The system handles conversations, checks who is authorised to place orders, offers each customer their assigned catalogue and records the order automatically. The processing cost is under 10 cents per order.
AXO's Innovation and Development team has unveiled its latest development: a WhatsApp order management assistant powered by artificial intelligence, designed to eliminate the manual work that currently consumes hours in administration and customer service departments.
The problem: orders arrive via WhatsApp and are processed by hand
WhatsApp has become an established ordering channel in sectors such as distribution, food and industrial supply. The convenience for the customer, however, translates into extra workload for the supplier: someone has to read each conversation, work out what is being ordered, check prices and terms, and key the order into the ERP by hand.
It is a slow process, hard to scale during peak periods and the source of a good share of reference and quantity errors. The aim of AXO's development was to remove that intermediate step altogether.
How it works
Customers write to the company's WhatsApp number as they normally would, in their own words and without installing any additional app. From there, the assistant takes care of the entire process:
- Verifies authorisation. The system checks that the phone number the message comes from is enabled to place orders, according to the access control defined by the company itself.
- Offers the catalogue relevant to that customer. Each contact sees only the products and terms assigned to them, not the general catalogue.
- Keeps the conversation going until the order is complete, answering questions and confirming the order lines with the customer.
- Records the order automatically in the ERP or ecommerce platform, ready to be processed like any other.
The assistant integrates with the ERP or management software the company already has in place, without replacing it or disrupting existing operations, and keeps the product catalogue synchronised both from the ERP and from online platforms such as PrestaShop or WooCommerce.
Under 10 cents per order
One of the project's most notable results is the operating cost. Following work to optimise the artificial intelligence models, AXO has brought the cost of processing an order below 10 cents, a figure that makes it viable to automate even high volumes with tight margins or low-value orders.
On top of this comes round-the-clock availability: the system responds at any hour, regardless of office hours or the team's workload.
Real AI infrastructure, not proofs of concept
The development is part of the line of work that AXO has been pursuing through its Innovation and Development team: implementing real artificial intelligence infrastructure within businesses. Not isolated pilots or demonstrations that never leave a presentation, but systems connected to the tools already in production, working with real data and taking on specific day-to-day tasks.
