In this article
- What exactly is order processing?
- How do your orders come in?
- How does an AI employee process an order?
- Where does automated order processing go wrong?
- What needs to be in place before you start?
- And purchase orders?
- Integration, B2B portal or AI employee: which do you choose?
- Where do you start?
- Frequently asked questions
Automating order processing starts with how your orders come in. If they arrive structured, from a webshop, B2B portal or marketplace, a regular integration with your ERP is enough. If they come as an email, PDF, spreadsheet or WhatsApp message, an AI employee can read them, match the items to your range, check them against your agreements and set them up in Exact, AFAS or Business Central. Anything that doesn't match goes to the sales office.
That second kind of order is where most sales offices spend their day. Below you'll find the best approach per channel, how an AI employee processes an order and where it goes wrong in practice.
What exactly is order processing?
Order processing is everything between an order and delivery: entering the order, checking, confirming, picking and invoicing. In practice, automation is mostly about the first two steps, entering and checking, because that's where the retyping happens and where mistakes creep in.
A mistake in a quantity or item code costs more later than the entry itself: a wrong delivery, a return, a credit note and a customer on the phone. So automating isn't only about time, it's also about less rework.
How do your orders come in?
The approach differs per channel. Structured orders should come in through an integration, without AI. Unstructured orders need something that can read.
- Webshop: orders from Shopify or WooCommerce go to your ERP through an integration. See connecting Exact Online to Shopify and the Exact Online WooCommerce integration.
- Marketplace: orders from bol go through an integration in the same way. See connecting Exact Online to bol.
- B2B portal: business customers order themselves, with their own prices and range. The order arrives structured. See having a B2B portal built.
- Email, PDF and spreadsheets: purchase orders from the customer's system, lists with the customer's item codes or an email with twenty lines. This is where the Order Entry Assistant helps.
- WhatsApp and loose messages: three lines of text, sometimes a photo of a label. This is where the Order Processor for WhatsApp and email helps.
Most businesses have several channels at once. Start with the channel that costs the sales office the most time, not the one that's easiest to automate.
How does an AI employee process an order?
In four steps: coming in, reading, matching and checking. If everything matches your agreements, the order is ready in your ERP. If something is off, it goes to the sales office with the reason.
- Coming in: the AI employee reads the order inbox or shared WhatsApp inbox, attachments included.
- Reading: it recognises the customer by email address, phone number or account number, and takes lines, quantities and the delivery address from the text or attachment.
- Matching: it translates the customer's item codes and descriptions into your range, with the price agreements for this customer.
- Checking: price, quantity, minimum order, lead time and stock against the agreements in your ERP.
A guess never goes into the system. If the AI employee isn't sure about an item, it asks or escalates. Every order gets a log: what was read, which match was made and why something was escalated.
Where does automated order processing go wrong?
Rarely in the reading, mostly in the agreements around it. These are the places to set rules for up front:
- Customer item codes: without a translation table between their codes and yours, matching stays guesswork. That table grows with every order a person confirms.
- Units: a box of twelve or twelve single items. Define per item which unit you sell in.
- Prices in the order: if the customer's price differs from your agreement, a person decides which applies.
- Duplicate orders: the same order by email and again as an attachment, or resent with one change. Recognise them by order number and content.
- Changes afterwards: a customer changing a line after the order is already set up. Agree until when that can happen automatically.
What needs to be in place before you start?
Your ERP needs to be the source for customers, items and price agreements, and they need to be correct. An AI employee checks against what's there; if the agreements aren't recorded anywhere, it can't check anything.
- Customers with their price agreements and delivery terms in the ERP.
- A translation table for the item codes of your largest customers, or the willingness to build one during the first weeks.
- One order inbox per channel, so orders don't sit scattered across personal mailboxes.
- Rules for when an order is escalated, and who in the sales office picks it up.
The connection to your ERP runs through the package's API, such as Exact Online, AFAS or Business Central. We can connect any system, including your own ERP or database.
And purchase orders?
The same approach works on the other side: a request from someone on the shop floor becomes a purchase order, with the right approval and tracking of what hasn't been delivered yet. That's the work of the Purchase Order Handler. How to then match the supplier's invoice to the order is covered in automating invoice processing.
Integration, B2B portal or AI employee: which do you choose?
If an order already arrives structured, choose an integration. If you want customers to get used to ordering themselves, choose a B2B portal. If customers keep ordering the way they're used to, by email, PDF or WhatsApp, choose an AI employee.
Often it's a combination. A portal takes regular customers out of the inbox, and an AI employee handles the rest. Don't try to force customers to order differently if it costs you the relationship: that's exactly what the AI employee is for.
Where do you start?
For one week, count how many orders come in per channel, how many minutes one order takes and how often something has to be fixed later. Then you'll see where the time goes and which channel comes first.
For the first few weeks, have the AI employee only make suggestions that the sales office confirms. You'll see how often it's right, the item code table grows along the way, and then you decide per customer or type of order what may go through automatically.
Want that worked out first, with the opportunities that pay off most? The AI Opportunity Audit maps what order processing costs now and what can be better. If the work is clear, you can go straight to having an AI agent built for your order flow.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI read orders from a PDF?
Yes. An AI employee reads purchase orders as PDFs, spreadsheets and orders in the body of an email, even when every customer uses a different layout. Anything it doesn't recognise with certainty, it escalates instead of guessing.
Which ERP systems does automated order processing work with?
With any ERP that has an API, such as Exact Online, AFAS Profit and Business Central, and also with your own database. The order goes into your ERP itself, so stock, planning and invoicing stay in one place.
What happens if the AI doesn't recognise an item?
Then the order goes to the sales office with that line and the reason, or a question goes back to the customer. Once an employee confirms the right item, that match goes into the translation table so it works next time.
Is a B2B portal better than automating orders?
For customers who order often and are willing to do it themselves, yes: the order then arrives structured. For customers who keep emailing or messaging, no. Most businesses combine both.
What does automating order processing cost?
It depends on the number of channels, how many different order formats come in and which systems need connecting. At what an AI agent costs you can do a cost check, and set it against what entering orders costs now.
