Past work / A little inspiration

Less busywork.
More possibility.

A packing list that writes itself. Sales that arrive in your ERP each morning. A team finding new uses for AI. Explore what a better working day can look like.

08 past projects 02 illustrative ideas

Client names are kept private. The final two examples are ideas for inspiration.

The collection / Before & after

Small changes.
A different working day.

Open an example to see the original process, what changed and the result. You might recognise something from your own business.

01Export operationsPacking lists, without the copy-paste.A custom packing list generator for an export business.7 hsaved per export

Before / The everyday friction

Accountants built each packing list in Excel by hand, copying invoice numbers, item lines, countries of origin and box numbers. Every export meant another round of data entry.

After / Marters & Co.

We built a custom app that pulls invoice data directly from the ERP. The team selects the invoices for an export and the app generates the packing list automatically.

The workflow
  1. Select ERP invoices
  2. Pull invoice details
  3. Generate packing list

Seven hours of manual preparation removed from each export.

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02Systems integrationEvery sale in the ERP. Every morning.Daily marketplace sales pipelines for a commerce business.5 hsaved per settlement entry run

Before / The everyday friction

Sales were entered into the ERP in bulk, settlement by settlement, after online marketplaces released payment. Recording sales depended on the settlement arriving and someone making the entries.

After / Marters & Co.

As part of a wider project, we built data pipelines that collect new marketplace sales every morning and automatically post each sale individually into the ERP.

The workflow
  1. New marketplace sales
  2. Daily data pipeline
  3. Individual ERP entries

Five hours saved on each previously manual sales entry run, with individual sales now recorded daily.

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03Warehouse operationsOne spreadsheet. Manufacturing and transfers handled.Connected stock movements across multiple warehouses.3 hsaved per internal transfer

Before / The everyday friction

Warehouse staff entered internal transfers line by line. Transfers involving manufactured items also required manual manufacturing entries before the stock could move.

After / Marters & Co.

We automated the workflow around the team’s Excel file. With manufacturing codes mapped, the system creates the manufacturing entries and transfers the stock between warehouses automatically.

The workflow
  1. Upload transfer Excel
  2. Map manufacturing codes
  3. Manufacture & transfer

Three hours saved per internal transfer, including the associated manufacturing entries.

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04FinancePayment file in. Invoices reconciled.Automatic sales reconciliation for the accounts team.2 hsaved per payment

Before / The everyday friction

Every payment meant manually matching more than 60 invoice line items and associated fees against invoices in the ERP.

After / Marters & Co.

We built a reconciliation workflow that reads the uploaded payment file and automatically matches the invoices and fees to the ERP records.

The workflow
  1. Upload payment file
  2. Match invoices & fees
  3. Reconcile in the ERP

Two hours of manual reconciliation saved each time a payment is processed.

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05Stock planningA clearer forecast. Right down to the last unit.On-demand purchasing forecasts for a trading company.15 %reduction in out-of-stock rates

Before / The everyday friction

The stock team combined sales from multiple channels and manually converted packs into individual units to calculate purchasing needs. Preparing each purchase order took 12–15 hours.

After / Marters & Co.

We built an analytics pipeline that turns sales data into on-demand forecasts, including manufacturing requirements. A pack of two flows through as two base units, so purchasing reflects what is actually needed.

The workflow
  1. Sales across channels
  2. Convert packs to base units
  3. Forecast purchasing needs

Out-of-stock rates fell 15%, with forecasts available on demand in place of the previous 12–15-hour preparation process.

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06PayrollFrom wage sheet to bank file, in seconds.A focused WPS file generator for payroll.5 hof file preparation reduced to seconds

Before / The everyday friction

Once wages were ready, the team still spent five hours each payroll cycle preparing the WPS file for bank upload.

After / Marters & Co.

We automated the file generation. Once the Excel wage sheet is ready, the team can generate the WPS file in seconds and use it for the bank upload.

The workflow
  1. Completed wage Excel
  2. Generate WPS file
  3. Ready for bank upload

A five-hour task became a file generated in seconds each payroll cycle.

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07Team enablementAI beyond the email reply.A practical, tailored workshop for five SME office workers.5team members · two office visits

Before / The everyday friction

Five office team members used AI to help answer emails, but did not know how to apply it to the rest of their working day.

After / Marters & Co.

We analysed the business and delivered two office visits with presentations tailored to each person’s work. The team explored OpenAI tools for creating spreadsheets, analysing sales, making promotional images and other everyday tasks.

The workflow
  1. Understand each role
  2. Two tailored office visits
  3. Practise everyday AI tasks

A broader set of practical AI use cases, taught around the team’s own roles and business.

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08Sales operationsOrders leave the inbox. Your team stays in the loop.AI inbox monitoring for an SME receiving orders by email.50 minof daily manual sorting addressed

Before / The everyday friction

The sales administrator spent around 50 minutes a day reading incoming emails, identifying clients and extracting ordered items from PDF attachments.

After / Marters & Co.

We automated inbox monitoring and order extraction. Client details and ordered items are sent to the team’s WhatsApp group, ready for inspection.

The workflow
  1. Order emails & PDFs
  2. Extract clients & items
  3. WhatsApp team review

Order details arrive together for the team to inspect. The previous manual sorting task took around 50 minutes a day; human review remains part of the workflow.

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09Finance controlIllustrative ideaGive unusual transactions somewhere to surface.An illustrative idea for a finance team with a dedicated transaction reviewer.Reviewthe exceptions with context

Before / The everyday friction

A finance controller works through transaction exports to spot duplicate supplier invoices, unexpected costs and entries outside normal patterns. Routine checks compete with time to investigate the real issues.

The idea / What we could build

A proposed monitoring workflow checks new ERP transactions against agreed rules and historical patterns. It groups potential duplicates and unusual amounts into a review queue, with the supporting records and a reason for each flag.

Proposed workflow
  1. New ERP transactions
  2. Flag unusual patterns
  3. Finance team review

The intended benefit: more focused finance review. A person investigates each flag and approves any correction.

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10PurchasingIllustrative ideaSupplier quotes, ready to compare.An illustrative idea for a purchasing team comparing emailed quotations.Oneclear supplier comparison

Before / The everyday friction

A buyer opens supplier PDFs one by one and copies prices, pack sizes, minimum quantities and lead times into a comparison sheet. Different formats make like-for-like comparisons slow.

The idea / What we could build

A proposed workflow extracts each quotation into a shared comparison, normalises pack prices to unit costs and highlights missing details. The buyer reviews the source quotes alongside the comparison before choosing a supplier.

Proposed workflow
  1. Supplier quote PDFs
  2. Compare unit costs & terms
  3. Buyer reviews & selects

The intended benefit: less copying and a clearer purchasing decision, with supplier selection kept in the buyer’s hands.

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Figures describe the individual projects shown, rather than a promised result for every business. Illustrative ideas describe proposed workflows and have no measured client outcomes.

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