Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the backbone of most manufacturers and distributors. From inventory and invoicing to procurement and planning, ERP software keeps operations running.
But ERPs weren’t designed to ingest unstructured data from PDFs, emails, or spreadsheets—which is how many B2B orders still arrive. That gap creates friction, manual entry, and room for error.
Enter: order automation.
When layered on top of your ERP, automation enhances its performance—not by replacing it, but by giving it cleaner, more reliable input.
ERP systems are excellent at:
Tracking inventory
Managing financials
Enforcing workflows and approval chains
Connecting departments across the organization
But ERPs assume one thing: that the data coming in is already clean.
Unfortunately, in B2B:
Orders arrive in inconsistent formats
Pricing or product details may be missing
Manual entry introduces errors
Validation is often done by humans, not systems
These inconsistencies lead to:
Failed uploads
Delays in order creation
Dirty master data
Increased exception handling downstream
Automation fills that gap.
Automation platforms like Conexiom turn unstructured data (PDFs, emails) into ERP-ready formats. That means consistent field mapping, standard naming conventions, and proper formatting—every time.
No more error messages. No more “invalid line item” issues.
Orders are automatically checked against business logic—like:
Correct SKUs
Valid price lists
Available ship-to locations
Approved customer terms
This prevents bad data from ever hitting your ERP system in the first place.
Automated platforms can integrate directly with ERP APIs or middleware layers to ensure real-time updates. That enables:
Faster order-to-cash cycles
More accurate inventory allocation
Real-time reporting and dashboards
When orders are entered manually, users often create shortcuts—adding free-text fields, skipping validations, or editing records post-submission. These workarounds pollute ERP data.
Automation ensures standardized, policy-compliant data entry.
When order data flows smoothly into your ERP, everything downstream improves:
Finance sees cleaner AR/AP records
Logistics gets accurate ship dates and volumes
Procurement trusts the demand forecast
Sales gets better reporting on pipeline velocity
Customers receive accurate, on-time orders
ERP is only as good as the data it receives. Order automation protects that integrity.
Automation tools like Conexiom enhance performance across leading ERP platforms, including:
SAP (S/4HANA, ECC)
Oracle
Microsoft Dynamics
NetSuite
Infor
JD Edwards
Epicor
and more
Integration is typically done via API, middleware, or flat-file exchange—no need to modify your ERP core.
One of the biggest misconceptions? That automation requires ERP customization.
In reality, automation overlays your existing systems and complements them:
No changes to your ERP configuration
No new portals for customers
Minimal IT lift once integrated
Rapid time to value (often <90 days)
It’s a bolt-on, not a rebuild.
A global industrial manufacturer using SAP struggled with inconsistent order formats and high error rates. Their team spent hours manually reworking orders before ERP entry.
After deploying Conexiom:
First-pass ERP entry success jumped from 72% to 99.2%
Manual entry time was cut by 85%
SAP reporting accuracy improved dramatically
Order-to-cash cycle time shrank by 3 days
The ERP didn’t change. The inputs did.
Your ERP is powerful—but it’s only as smart as the data it receives. Order automation enhances ERP performance by delivering clean, validated, and structured order data from the start.
The result? A faster, smarter, more efficient business.
CTA:
Want to see how order automation integrates with your ERP system? Contact us for a tailored walkthrough based on your tech stack.