More time for individual customer service
Published: July 4, 2023
Last update: September 15, 2026
smart ORDER from Insiders Technologies significantly speeds up order processing through intelligent document management and processing. A significant portion of the inquiries and orders received via email will be processed fully automatically in the future.
Insiders has introduced the AI-based product smart ORDER at thyssenkrupp Materials Services (TKMX) for automated order processing. This extensive automation ensures faster order processing and unlocks new potential by freeing up more time for personalized customerin the sales department.
As the largest independent materials distributor and service provider in the Western world, TKMX offers a unique variety of materials, raw materials, and services—totaling more than 150,000 products in more than 30 countries. TKMX places a strong emphasis on customer focus and allows customers the freedom to choose their preferred ordering or order placement method. In addition to structured order formats, orders are also processed as freely worded emails or via documents attached to emails. With more than 250,000 customers worldwide, this results in an enormous degree of heterogeneity.
Benefits for the customer
- Higher customer satisfaction through flexible and faster order processing
- Significant acceleration in order processing
- The goal of a high level of automated processing will be achieved
- More time for individual customer support opens up new potential 9Quickly from idea to implementation: Germany-wide production operation in just 14 weeks
Challenges
- A diverse customer base of more than 250,000 customers in more than 30 countries
- High volume of incoming inquiries and orders via informal email or as structured documents
- Orders often lack a unique ID for items
- Manual order entry, processing, and transfer to the ERP system is very time-consuming and tedious
- The solution must be rolled out and function effectively within a complex organization—10 companies with more than 80 sales offices in 9 countries and 5 languages
To reduce the manual effort required for this and increase efficiency in order processing, the Digital Technology Office, following a comprehensive evaluation, opted for Insiders’ smart ORDER product, a standard product for automated document processing. With the help of AI-based data capture, all necessary order information is extracted from a wide variety of documents, missing information is forwarded to a processor, and the extracted data is exported to the respective process automation system.
Within just eight weeks, the Insiders project team, together with the Digital Technology Office and the Digital Garage at thyssenkrupp Schulte GmbH, set up a pilot version and, following an intensive testing phase. After just six weeks, all sales branches in Germany were successfully using smart ORDER, and the international rolloutout to other subsidiaries. Today, more than 600 users across ten TKMX companies worldwide are working with the solution at more than 80 locations in nine countries.
Overall, this has resulted in a noticeable reduction in processing time without limiting flexibility in the ordering process. Manual effort has dropped dramatically, and the sales teams are delighted to have much more time to provide personalized customer support.
Inspired by the success of AI--based automation of document-centric processes, the Digital Technology Office is already working on additional areas of application for Insiders’ smart products.
