Fluent: Automating AP and Order Entry on Epicor Kinetic

Over the past half century, enterprise computing has advanced in roughly four distinct waves. Each wave has reshaped how organizations run their operations and make decisions:

• The Database Era (1970s–1980s): The relational database gave companies the ability to store and retrieve structured data at scale. This was the foundation for modern
  enterprise systems.
• The ERP Era (1990s): Enterprise Resource Planning systems, including Epicor, codified entire business processes—from finance to supply chain—into a single, structured system of record. Companies could not only store their data, but also enforce workflows and gain visibility across the enterprise. Discrete business processes began to be codified, leading to all sorts of efficiency gains: accurate record-keeping, stronger audit trails, tighter compliance, standardized workflows, and better collaboration across departments. In short, ERPs gave organizations the ability to operate as a cohesive whole, rather than a patchwork of siloed systems.
• The Cloud & Mobile Era (2000s–2010s): ERPs and adjacent tools became more accessible, flexible, and connected. Teams could work from anywhere, integrations became easier, and real-time access to enterprise data expanded dramatically. Systems began to be integrated, not through brittle custom code, but through APIs and standardized connectors. SaaS business models made enterprise software more modular, mobile apps brought ERP data to employees on the factory floor and in the field, and businesses gained the agility to adapt workflows as markets changed.
• The AI Era (Today): If databases stored data, and ERPs codified processes, AI is now positioned to execute those processes. For the first time, repetitive tasks that once required manual keying and oversight can be automated with accuracy, speed, and reliability. We can talk to our computers now, which solves the last-mile problem of enterprise software: machine understanding of unstructured data. By drastically lowering the cost of turning documents, emails, and conversations into machine-readable formats, AI bridges the gap between how humans communicate and how ERPs operate.

ERPs and the Last-Mile Problem of Enterprise Software

The fact that ERPs codified business processes is what makes them uniquely suited for this new era. ERPs effectively dictate how companies run: how invoices are matched, how approvals flow, how orders are processed, and how compliance is enforced. This sort of codification is exactly the fertile ground that automation needs. It provides the structure that AI can now act upon.

Instead of building brittle, external automations, companies can extend their existing ERP foundation with intelligent execution and, in many cases, near full end-to-end automated processes that slot right in to the way humans collaborate today—email, phone calls, shared documents, and more.

Take, for example, two key entities in any ERP: invoices and orders. Every single AP and Sales team on Earth suffers from the same problem: wasted time downloading, reading, and uploading documents. On top of the fact that this is a time-consuming process, it’s also just plain boring. Everybody has better things to spend their time on—especially now that computers can read our documents like a human can.

Fluent: Automating your Epicor Kinetic

Fluent was built to close this gap. It brings AI-driven automation natively into Epicor Kinetic.

For Accounts Payable, Fluent:

• Ingests invoices in any format
• Runs a number of AI agents to complete the invoice: everything from vendor searching to two-way and three-way matching of POs and inventory receipts
• Validates invoices with local tax authorities
• Eliminates manual keying by posting validated entries into Epicor Kinetic

For Sales, Fluent:

• Reads inbound purchase orders from email or attachments
• Runs a number of AI agents to complete the order: everything form customer searching to precise validation of each SKU and unit of measure
• Creates clean, accurate sales orders automatically in Epicor
• Flags exceptions for quick human review
• Reduces order cycle times and frees teams to focus on customers

The Value Delivered

With Fluent, organizations running Epicor Kinetic can expect:

• Efficiency: Up to 90% reduction in AP and order entry processing times.
• Accuracy: Errors and duplicates caught before they reach the ERP.
• Resilience: Seamless automation built within Epicor, not bolted on externally.
• Strategic Focus: Finance and sales teams shift from clerical tasks to higher-value work.

A Natural Evolution

Looking at the trajectory of enterprise computing, each wave has built upon the last:

• Databases structured information
• ERPs codified business processes
• Cloud and mobile expanded access
• Now AI automates execution

Fluent represents the next natural step. By building on the structured foundation Epicor already provides, automation becomes not only possible, but reliable, scalable, and nearly fully end-to-end. The ERP has always been the backbone of enterprise operations. With Fluent, it now becomes the engine of execution as well—helping organizations run faster, leaner, and smarter without sacrificing control.