What improvements can look like

Starting Situation

A mid-sized mechanical engineering supplier with around 85 employees faced a typical but critical problem in sales. Quotations were created entirely manually.

• Excel-based calculations
• Copy-pasting from previous projects
• Individual adjustments without a clear structure
• Quotation time: 2 to 5 days
• High error rate in bills of materials and pricing

Full scenario: Quote automation →

Starting Situation

An automotive supplier (Tier 2) with around 120 employees was confronted with a growing problem in day-to-day customer communication.

• Cluttered email threads with OEMs
• Manual forwarding of requests within the company
• Delays in handling technical queries

"The request is somewhere in the inbox."

Full scenario: Email request routing →

Starting Situation

A metal processing company with around 60 employees faced a structural efficiency problem in order processing.

• Order data was manually transferred from emails into the ERP system
• Delivery notes and documentation were maintained in multiple places
• High time expenditure in production planning

The real problem was not individual major errors, but the cumulative effect of many small, manual steps.

Full scenario: Order processing automation →

Starting Situation

A technical wholesaler with around 40 employees faced increasing pressure on its inside sales team due to a high volume of recurring customer inquiries (availability, pricing, data sheets).

• Long response times for standard requests
• Little capacity left for more complex customer needs
• The majority of daily work consisted of repetitive tasks

Objective

Clear relief for the inside sales team without compromising communication quality: automation of standard requests, faster response times, focus on value-adding activities.

Methodology

1. Introduction of a Digital Assistant

Automatic recognition of typical inquiry types, access to relevant product and inventory data, generation of appropriate responses in real time.

2. Integration of Existing Data Sources

Direct connection to product databases, inventory levels, and pricing structures — for reliable, consistent responses.

3. Clear Separation of Responsibilities

Standard requests → automated. Complex or individual requests → inside sales team. Control stays within the company.

Possible Effects

In a scenario like this, possible effects include fewer manual email responses, faster replies to customers and relief for the inside sales team.

Illustrative scenario, not a client project. Industry, company size and workflows are used to illustrate typical starting points.