AI Operators · Use cases
Quotation automation
AI Operators connect customer inquiries, existing rates and carrier outreach to prepare logistics quotations under your pricing rules and approval workflows.
Explore your workflowYour SOPs. Your systems. Your team in control.
- Starts with
- A customer inquiry with shipment and service requirements.
- Works with
- Your existing rates, approved carrier network and commercial rules.
- Completes with
- A prepared or delivered quotation, or an exception for the pricing team.
The operational opportunity
From customer inquiry to carrier outreach to quotation.
Shipflow AI Operators connect incoming quotation requests with your existing rate sources and carrier network. They source rates, structure supplier responses and prepare customer quotations—following your commercial rules, operating procedures and approval requirements.
Some inquiries can be priced from an existing contract or rate table. Others require a fresh spot rate from a carrier, vendor, destination office or local team. The Quotation Operator supports both paths: using applicable rates when available and coordinating rate inquiries when additional sourcing is needed.
The workflow can be configured for Ocean, Air or Road inquiries. Your team defines the relevant shipment fields, eligible rate sources, approved outreach recipients and commercial rules. Operators can review, adjust or override recommendations, with the level of human involvement set around the complexity of the quotation.
How it works
One workflow. Clear steps.
Understand the incoming inquiry
Identify the request and structure the shipment information needed to quote. Depending on your operation, this may include the route, requested dates, cargo dimensions or weight, equipment and service requirements. Missing information follows the agreed clarification process.
Check available rates and references
Look up applicable rates in your contracts, rate tables or connected pricing systems using the shipment details and validity rules. Historical costs and market benchmarks can inform the assessment, but remain reference data—not automatically a current, confirmed carrier rate.
Reach out for fresh spot rates
When a fresh rate is required, prepare and send inquiries to the appropriate approved carriers, vendors, destination offices or local teams. Your SOP defines who to contact, which shipment details to share and when outreach needs approval. Rate sourcing does not authorize a booking or commercial commitment.
Structure and compare the responses
Extract the rates and relevant conditions from email responses and organize the available options for comparison. Check that they cover the requested service and identify missing charges or unclear terms before using them in the customer quotation. Unresolved differences go to the responsible team.
Prepare pricing and markup recommendations
Combine applicable cost information, carrier responses, customer context and available references to suggest pricing or markup under your business rules. Apply the agreed margin guardrails and let authorized users adjust or override recommendations. Your team retains ownership of the final commercial decision.
Prepare the quotation and customer response
Assemble the quotation with the relevant service details, pricing conditions and response format. Route it for review or send eligible responses within approved rules. Quotation acceptance and booking remain separate milestones, each with its own triggers and validation requirements.
Human control
Automate the routine. Keep judgment with your team.
Execute within agreed rules
- Read and structure inquiries from the agreed channels.
- Look up applicable rates and request fresh rates from approved parties.
- Extract supplier responses and structure options for comparison.
- Prepare pricing and markup recommendations within agreed guardrails.
- Prepare or send quotations that meet the release criteria.
Escalate when needed
- Shipment details or rate conditions that remain unresolved.
- No usable rate after the configured sourcing steps.
- Unapproved outreach recipients or non-standard service requests.
- Pricing recommendations or actions outside the approved guardrails.
Getting started
Build around the way your operation works.
Choose a repeatable quotation scope
Identify the inquiry types, modes and services to automate first. Bring representative requests and responses, including the cases that need extra information or a pricing decision. Define what makes a quotation ready to send.
Map rate sources and outreach rules
Identify current rate sources, the role of historical or market references and the parties eligible to receive rate inquiries. Define when to use existing rates, when to source fresh ones and how to handle unanswered or incomplete responses. Confirm the information each recipient is allowed to receive.
Set commercial controls and system access
Agree pricing and markup logic, margin guardrails, override permissions and approval requirements. Confirm access to the relevant inboxes and pricing systems, then review representative inquiries, carrier replies and customer quotations before enabling automated actions.
Measure completed work, not just AI activity.
Compare like-for-like inquiries and distinguish quotations using existing rates from those requiring fresh sourcing. Measure supplier response time separately from internal handling time, and track completeness and commercial quality alongside speed.
- Time to a usable customer quotation
- Manual handling time per inquiry
- Time from rate inquiry to usable supplier response
- Quotations requiring correction or commercial review
Common questions
Before you put an AI Operator to work.
Can Shipflow reach out to carriers for rates?
Yes. The quotation workflow can prepare and send rate inquiries to approved carriers, vendors, destination offices or local teams, then extract and structure their email responses. Recipients, information sharing and sending permissions follow your SOPs. Requesting a rate is not the same as placing a booking.
What happens when there is no applicable rate?
The operator can initiate fresh rate sourcing rather than immediately pass the request to the pricing team. If the configured sources cannot provide a usable rate, or a response needs commercial judgment, the request goes to the responsible person with the available context.
Does Shipflow set our prices?
Your team owns the pricing strategy and final commercial decisions. The operator can suggest pricing or markup using available cost information, customer context and your configured rules. Authorized users can review, adjust or override those recommendations.
Are historical costs and market benchmarks confirmed rates?
No. They can provide indicative references or reasonableness checks. Your workflow defines how current rates, historical costs and market benchmarks may be used, and when a fresh supplier rate or human decision is required. Reference data should not be presented as a confirmed carrier offer.
Can quotations be sent without manual approval?
Yes, where the workflow is configured to send eligible responses within approved rules. You can retain review for selected scenarios. The scope of automated sending is agreed with your team and depends on the available permissions.
Can the operator handle inquiries outside office hours?
The workflow can process incoming inquiries around the clock within its configured scope. A quotation that requires a carrier response, missing information or a human decision still depends on those inputs; fresh spot sourcing does not guarantee an immediate final quote.
Does a quotation automatically become a booking?
Not by itself. Quotation and booking have different completion criteria. If you connect the workflows, define the customer response or other trigger, the information required and the validation needed before a booking is created.
Start with one workflow
Start with the quotation requests that take up your team’s day.
Map the inputs, decisions and systems with Shipflow. Define a useful first deployment with clear boundaries and measurable outcomes.
Book a working session