AI Order Entry Purpose-Built for Construction Suppliers
Canals reads your customers' orders–board feet, pieces, random length, mixed lumber-and-BMC lists–and drafts them in your ERP with live pricing from your system. No templates, no keying in products, just faster, fresher quotes.
Meet Customers Where They Prefer to Do Business
Reduce your margin risk with faster quoting, no matter how the request comes in
01
As soon as a message hits a rep's inbox, Canals identifies it as an order or quote request and drafts it automatically–pulling today's pricing fresh from your catalog, not yesterday's
02
Phone
Answer customer calls and process voicemails in Canals to have them transcribed in real time and turned into an ERP-ready order before the market moves again
03
Counter & Yard
Record live conversations at the counter or in the field to build a quote–no notepad, no re-keying later
Turbocharge Your Team with AI-Powered Workflows
Let AI do the tedious work so your people can do the valuable work
Streamline Quotes and Orders
Canals takes customer asks and turns them into quotes or orders, ready for your reps to approve and pass into your ERP in minutes.
- Any format: handwritten note, takeoff, PDF, email, spreadsheet, voicemail, and more
- Every rep: inside sales, counter sales, outside sales
- Proven ROI: higher hit rates, fewer returns, happier customers
As your team uses it, it automatically gets smarter about your customers, your products, and your business. No templates or customer-specific setup required.
Process Invoices Automatically
Canals examines invoices for validity according to your records and business rules, handling both trade (PO) and expense invoices. Invoices meeting your requirements are automatically processed into payables in your ERP, along with a copy of the invoice.
No templates or customer-specific setup required.
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Track POs & Receipts with Next-Level Accuracy
Canals reads vendor PO acknowledgments, shipping notices, and packing slips and compares them to your POs. Discrepancies are flagged as early as possible for human intervention. Any changes to ship dates can be automatically updated in your ERP, ensuring up-to-date data for you and your customers.
Convert Large Product Lists
Canals converts large lists of products from one set of part numbers to another, across different manufacturers or simply different formats. If your business acquires another and you need to map their products to yours, or if you’re trying to win new business with a competitive pricing list, get it done in record time.
Real Customer Results
90%
TIME SAVINGS
2.8X
HIT RATE
59%
Fewer RETURNS
Streamline Every Order and RFQ
Canals reads what a customer actually sent–a cut list, a handwritten note, a spreadsheet–and matches every item to your product catalog, whether it's priced by the board foot, by the piece, or by a mixed tally. Reps review the pre-built order, submit to your ERP with a click, and the customer has an answer while the price is still good.
Handles Mixed-Unit Orders in Any Format
Canals is built for how lumber actually gets ordered, no templates or part numbers required
- Board feet, piece counts, and random-length tallies in the same order
- Handwritten cut lists and yard notes
- Takeoffs and other complex spec documents
- Spreadsheets (Excel, CSV, etc.)
- PDFs and emailed RFQs
- Voice audio from calls and counter conversations
- Combined lumber + building materials (windows, doors, and other configured products) on a single job
Eliminates Manual Data Entry and the Stale Pricing That Comes With It
Every minute a quote sits un-keyed is a minute it can go stale. Canals removes the lag between "customer asked" and "order in the ERP"
- Best matches for species, grade, thickness, treatment, and length
- Branch-based availability across your yards
- Live pricing pulled directly from your ERP, not a cached or manually updated number
- Non-stock sourcing for mill-direct or wholesaler items
- Customer ship-to, required data, and delivery instructions
Delivers ROI in Days, Not Quarters
Get up and running in under a week, with pre-built integrations, and minimal IT lift and setup
- Independently verified data security (SOC 2 Type II)
- Personalized training and customer support
- Time savings–and margin protection–from day one
- No need for data cleanup–the more you use Canals, the more accurate it gets
What Is Canals?
Canals is the leading sales order entry platform for distributors. Over one hundred distributors rely on Canals to automate the critical but repetitive manual workflows of their sales, accounting, purchasing, and receiving teams.
Eliminate the tedious data entry holding back your people so they can focus on the strategic work and relationship-building that grows the business.
Trusted by Industry Leaders
The secret to our success is our customers’ success
Ben Causey
System Operations Manager
Canals has been working amazing
They're real experts in Eclipse and it makes a difference. For example, we just fed a 1,000 line cut order all with parallel data into Eclipse. Saved our salesman about 2 days of work.
Brian Fitzgerald
Senior Vice President of Digital Operations
Canals is actually driving more sales by improving our hit rate
Right now, 57% of Canals transactions turn into orders, when our average is closer to 20%. Customer satisfaction goes up because you can get to quotes you wouldn’t otherwise, and sales will grow because customers realize that when they come to you, you’re more responsive because you have a tool like Canals. You’ll see not only top-line growth, but also bottom-line growth because of the efficiencies it creates.
Brett Turner
Regional Operations Manager
Honestly, it’s one of the smoothest transitions I’ve ever been part of
One of our automation guys had sent over a project with 100+ line items in a spreadsheet. I ran it through Canals and had it back in 20 minutes. He called me and said, ‘How is that even possible?’ That would’ve taken a CSR group all day before.
Isaac Regenstreif
Chief Operations Officer / Owner
Our team loves it
The longer they're in it, the more they love it. If we ever told the team we were taking Canals away, I think we'd have mutiny on our hands. It has very quickly become a need-to-have tool in their tool belt—and not a lot of technology has that kind of impact.
Travis Bryant
Inside Sales Manager
Now, if our email volume doubled, I think we’d be ready for it
There was a time when we had a backlog of quotes that was a week out. Canals gives us the bandwidth to handle that kind of surge without burning out the team.
Dave Bledsoe
Executive Vice President of Operations
Everyone is happier
Not only are we making the experience better for our users, but we have better relationships with our customers. We're able to increase customer service, and we're able to increase our vendor service.
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Bring Your Own Orders to Test Live on a Call
See for yourself how Canals turns a mixed-unit lumber order or RFQ into an ERP-ready quote in minutes
Order Entry FAQs for Construction Suppliers
Have a question that’s not answered here? Please email us at sales@canals.ai and we’ll get back to you shortly.
What is sales order automation?
Why does speed matter more for lumber pricing than other categories?
Can Canals handle mixed lumber and building materials orders?
How long does implementation take?
Is my data secure?
How much does Canals cost?
Read Our
Success Stories
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