AI agents read messy customer requests, draft and send quotes, follow up, and source substitutes — Proton's next step in putting AI to work for distributors.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, UNITED STATES, July 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Proton.ai, the AI platform for distributors, today announced the general availability of Proton Order & Quote Entry Automation, an agentic system that turns the messiest inbound customer requests — competitor part numbers, vague descriptions, screenshots of PDFs — into revenue. Agents draft the quote, send the email, follow up when the customer goes quiet, and source substitutes when the branch can't fill the order. Reps approve every quote before it reaches the customer.

Work reaches the agents however it arrives: a forwarded email, an uploaded spreadsheet or PDF — or a rep simply talking to the tool, describing what the customer needs on a call or at the counter.

The launch advances Proton's mission: help distributors grow faster and lower operating costs by giving AI the load-bearing work, so their people can do the work only humans can — building relationships and driving sales.

"As long as your people are the glue between systems, the power of AI stays capped," said Benj Cohen, Founder & CEO of Proton.ai. "That's why this runs on one data layer with our other software tools. The agent that drafts the quote already knows the customer, the catalog, and the pricing — so it doesn't type faster, it does the job."

What load-bearing AI looks like
A purchasing manager emails at 11:48 p.m.: "Ready to move on the unit we discussed last month. Will it work with the rest of our equipment? Send documentation and a quote." For a rep, that's a morning of system-hopping: finding the thread, checking compatibility and stock, then building the quote and writing the reply. For a Proton agent with full business context, it's one pass — reply drafted, compatibility confirmed, quote attached, waiting for approval before the customer's day starts. The same holds out loud: a counter rep reads a part list into their phone, and the draft quote is ready before the customer leaves.

Architecture, not another tool
Point tools attack one slice of the job: getting the order into the ERP faster. Useful — but a person still sits between every system, reading one screen and retyping into the next. Proton built Order & Quote Entry Automation as part of a platform architecture instead: CRM, PIM, eCommerce AI, and Order & Quote Entry Automation run on one shared data layer, so every match feeds the catalog, every enrichment improves the next match, and every interaction sharpens the recommendations. Connected data also makes agents affordable to run at scale — they take the direct path instead of rummaging through disconnected systems.

Real results
Building Products Inc. (BPI), a wholesale building materials distributor serving retail lumberyards across the Midwest, is among the early customers putting agents to work.

"The dream has always been: a customer emails a part list, and the order just happens," said Cas Rangel, Chief Information & Technology Officer at Building Products Inc. "Proton is the first vendor I've seen actually build toward that — and they ship faster than anyone we work with. Feedback we give in one call shows up in the product by the next."

One of North America's largest industrial distributors tested Proton head-to-head against its own in-house cross-reference system in a structured proof of value. Proton beat every success criterion set — on the hardest, description-only lists, Proton found the right part without human help three times as often as the in-house system, meaning far fewer quotes had to be kicked back to a rep for manual cross-referencing. List preparation time dropped 75%.

Availability
Proton Order & Quote Entry Automation is available today: proton.ai/order-and-quote-entry.

About Proton.ai
Proton.ai is the industry cloud for distributors.Distribution runs on thin margins that disconnected tools, unreliable data, and manual work erode further. Proton.ai's modular products (CRM, PIM, Order & Quote Entry Automation, and more) replace expensive point solutions with a single AI-powered platform that eliminates data silos and gives teams shared insight across the business. Every system makes the others smarter, AI handles the busywork, and your people can focus on what actually builds loyalty: serving customers well. Learn more at Proton.ai.

Dasha Shakov
Proton.ai
+1 613-558-0545
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