5 simple steps to eliminate manual re-keying of orders: the simplified guide for industrial VSEs/SMEs.
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In a world where digitalization is at the heart of corporate transformation strategies, small and medium-sized industrial companies often face specific challenges. Among these, one of the most time-consuming and costly remains the manual re-entry of customer orders. This practice, which is still all too common, results in considerable loss of time, multiple errors and hampers the efficiency of sales and administrative teams.

The aim of this guide is to show you how you can reduce this manual re-keying to virtually zero, thanks to dedicated solutions tailored to your BtoB business. But first, it's essential to understand why traditional e-commerce solutions don't work for the BtoB sector.
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Why doesn 't traditional e-commerce work for BtoB?

When it comes to digitizing orders, the first response is often: "Why not set up an online store so that customers can place their orders directly?". While this solution is effective in the BtoC sector, it's far from adapted to the reality of BtoB, and here's why:
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1. Varied ordering habits

In the B2B sector, each customer has his or her own way of placing an order. Some prefer to send an e-mail with an attachment, others transmit their requirements by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), while still others opt for a simple phone call or an Excel file. In such a context, a traditional e-commerce platform can't cover all the possibilities.

2. Complex pricing rules

BtoB orders often include multiple pricing rules and customer-specific conditions that are impossible to manage via a simple e-commerce interface. Suppliers need to process these orders accurately, without friction.

3. A need for integration with existing ERP systems

Industrial companies already rely on ERP systems to manage production, inventory, shipping and invoicing. A traditional e-commerce site is rarely designed to integrate directly with these tools, adding another layer of manual re-entry.

4. Personalized customer relations

BtoB commerce is based on strong human relationships. Orders are not just transactional: they often include price negotiations, specific payment terms, or particular discounts that cannot be easily automated via an e-commerce site.

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Only one viable solution to reduce manual re-keying: a set of interfaces tailored to BtoB needs, coupled with AI.

Let's be pragmatic: reducing manual re-keying is not a complicated process, but it does require a few key steps to ensure that all incoming order flows are digitized. Because these flows will remain varied, and it's necessary to adapt to them rather than trying to unify them.
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1. Step 1: Provide your "manual" customers with an ordering interface

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Most BtoB customers are not equipped with ordering tools, so they place their orders manually, by email, Excel file or traditional purchase order. These customers are often in the minority, but nevertheless represent a significant and time-consuming volume of orders. Providing them with simple, intuitive interfaces for ordering from you quickly changes their habits, and they never turn back: it's much quicker to place an order with a tool designed for this purpose than with an email or a document to fill in.

On the other hand, be careful: not all your manual customers place orders in the same way. Some do it from a stockroom, in-store, on a shelf, while others are behind their computer, etc... This is why, in BtoB, you need to offer a variety of interfaces adapted to all potential uses.

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2. Step 2: Provide your sales teams with tools for taking customer orders

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This stage could be reversed with the first, depending on the volume of orders taken by field teams versus orders placed autonomously by customers.

In the B2B sector, a significant proportion of orders often come from field teams, who may or may not visit customers. It's therefore imperative to digitalize this process too, and equip them with the right tools to feed orders directly into your ERP. That's why at Deestree, we've developed 3 interfaces specifically for the needs of sales teams, whether internal or external (sales agents, sales promoters, etc.). These teams can easily place orders on behalf of their customers, access order history, create replenishments, upload photos from the field, manage collaborative tasks, leave a sales plan, etc...

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3. Step 3: Automate sharing of tariffs and tariff updates

Every year, or several times a year, you need to update your price lists. And when you add in the complexity of the BtoB business, which means that each customer often has specific pricing conditions, this takes up an enormous amount of time, both for the sales teams and for the sales administration teams. Between tariff preparation, control, renegotiations, sharing, etc., it often takes a few hours per customer. Solutions like Deestree make it easy to prepare everything in a single global interface, and to share everything in a single click once tariff updates have been made. And the icing on the cake: order interfaces update automatically, without friction, so your customers don't have to change their habits. And rates are time-stamped, for greater transparency and tracking. Our customers save hundreds of hours per salesperson thanks to our tools.

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4. Step 4: Facilitate telephone order entry.

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We don't believe at all in robotic agents to replace human telephone ordering. Some customers like to interact with your teams, and place orders with a simple phone call. Except that very often, sales reps or sales administrators don't have an order entry tool that's functional and fast enough to take the order in real time. As a result, they write down the order on paper or computer, only to re-enter it later in the ERP system. Apart from the time-consuming nature of the procedure, this creates problems: for example, the FRANCO is not checked at the time of the call, which can result in reminders behind, etc...

Solutions like Deestree make order-taking as quick as a telephone conversation. In other words, it's possible to take orders in real time. On average, our customers spend 4 times less time entering an order in Deestree than in their ERP. And that's not counting the automated calculation of customer discount and FRANCO rules.

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5. Finally Step 5: set up a powerful digital scanner to transcribe "paper" and EDI purchase orders

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Even with the best ordering interfaces, some customers will continue to place orders from their own systems, whether via paper documents, PDFs, Excel files or standardized EDI flows. That's where OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology and AI come in: this combination has enabled us to develop the most powerful purchase order scanner on the market. It can automatically read your customer purchase orders, whatever their format, and transcribe key information (references, quantities, prices, etc.) directly into your ERP system.

Once a purchase order is scanned, Deestree OCR doesn't just read the data: it enriches it with context. For example:

• FRANCO context (specific amounts and thresholds)
• Type of buyer (key account, distributor, reseller, etc.)
• Customer's logistical particularities (including region, country, etc.)
• Expressed wishes (delivery date, special instructions, etc.)

This added context ensures that the order form is clearly understood and unambiguously interpreted.

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Complementing digital interfaces, OCR enables an even higher level of automation and eliminates the last manual re-keying tasks.

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The benefits of digitizing orders for industrial SMEs: up to 95% fewer re-entries and more loyal customers.
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By implementing a set of adapted interfaces and a purchase order scanner, you can :

1. Reduce errors: No more manual re-entry means fewer human errors.
2. Save time: your teams can concentrate on higher value-added tasks.
3. Improve customer satisfaction: Smooth, fast order processing strengthens customer relations.
4. Optimize your internal processes: orders integrate directly into your ERP system, without friction.
5. Lower costs: less time spent on re-typing means greater productivity.

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And above all, reduce re-keying by up to 95% for your teams! Want to see how Tchanqué Gourmet achieved these impressive figures in just a few weeks? Read all about it here!‍

Conclusion: Switch to frictionless automation
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To reduce manual re-keying to almost zero, it's not enough to implement a single solution like a traditional e-commerce site. The BtoB sector demands a flexible approach that's adapted to the realities of your customers. By adopting a set of simple, intuitive interfaces, and coupling this with the implementation of a Digital Scanner, you offer your customers a frictionless experience that doesn't change any of their habits, while automating your internal processes.

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At Deestree, we specialize in the digitization of orders for industrial companies. Our mission? To help you achieve almost 100% automation and eliminate manual re-keying once and for all.

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Ready to transform your order management? Contact us today to find out more!

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