AI Automation for Distribution & Logistics
Keep cash flow, warehouse stock, and delivery promises in sync without adding ops headcount.
For distributors, AI automation means systems that chase payments on a credit cycle automatically, capture proof of delivery at the door, keep warehouse stock synced across channels, and push ETA updates to customers without anyone typing them. SBD builds these as connected workflows around your existing accounting and inventory tools.
What usually breaks
Credit follow-ups depend on someone remembering
Payment chasing happens when the finance team has a spare afternoon, so the credit cycle stretches and cash flow tightens for no structural reason.
Proof of delivery arrives days later, on paper
Signed challans come back with the driver, get filed, and only surface when a customer disputes — by which point the evidence is hard to find.
Warehouse stock and sales channels disagree
Stock moves physically before it moves in the system, so orders get taken on inventory that is already committed.
"Where is my order" eats the day
Customers call for status because nothing pushes updates to them, and each call pulls someone off actual dispatch work.
The systems we ship
Automated credit and payment follow-ups
Reminders that fire on the credit cycle itself — escalating by age, logged against the invoice, and stopping automatically when payment lands.
Digital proof-of-delivery capture
Drivers capture signature and photo at the door from a phone. It attaches to the order instantly, so disputes are settled from the record rather than from memory.
Warehouse and channel stock sync
One source of truth for stock, pushed to every channel that sells it, so committed inventory is never sold twice.
Customer ETA and status updates
Automated dispatch and ETA notifications over WhatsApp or email, triggered by the actual dispatch event.
Typical Stack
- Airtable
- SmartSuite
- Make.com
- n8n
- Retool
- Softr
- WhatsApp Business API
- Zoho / Tally integrations
Where we have done this
Order & Dispatch Management System
— Building Material SupplierA building material supplier consolidated order intake, dispatch and invoicing into one system — coordinating multiple stakeholders without the paperwork lag.
Sales Channel Inventory Sync
— D2C Watch ResellerInventory kept consistent across three sales channels with zero mismatches, using the same sync approach that works for warehouse stock.
Distribution & Logistics, answered
Can this connect to Tally or Zoho?
Yes. Accounting systems usually stay exactly where they are and we integrate around them — pulling invoice and payment status out to drive follow-ups, and pushing confirmed transactions back. Nothing about your books changes.
Do drivers need a special app?
No. Proof-of-delivery capture runs in a mobile browser on whatever phone the driver already has. There is nothing to install and no per-device licence.
What does this actually reduce?
Two things, usually: the number of days money sits uncollected because follow-ups are manual, and the hours per week ops spends answering status questions and hunting for delivery paperwork.
Related solutions
Most operations problems cross more than one boundary. These are the areas that usually come up alongside distribution & logistics.
Not sure where the bottleneck is?
That is what the free workflow audit is for. We map how your operations actually run and tell you what is worth automating — before anyone talks about scope or price.
Claim a Free Workflow Audit