From order form to ERP: how BEWITAL petfood keeps order floods under control with the Order Processing Agent
Orders arriving by fax, photo and e-mail are now prepared by the Order Processing Agent. The team checks briefly and the order is created directly in the ERP. Delivered with Aviando in under three months.
Specialist for wet and dry food from its own production
BEWITAL petfood produces dog and cat food with extra fresh meat and the best ingredients, made in the Münsterland region. With brands such as BELCANDO and LEONARDO, the company is a partner of the specialist pet trade. Thanks to in-house production, wet and dry food are perfectly matched.
bewital-petfood.de
The problem: the flood of orders grew faster than the team
Moving from wholesale to direct sales brought significantly more customers. Instead of a few wholesalers, there are now dozens of specialist retailers ordering directly. Every order had to be checked manually and entered into the system. That took a lot of time.
Order flood
More and more orders that could hardly be handled manually.
Overload
The back office was at its limit. Stress in the team grew.
Weekend work
To keep delivery times, people had to work at weekends.
"Experienced agency? Great track record & trust but low agility. Young agency? Small track record & risk of them dying. Aviando? Perfect mix of super experienced team filled with A-players yet customized service mentality."
Jan Philip PetershagenManaging Director, BEWITAL What we tackled together
Before technology came into play, there was one simple question: where does the team lose the most time? The answers shaped the plan. Three topics were at the centre. They are closely connected.
Processes first
In workshops with the departments we found the biggest time wasters. Only then did we look at the right solution.
Clean data
Customer and order data are held centrally in Salesforce. That lets the AI work with them cleanly.
AI agent for orders
The Order Processing Agent works like a digital colleague. It reads faxes, photos and e-mails and prepares an order in the ERP from them.
Step by step instead of everything at once
We started with the process, not with the tool. Then we built a first, simple prototype and had the back office test it. Every piece of feedback went into the next version.
- 01
Understand the problems
We talked to the team before we built a solution.
- 02
Bring the team along
The needs of the employees came first.
- 03
Fast to a prototype
A first working prototype (MVP) showed early what works well and what does not.
- 04
One shared data basis
All customer data sits in one place in Salesforce. That simplifies coordination between departments.
- 05
Prepare orders automatically
The Order Processing Agent turns faxes, photos and e-mails into structured orders. It maps the retailers' item numbers to the internal ones. It even recognises handwritten corrections.
- 06
A human checks
The back office checks the order briefly. The order is created directly in the ERP.
Presented live: our masterclass at OMR
We presented this use case together with BEWITAL in a masterclass at OMR. We showed how an everyday manual problem becomes an intelligent, AI-powered process and what other companies can take away from it. You can watch the session recording here.
What the project changed
In less than three months, a manual bottleneck became a scalable, AI-supported process. The back office works more efficiently and the team is relieved.
Time saved: the effort in the order process drops by a quarter.
To go-live: from idea to working solution in under three months.
Relieved: the order flood can be handled without overtime and weekend work.
Related content for this story
Sounds like a process you want to tackle too?
Thorsten Winkels, Managing Director Sales of Aviando, looks at your order processes, open questions and realistic next steps with you. Together you clarify where AI shows a quick effect and what it takes.