an order desk that approves and remains owner of the outcome.
Before I build anything, we go through five controls: input, authority, approval, exception and evidence. Each control gives a written outcome, and together they determine whether we build, repair first or do not build. How those five controls work.
What the workflow does not do
- replace the ERP, the web shop or EDI;
- touch orders that already come in via EDI, OCI or the web shop;
- set a price, discount or stock level itself;
- release an order without a human;
- promise an ERP integration before the diagnosis.
When this fits and when it does not
Probably interesting if
- a noticeable share of order lines still comes in by email, PDF or free text;
- the ERP has an API, export or import function, or a check overview next to the ERP is already a gain;
- the order desk is not growing with the order flow.
Probably not the right first workflow if
- almost all large customers order via web shop, OCI or EDI;
- product data is not in order;
- there is already a PDF order solution that does the work.
The diagnosis can also conclude that automating is not sensible right now. Then you get that advice in writing, with the reason.
What I take off your hands if you want to continue
After the free AI plan you choose: have one process built for €1,500, or connect multiple workflows in the AI Operating System for €4,500, excluding VAT. Analysis, testing, team training and handover are included. Compare the options.
- Investigating your situation and the order flow
- Carrying out the audit
- Making a concrete plan
- Building and implementing the workflow
- Training the order desk by working alongside them
- Giving updates on progress
- Staying available for questions, without an invoice
Asking questions is free, during and after a programme. I usually reply within a few minutes, including weekends. Additional building work is a new agreement. The full route is on the how it works page.
Three options, three prices
FreeOption 1, the free AI plan. An AI plan for your whole business, three tailored examples and a demonstration, plus a personal video and a review call. Within a week of our call. No obligation.
€1,500Option 2, this one process with AI. One-off, excluding VAT, ten working days: reviewed, built and tested, with an opportunity map for the rest of your business. Credited in full if you move on to option 3 within 30 days.
€4,500Option 3, the AI Operating System. Your whole business on AI, excluding VAT, in three weeks. Stop point after week one for €1,500.
Who does the work
I am Joost, from Utrecht. I am an AI specialist, shaped at one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, where I work with AI within agreements on compliance, risk, privacy and IT. For your process, we agree what needs to improve and measure whether it does, including time spent on review and rework.
Better work. More business.The tools, the plan and the implementation.
I know how to use AI for better work and more profit. From the right tool and a strong prompt to a workflow your team uses every day.
One specialist, one point of contact. I diagnose, build and improve the workflow myself, and I help choose which models and working environments fit. Read how I work.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to provide to get started?
One order as it came in, without names or customer details. Nothing more. You do not need to know which AI solution you need; I will work that out for you.
Our ERP can already read PDF orders
Then the question is which part is left over: deviating formats, free text, customer agreements. If the answer is 'nothing', I say so in the diagnosis.
What if the AI picks the wrong product?
Each line shows how confident the match is. The order desk releases. Price and stock come from the ERP, never from the AI.
We have MSG, Logic4 or Business Central, can that be integrated?
I investigate that in the diagnosis. If it cannot be done via an API, import or mailbox, the workflow works as a check overview next to your ERP.
How many orders do we need for this to pay off?
We work that out in the diagnosis with your numbers. It is about lines via email and PDF, not total revenue.
Can AI take over order handling from email completely?
The preparation, yes: reading orders from email and PDF, matching the lines to items and preparing a draft order. Release, deviating customer agreements and uncertain lines stay with your sales office. What disappears is mostly the retyping during order entry, while order handling stays under your control.
