Build · Operating decision guide
Where can AI speed up quotes without giving away margin?
Otomat editorial · Revised
Separate preparation from pricing authority. Let the workflow assemble a traceable quote, then require the right owner to approve exceptions before a customer receives a commitment.
Follow the quote to an accepted order
A faster first draft can conceal time lost finding the correct price, checking stock and securing discount approval. Map a recent quote through all those steps. Measure elapsed time, staff effort, revisions and accepted orders separately. The business result is not the number of generated quotes; it is accepted work with acceptable economics and manageable exceptions.
Keep authority outside the generated text
The assistant can retrieve permitted terms, identify missing fields and propose a draft. A deterministic policy or authorized person must decide whether a discount, substitution or delivery promise is permitted. Do not let persuasive generated text stand in for approval. Present the source price, effective date and unresolved assumptions beside the proposed quote so a reviewer can check them quickly.
| Check | Evidence to bring | Decision or stop condition |
|---|---|---|
| Expired or conflicting price | Effective date, customer agreement and source precedence | Hold the price until an authorized source is identified. |
| Discount or substitution | Approval limit and named commercial owner | Draft only; require the permitted approval before commitment. |
| Injected instruction | Attachment asking to bypass the price policy | Treat attachment text as data and retain the external approval rule. |
| Outbound action | Final approval record and exact version being sent | Block sending when the reviewed version differs from the draft. |
Build the awkward-case test set
Use synthetic examples with an expired price list, a partial shipment, a product substitution and a customer-specific agreement. Include a request that tries to override discount limits in a note or attachment. The workflow should stop or escalate when authority is unclear. Test that a rejected draft cannot accidentally enter an outbound email or order system through a later automation step.
Release only the part that helps
Start with preparation or comparison if approvals remain the bottleneck. Observe reviewer corrections and the final committed terms. If users repeatedly repair the same missing source, improve that source before expanding automation. Compare time to an accepted quote and subsequent margin with the prior process, accounting for mix and pricing changes rather than crediting AI for every improvement.
Questions before the decision
Should AI be allowed to send quotes automatically?
Only within a specifically approved action boundary that has passed the relevant cases. A useful drafting workflow does not by itself establish authority to commit price or delivery.
What should the commercial team measure?
Time to accepted quote, reviewer effort, exceptions, revisions and realized economics of the resulting orders. Keep quote-generation volume separate.
Take the evidence sheet to the meeting
Download the blank CSV, assign an owner to each check and record the evidence. Keep completed sheets in your own approved system.
Download the evidence sheet (CSV)Use the working tools
Blank templates are ungated. Adapt them to the workflow; inputs are not submitted.
Sources and limits
These are Otomat’s proposed operating methods and original decision artifacts. External references inform risk management; they do not certify this method or establish client results. Linked sources were selected for this review; their live revision dates may change.
For anonymous documentation and proposal patterns, see delivery evidence and its boundaries.
Related decisions
Bring a workflow to the discussion
Share the business goal and constraints through the mandate process. Do not send sensitive production data in the initial brief.
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