SAP Business One and email orders: where does the time go?

SAP Business One is the backbone of many small and medium-sized businesses: stock, orders and invoicing in one place. Its sales order handling is mature – the hard part is how the order gets there.

The typical path

1. The customer writes an email, sometimes attaching a PDF or spreadsheet.
2. The order clerk opens it and finds the customer in B1.
3. They look up the items line by line – customers rarely use your item codes.
4. They type the quantities and check the unit (piece, box, carton?).
5. They pick the delivery address and set the requested date.
6. If anything is unclear, they write back – and the order stalls half-done.

Where does the time go?

Not into typing, but into searching. Which item “the usual bolt” is, or which of two addresses “the site” means, only becomes clear from the customer’s history. An experienced colleague keeps that in their head – a new one doesn’t.

What can be automated, and what can’t?

Through the B1 Service Layer, sales orders can be created programmatically, and customers, items and past orders can be queried. That means the searching and preparation can be handed to a machine. The decision – whether the draft is right – should stay with a person: they know the customer and they are accountable for the order.

Sortio is built around exactly this division of work: the machine looks up, matches and explains; your colleague checks and approves.