The Kendall Group Unlocks Operational Efficiency and Strengthens Partner Relationships

As EVP Operations at The Kendall Group for the past three years, Dave oversees their Operations, Information Technology, and Information Systems. He brings over 25 years of experience across sales, IT, and business systems to the role. 

From “It Works” to “It Scales” 

The Kendall Group’s existing sales order and AP automation tool handled structured purchase orders and standardized invoices for them well enough, so Dave wasn’t actively searching for a new solution.

But when he heard about Canals from Eclipse peers and saw a quick demo, he knew he needed to take a closer look. That’s when he discovered a partner that offered so much more.

"We weren’t unhappy with our existing partner—but we didn’t realize how limited it was until we saw what Canals could do."

Sales couldn’t use the legacy solution to create bids or turn any nonstandard format from customers – handwritten notes, photos, over-the-phone orders, PDFs with unusual layouts, Excel spreadsheets – into POs. If Accounts Payable received a vendor invoice with even the smallest format change, it meant manual rework and delays.

With Canals, the AI learns from incoming documents and adapts automatically, enabling them to support a far wider range of customer and vendor formats without the need for constant setup or intervention.

However, The Kendall Group’s IT and business process teams were already committed to major initiatives: CRM rollouts, ERP upgrades, and acquisition integrations. Taking on a high-lift deployment wasn’t an option.

They wanted to drive efficiency—but without slowing down other priorities.

Core challenges

• Incomplete tools: Existing sales order automation only covered structured POs, not bids or flexible formats, and only for about 40 customers
• Frequent rework: Invoices processed through their existing software regularly failed due to minor formatting issues and required manual fixes
• Limited bandwidth: Integration and support teams were stretched thin

A Proven Upgrade, Easy to Deploy

After learning about Canals, Dave reevaluated their automation options, including a general AI tool that was not purpose-built for distributors. 

However, Canals quickly stood out for its well-established AI capabilities and ease of integration with Eclipse. The product demo had left a strong impression on both Dave and the business users, as did the Canals team.

From the presentation of the product, it was evident that they were concerned about our business and understanding how we did things, not trying to make us conform to the Canals product. It was head-and-shoulders above the competition that we evaluated, for sure.

Furthermore, trusted peers had recommended Canals. It was not a risk, but a proven way The Kendall Group could get better.

Key benefits

• Automatically learns and processes all customer and vendor formats—not just structured POs and invoices
• Reduces the number of steps for Accounts Payable, taking an invoice all the way to ready to pay status
• Avoids errors and manual intervention
• Saves employees time while enabling them to retain control

The question quickly became not “if,” but “when,” and the answer to that was “now.” Canals required minimal IT lift, with a solid connection to Eclipse right away. Even with everything IT had going on, there was no reason to wait to drive The Kendall Group’s next stage of operational efficiency.

The integration was almost plug-and-play. We provided credentials and a connection—Canals handled the rest.

Fast Results, Zero Disruption

With IT resources fully allocated, The Kendall Group took an unconventional rollout approach for them: let the business side lead. Sales leaders selected energetic, trusted users from different territories to start using Canals, serve as champions, and drive adoption.

Once they saw how much time it saved, word spread quickly. People at other locations started saying, 'I want Canals at my branch, too.'

This approach allowed The Kendall Group to scale adoption organically, without the delays of a formal top-down rollout. It was efficient, non-disruptive, and energizing for the teams that used it.

A side effect I’ve heard from our executive team is just how much more energy there is in the locations that are using Canals. They’re like, ‘Hey, this is something new. I’m getting better.’ It’s a step-function growth.

On the AP side, Canals proved its value on day one. An invoice from a vendor that always failed in the legacy system was successfully processed, correctly matched, and automatically moved to ready-to-pay—with zero manual intervention.

If a problem did ever come up, Dave could also feel confident that it would be taken care of quickly. “From the Canals side, we get a response within minutes. It's fantastic.”

Business Impact

• Up to 50% increase in sales order processing efficiency
• Fewer invoice errors and rejections
• More time for high-value work across sales and accounting
• Employee excitement and ownership around AI adoption

Getting Time Back—and Putting It to Work

For The Kendall Group, Canals wasn’t just about speed—it was about freeing up capacity to focus on what matters most. Aligned to their commitment to long-term impact for every partnership, they are creating long-term value by strengthening customer relationships, improving vendor collaboration, and continuously optimizing operations.

Instead of spending time on busywork:

• Invoice rework
• Manual data entry
• Product searches

Teams can now focus on value-add work:

• Proactively following up on bids
• Expediting orders that are lagging
• Strengthening vendor and customer communication
• Investigating and solving root-cause issues

We went from firefighting invoice issues to focusing on payment strategy.

What’s Next: Turning Efficiency Into Growth

With Canals fully embedded in daily workflows, Dave is now focused on tying those efficiency gains to long-term business outcomes. The goal? Turning saved time into more quotes, better follow-ups, and higher win rates.

KPIs

• Quote-to-order conversion rates
• Order volume increases by branch
• Customer satisfaction and share of wallet

“The value is clear—we just want to quantify it,” Dave said. “Ultimately, it's got to show up in the bottom line, and I’m confident that it will.”

Advice for Other Distributors

Don’t wait for perfect timing. Don’t wait for IT. Start with the users who want to move faster—and give them a tool that makes that possible.

This isn’t about replacing people—it’s about giving them the tools to get better. Canals helped us move faster without losing control.

With Canals, The Kendall Group unlocked operational capacity, increased accuracy, and energized their people—all without slowing down other operations.