What is Straight-Through Processing (STP)?

Straight-through processing (STP) is the automation of a business transaction from start to finish with little or no manual data entry. In manufacturing and distribution, STP means a sales order or purchase order moves from the moment it arrives to the moment it lands in your ERP without a person retyping it along the way.

The idea behind STP is simple: the repetitive work of reading a document, pulling out the data, checking it, and updating a system should not depend on someone keying it by hand. Instead, the transaction flows through automatically, and people step in only when a judgment call is genuinely needed. The payoff is speed, consistency, and the ability to handle more volume without adding headcount.

Why STP Matters

Manual order entry is slow, and it is where most errors start. Roughly 74% of inbound orders contain at least one error, such as a wrong part number, a pricing mismatch, or missing shipping details. Every one of those has to be caught and fixed by hand, which drags out fulfillment and ties up your team. With customer expectations rising and supply chains getting more complex, straight-through processing has become a practical requirement for:

• Faster order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles
• Better data accuracy and cleaner audit trails
• Stronger customer and vendor relationships
• Handling more order volume without adding headcount

For a closer look at where order entry sits in the bigger picture, see the order-to-cash process and its 8 stages.

How Conexiom Delivers STP for B2B Transactions

Conexiom enables straight-through processing for sales and procurement workflows by pairing purpose-built AI for data capture with self-learning automation and your own validation rules. Capture is the easy part now. What sets STP apart is what happens after capture: checking the order against your ERP, correcting what is wrong, and delivering a clean, fulfillment-ready order. This is the core of AI order automation.

Conexiom STP capabilities include:

• AI-Powered Data Capture
  Turn any order format, including emailed PDFs, Excel, CSV, EDI, images, and handwritten notes, into clean, structured data ready for your ERP.
• Real-Time Validation and Correction
  Catch and fix issues like incorrect SKUs, pricing discrepancies, or missing shipping details before they disrupt fulfillment.
• Orders That Move on Their Own
  Orders are captured, validated, and delivered to your ERP automatically. Most orders never touch your team. The rare ones that do actually need them.
• No Process Disruption
  Customers and suppliers keep submitting documents the way they always have. Conexiom handles the work behind the scenes and integrates with your existing ERP.
• Proven at Scale
  Built on more than 1 billion order line items processed each year and trusted by 600+ global customers, including 16 of the top 20 industrial distributors.

The Business Impact of STP with Conexiom

Organizations using Conexiom to enable straight-through processing typically see:

• 85% reduction in manual touches on order entry
• 50% fewer order errors
• 30% faster fulfillment
• 80%+ of transactions processed without manual touches

STP is not just about going faster. It is about letting the people you already have spend their day on customers instead of keystrokes, so the business can grow without growing complexity. To see what STP would look like on your order volume, talk to our automation experts.