Processing incoming documents has always been one of the most time-consuming tasks in industrial trading. Your staff receive enquiries by email, often with attached spreadsheets or PDFs containing dozens or even hundreds of line items. Purchase invoices arrive in various formats from different suppliers. Until now, this has meant hours of manual data entry.
Softrader Cloud’s AI Document Readers change this completely.
When you receive an enquiry or purchase invoice, simply upload the document to Softrader Cloud. The AI reader analyses the content, extracts the relevant information, and presents it to your staff for review. Line items, quantities, specifications, prices, supplier details – all pulled from the document automatically.
Your staff then review what the AI has found, make any necessary corrections, and confirm. What used to take an hour of careful typing now takes a few minutes of checking.
Customer enquiries often arrive as PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, or email attachments containing long lists of required items. For companies dealing in valves, pipes and fittings, a single enquiry might contain hundreds of line items with detailed specifications.
The AI Document Reader handles all of this. Upload the customer’s enquiry document and the system will:
Once confirmed, the items flow straight into your quotation. No double entry, no transcription errors, no wasted time.
Matching supplier invoices against purchase orders has traditionally been tedious work. Staff must check each line item, verify quantities and prices, and ensure everything reconciles before payment.
The AI Document Reader streamlines this process. When a supplier invoice arrives:
This is particularly valuable for companies with high volumes of incoming invoices, or those dealing with suppliers who don’t provide electronic invoicing. The AI handles the data extraction while your accounts team focuses on the exceptions.
The AI Document Readers are designed to assist your staff, not replace them. Every extraction is presented for human review before anything is committed to the system. Your team remains in control of what enters your data.
The system learns over time. The more documents you process, the better it becomes at handling your specific suppliers and customers. Common formats become even faster to process.
The Document Readers are fully integrated with the rest of Softrader Cloud. Extracted enquiry data flows into quotations. Invoice data matches against purchase orders and updates your accounts payable. All the traceability and audit trails you expect from Softrader are maintained.
Documents processed by the AI are stored in our Document Management system, linked to the relevant orders, suppliers and customers. Nothing is lost.
For companies handling significant volumes of incoming documents, the time savings are substantial. A busy purchasing department processing dozens of supplier invoices daily can reclaim hours of staff time each week. Sales teams can respond to customer enquiries faster, improving win rates.
Beyond time savings, you reduce the risk of data entry errors. Typing mistakes on specifications or quantities can be costly in industrial supply. The AI reads exactly what’s on the document, and your staff verify before confirming.
AI Document Readers are available as part of Softrader Cloud. If you’re interested in enabling this functionality for your business, contact our support team to discuss your requirements.
Contact us for a demonstration of how AI Document Readers can help your business.
