B2B distribution
Orders & operations
Scale order ops without scaling headcount
Anonymised sector example: a wholesale distributor was drowning in email, exceptions, and status pings. The outcome was capacity in the operating model — not more people, and not a new platform.
The constraint
Order operations depended on people catching mismatches. Hiring more was not a durable model. Exceptions, status questions, and routing errors were eating the day and hiding true capacity.
What we did
We mapped intake, exceptions, customer status, and the systems behind them. Repeatable work went onto an automation backlog; edge cases stayed with humans. Tooling followed the workflow.
The outcome
Repeatable exceptions left the inbox. Routing and status had a sequence and measures agreed before build. Headcount was no longer the scaling plan.