Case studies: AI, integration and software projects

01DistributionReporting

One view of sales across three countries.

The problem

A parts distributor trading in three countries ran each country on its own database. Seeing the whole business meant pulling figures from three places and stitching them together by hand.

What we did

We built a scheduled report that brings sales from all three countries together, a one-page purchasing dashboard drawn up from the purchasing manager's own sketch, and a page for each sales rep showing their own figures, refreshed overnight inside the system they already use.

The result

Management, purchasing and the reps each open one page and see current figures. The numbers arrive on a schedule instead of being compiled by hand.

02Professional servicesAI assistant

An email assistant that drafts in your style and never sends.

The problem

A company spent much of the day on email between customers, the team and suppliers. Off-the-shelf AI tools didn't know their jobs, their own rules for dealing with suppliers, or how each person writes.

What we did

We built an assistant that sits inside Outlook and runs in the company's own Microsoft 365 account. It learns each person's style from their sent mail, then summarises threads, drafts replies, writes supplier briefs, and chases. It also shows the matching job from their job system beside the email, with a timeline of every message about it.

The result

Everything it produces is a draft that a person reads and sends, and every job is now visible next to the emails it belongs to.

03WholesaleEDI integration

EDI with a major customer: orders in, invoices out, nothing re-keyed.

The problem

A major European customer sends its purchase orders by EDI (electronic data interchange) and rejects any invoice that doesn't carry back the exact reference values from its order. Re-keying was slow, and one wrong value meant a rejected invoice.

What we did

We built an EDI link that collects the orders, creates the sales order, confirms it back, and sends the electronic invoice when the goods leave. Depots in several countries are matched to the right customer accounts, and staff have a plain-English guide for the few lines that still need a person.

The result

Orders from that customer arrive as sales orders ready to pick, and the invoices go back in the format the customer requires.

04Components supplierWebsite and product data

Two old websites, one searchable catalogue.

The problem

A specialist components supplier had its range spread across two ageing websites and a printed brochure, with duplicates, inconsistent specification names and missing images. Its buyers arrive with a part number, or need to narrow down by technical specification, and neither site let them do that well.

What we did

We gathered the whole range into one master list, cleaned it, and gave the client's team a simple screen to review every range description. Then we built the new site around it: a custom theme, search by part number, filters on the technical specifications, and versions for the UK and international markets.

The result

Several thousand parts in one catalogue, where a buyer can go from a part number to the right product in a single search.

05Small businessAI assistant

Email, tickets, accounts and projects, handled by one assistant.

The problem

The owner of a small services business does the client work, the support, the accounts and the project tracking. Every look at the inbox or the ticket queue was an interruption to the work that pays.

What we did

We connected an AI assistant to the mailbox, the support desk, the accounting system and the project tracker. It sorts new email, reads tickets and prepares fixes and draft replies, answers questions from the accounts without being able to change them, and keeps the project tracker up to date as work moves.

The result

The owner starts the day with email sorted, tickets read and replies drafted. Nothing is sent, closed or changed until they say yes.

06Trade supplyPricing

Knowing where your prices sit against the market.

The problem

Comparing a catalogue of thousands of parts against prices published in the market by hand wasn't practical, so pricing decisions were made on a handful of spot checks.

What we did

We built a tool that gathers published market prices, matches them to the client's own part numbers, and sets the two side by side against the right price list. It then compares the differences and highlights the lines that need looking at, so nobody has to read the whole list to find them.

The result

One report shows where the client's prices sit against the market, with the lines worth a second look already picked out.

07Office-based businessData protection

Paperwork that matches what the AI tool really does.

The problem

A small firm putting an AI assistant onto staff and customer email needs a data protection impact assessment, a map of where the data goes, processor terms, a staff notice and an incident plan. Nobody in-house had the time or background to write them.

What we did

We wrote the full pack in plain English and checked it against the system as built, not as designed. Where the two differed, the software was put right first and the documents were written to match.

The result

The directors have a pack they can read, sign, and hand to a customer who asks how their data is handled.

08ManufacturingRetail invoicing

Electronic invoicing to a national retailer.

The problem

A manufacturer raised its invoices to one large retailer by hand. The retailer wanted them as files in its own format.

What we did

As a small fixed-price job, we added a nightly run that sends the day's invoices in the retailer's format, with a start date so nothing already invoiced by hand could go twice.

The result

Quoted, tested with the retailer and sending live invoices inside five weeks. It sits alongside the full EDI order and invoice exchange we've built elsewhere: whichever system a customer or retailer uses, we can make yours talk to it.

09Our own businessInfrastructure

Switching off an old web server.

The problem

One self-managed server ran our websites, domain records, email, client file feeds and software downloads. It was a single thing to patch, pay for and worry about.

What we did

We listed everything it did, then moved one service at a time to managed Microsoft services, with a test to pass at each step and the old server left running until the last one passed.

The result

200+ domain records and all files were checked identical after the move, and the server was switched off inside three weeks of starting.