The Crestics blog

Notes from the order desk.

Practical writing for people who run distribution operations: what automation actually costs, what it actually fixes, and honest takes on the vendors you're already evaluating. No AI hype, no invented numbers.

Conexiom alternatives: when packaged order automation fits, and when custom wins

An honest comparison for distributors evaluating Conexiom, Esker, or a custom-built order automation pipeline. Cost structures, timelines, and when each option actually fits.

The true cost of manual order entry at a distributor (run your own numbers)

What manual order entry really costs a distribution business: labor math you can run with your own numbers, plus the error and opportunity costs that never show up on the P&L.

How to automate email and PDF orders into Prophet 21 (without ripping it out)

Four realistic ways distributors get email and PDF purchase orders into Epicor Prophet 21 automatically, what each costs, and how a custom pipeline handles the messy 30% templates miss.

How an industrial distributor went from 100 to 250+ orders a day with the same team

The story behind our anonymized industrial distribution case study: a five-person order desk capped at 100 orders a day, and the 16-week build that took the same team past 250.

Prefer answers about your specific desk?

Reading is slower than asking. Book 30 minutes, bring whoever runs your order desk, and we'll tell you which workflow we'd automate first.

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If it's not a fit, we'll say so on the call instead of stringing you along.