Softomate builds AI RFQ and quotation automation for UK suppliers, wholesalers and operations teams. We connect customer enquiries, product data and supplier pricing to a quotation approval workflow. A defined first workflow uses our £8,000–£15,000 Workflow Starter scope; a complete supplier-to-customer quotation programme is scoped separately.
01. What we build
A customer asks for a price, but the information needed to answer sits across emails, a product catalogue, supplier quotes and the ERP. We connect that process so the team can review a prepared quotation with its supporting assumptions. Customer RFQ response and supplier price requests are separate stages with clear ownership.
Read agreed email, PDF and spreadsheet formats. Extract requested products, quantities, delivery needs and customer references while keeping each line connected to the source enquiry.
Explore understand the customer requestCompare the request with your catalogue and approved identifiers. Ambiguous names, pack sizes, substitutions and missing specifications should be visible before a supplier or customer receives a commitment.
Explore match products and specificationsPrepare supplier requests and compare returned offers on an agreed basis. Show currency, quantity breaks, freight, availability, lead time and quote validity. Sending supplier requests follows the permissions you approve.
Explore request and compare supplier pricesCalculate the quotation using approved costs, margin rules and customer terms. Distinguish margin from markup, and stop for review where a cost, conversion or policy is missing.
Explore apply commercial rulesBuild a draft with line items, assumptions and an accountable approver. Record changes and approval before creating the final quotation in the agreed system or sending it to the customer.
Explore prepare and approve the quotationAssign ownership and follow-up tasks once a quotation exists. Managers can review unanswered enquiries, expired supplier offers and customer quotations awaiting follow-up.
Explore follow up through the crmConnect the quotation workflow to your product catalogue, pricing data and the relevant ERP or CRM. We work with Odoo, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Sage, SAP, HubSpot, Zoho, Microsoft 365 and bespoke systems. Catalogue identifiers, unit conversions, customer price rules and available interfaces are checked during discovery. Where a supplier provides pricing only by email, that response becomes a document-processing and review step.
This service is for teams preparing customer quotations from enquiries and supplier information. It can also include the purchasing step needed to obtain a cost. Public-tender management, engineering simulation and a replacement quoting SaaS platform are distinct requirements. We define which RFQ process you mean before choosing the workflow and commercial scope.
Move from a customer enquiry to a quotation your team can approve.
02. How it works
Choose a representative customer request and follow it to the approved quotation. Identify who supplies product data, supplier prices, margin rules and customer terms.
Extract the request, match the catalogue and show uncertain fields. The reviewer sees the source description and the proposed product rather than a match with no explanation.
Normalise the approved cost components, check availability and validity, and apply the agreed commercial calculation. Missing or conflicting inputs trigger a review step.
Create the final record only after the required approval. Save the source prices and calculation context so later changes can be explained and customer follow-up can be assigned.
Define what the workflow may read, prepare and change. Keep consequential actions behind the permissions and approval rules your business has agreed. A confidence score can help route uncertain results, but the action must also pass the business checks. The integration records the source, the proposed change and the decision.
Test missing information, duplicate events, rejected approvals and unavailable systems alongside the successful path. Agree how staff pause the workflow and recover an incomplete task. The handover identifies the owner, monitoring responsibilities and support arrangements, so an exception reaches someone who can resolve it.
03. Costs and scope
Our existing Workflow Starter is £8,000–£15,000 for one defined workflow and one or two integrations. For RFQ work, the first phase might cover enquiry extraction and preparation of a draft record. A complete workflow involving several suppliers, catalogue matching, currency conversion and quotation approval needs a separately agreed scope.
| Scope | Price basis | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Defined first workflow | £8,000–£15,000 | Existing starter scope; the exact RFQ phase and integrations are agreed before purchase. |
| Full supplier-to-customer quotation programme | Scoped separately | Supplier channels, catalogue complexity, pricing logic, currencies and approval rules determine the build. |
| Running costs and support | Itemised separately | AI usage, email or platform costs, hosting, support and VAT treatment. |
Bring the current process and a representative sample to a scoping call. The written proposal separates implementation from licences, usage and support, records VAT treatment, and identifies exclusions. We agree the acceptance tests and responsibilities before the build starts.
04. Worked example
The interactive example compares two fictional supplier offers for the same product. Change the quantity, margin or quote validity to see why the lowest unit price is not always a usable quotation. This is a local worked example of the approval logic, not a live connection to a customer or supplier system.
Fictional product: filter cartridge FC-10. Both suppliers quote in GBP per individual item. Change the quantity or requested margin, then inspect the proposed quotation. This example runs in your browser with fictional data. It sends no enquiry, calls no AI model and changes no ERP record.
| Supplier | Price per item | Freight | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier A | £8.00 | £40.00 | Valid |
| Supplier B | £7.60 | £95.00 | Valid |
Example calculation: selling price = total approved cost ÷ (1 − target margin). Margin is measured against the selling price. A 25% markup on cost is a different calculation. Real projects must define taxes, currency, delivery terms and other costs separately.
The initial draft uses Supplier A: £840 total cost and £1,120 proposed selling price, excluding VAT. Approval is required.
{"status":"draft","product":"FC-10","quantity":100,"supplier":"Supplier A","total_cost":840,"quote_total":1120,"currency":"GBP","approval_required":true,"example_only":true}05. FAQs
Yes, the workflow can extract the agreed fields from supported email and document formats. Catalogue matching and business validation are separate steps. We test sample layouts and exceptions before selecting the extraction method, and keep missing or ambiguous requirements in a review queue.
The workflow presents candidate matches with the source description and the reason for uncertainty. A missing size, unit or specification should prevent an unsupported commitment. Your team can choose an approved product or ask the customer for clarification before the quotation proceeds.
Yes, supplier requests can be part of the implementation when the recipients, templates, scope and sending permissions are agreed. A human approval step can be required before a request is sent. The system should record the request and response so the customer quotation can be traced to its supplier information.
The quotation uses approved commercial rules and cost inputs. The calculation should include the relevant freight, currency, quantity and other agreed costs, and distinguish margin from markup. An incomplete or expired supplier price should trigger review. Your team remains responsible for approving the pricing policy and exceptions.
Yes, where the template and system provide a supported way to create the required output. We map the fields, numbering, customer terms and approval state to your current process. Discovery identifies any unsupported fields or integration limits before a fixed scope is agreed.
Bring a representative customer enquiry, catalogue sample, supplier quotation and final customer quote. Explain units, currencies, margin rules, approvals and current handling volumes. Redacted examples are sufficient for the initial discussion. Include awkward requests as well as clean ones so the proposed workflow covers real decisions.
These guides and services explain the connected buying decisions.
Speak with Deen Dayal Yadav, founder of Softomate Solutions, about your current systems and the first workflow. Our team is based in Stanmore, London, with delivery across the UK.
Platform documentation explains individual features. Your proposal defines how those features are configured and tested in your business workflow.
Deen Dayal Yadav
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