Blog Post
Picture this: A manufacturer receives a massive purchase order from a long-time customer. The sales team is thrilled. The operations team? Not so much. The order arrives as a PDF via email (or worse, a fax—yes, those still exist). A CSR manually enters the data into their ERP, carefully keying in SKUs, quantities, and delivery dates. A small typo slips through, causing a fulfillment error that will cost the company time, money, and goodwill. Meanwhile, the customer is left waiting, wondering why order processing still feels like it’s stuck in the ‘90s.
Sound familiar? This is the reality for too many manufacturers and distributors. Despite industry-wide digital transformation, order processing is still riddled with inefficiencies, manual data entry, and recurring errors. Most enterprises don’t even realize how much time and money they’re losing to these hidden inefficiencies—but their competitors do. The manufacturers that are winning today have one key difference: they’ve abandoned manual order processing and embraced AI-driven automation to process orders faster, more accurately, and at scale.
Why Traditional Order Management Strategies Are Holding Enterprises Back
Many manufacturers and distributors still rely on outdated, manual order processes that weren’t designed for today’s fast-moving, high-expectation business environment. These workflows may have been sufficient a decade ago, but now, they’re a major bottleneck—increasing costs, slowing fulfillment, and frustrating customers.
1. The Overreliance on Manual Data Entry
Even in 2024, most enterprises still rely on CSRs to manually enter orders from emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets. The problem?
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It’s slow. Processing high volumes of sales orders manually creates delays and bottlenecks.
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It’s expensive. McKinsey estimates that businesses relying on manual order processing spend 30% more on operational costs than those that automate.
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It’s error-prone. Manual data entry has an average error rate of 3%, meaning 3 out of every 100 orders contain mistakes that lead to costly returns, chargebacks, and customer frustration.
The alternative? Touchless automation that eliminates the need for manual data entry altogether.
2. Lack of Real-Time Visibility Across Systems
Manufacturers typically operate with multiple disconnected systems—ERP, OMS, CRM, and more. But if these systems don’t seamlessly communicate, it leads to:
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Misinformation on order status—sales teams have to chase down updates.
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Inventory mismatches—orders get placed for items that aren’t actually in stock.
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Customer frustration—long response times and fulfillment errors damage loyalty.
According to Forrester, companies that integrate their order management processes reduce order-to-cash cycles by up to 35%, speeding up fulfillment and improving cash flow. But outdated processes create bottlenecks that slow everything down.
3. Slow Order-to-Cash Cycles
Order processing delays don’t just impact fulfillment—they also delay invoicing and cash flow. The longer an order takes to process, the longer it takes to ship, bill, and collect payment. Companies that optimize their order management can reduce revenue recognition delays, unlock working capital, and improve financial flexibility.
4. Your Sales Team Is Stuck in Admin Mode
If your sales reps are spending hours manually chasing down order updates, re-entering data, and fixing mistakes, they’re not selling. A study from HubSpot found that sales teams spend just 34% of their time actually selling because the rest is spent on repetitive administrative tasks. That’s a massive waste of potential revenue.
5. Customers Expect More, and Legacy Systems Can’t Keep Up
Amazon, Shopify, and real-time tracking have changed expectations for everyone—including B2B buyers. Customers now expect:
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Instant order confirmations
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Accurate order processing with zero errors
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Real-time updates on order status
If your current process involves CSRs manually reviewing and correcting orders, you’re already too slow. Customers who experience errors or long processing times will start looking for alternative suppliers who can deliver a faster, more reliable experience.
The Way Forward: AI-Driven Sales Order Automation
Here’s the thing: You don’t need to replace your ERP or Order Management System to fix these issues. You do need a way to automate order processing, eliminate manual entry, and ensure accuracy before orders enter your ERP. That’s where Conexiom comes in.
How Conexiom’s Ideal Order Platform Fixes These Issues
Conexiom is not an OMS or ERP—it’s an AI-driven platform purpose-built for sales order automation. Instead of simply digitizing orders, Conexiom validates and corrects order data at the point of entry, ensuring accuracy before fulfillment.
With Conexiom’s Ideal Order Platform, manufacturers and distributors achieve:
✔️ Over 85% touchless order processing—eliminating manual order entry.
✔️ Real-time order validation—ensuring accurate SKUs, quantities, and pricing.
✔️ Zero-touch order processing—reducing CSRs’ manual workload.
✔️ Actionable insights through Navigator—identifying and solving systemic order issues.
What This Means for Your Business
✅ Happier customers (No more fulfillment errors or shipping delays)
✅ Lower operational costs (No wasted hours on manual order processing)
✅ Faster cash flow (Quicker processing = quicker invoicing)
✅ Increased order accuracy (Fewer costly returns, chargebacks, and disputes)
The Cost of Doing Nothing? Falling Behind.
The manufacturers and distributors that challenge outdated norms and embrace automation will be the ones that win market share and increase profitability. The ones that don’t? They’ll still be buried in emails, scrambling to correct order errors, and watching customers slowly drift toward competitors who process orders faster and with more accuracy.
Take the Next Step
Want to see how Conexiom helps leading manufacturers and distributors transform their order management process? Check out our latest guide:
📖 The Manufacturer’s Guide to Sales Order Automation
It breaks down exactly how companies are cutting costs, eliminating errors, and getting orders out the door faster than ever.