FRONT OFFICE AI FOR DISTRIBUTORS — THE COMPARISON

Compare us to anything a distributorship is offered.

Distributors are sold one of two models: a customer suite and a B2B portal your inside-sales desk operates and your customers must learn, or AI agents you assemble and configure per channel. No logos needed, because the same packaging habits dominate the market. Front Office was built on three different principles — and every stock, price and status answer comes from your approved information and connected data only.

Start free

Try it free 7 days on your own business · no credit card · per company, never per seat

REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button. Give it your website: it learns your company, works from your approved knowledge and gets better with every answer you approve.

Live on this site right now — the assistant in the corner is the product · Award-winning AI — CES · ISE · TMCnet

Zanus Front Office dashboard — the AI at work

One dashboard doing the jobs the others only track.

Three habits of the market — three different principles here

1 · Pricing scales per seat

Across most of the market, every hire raises the software bill — the price follows your headcount, not the work getting done.

2 · The AI is often metered on top

Credits, "AI actions", per-conversation fees, usage tiers. On many platforms the AI arrives as a second bill on top of the seats.

3 · Most AI was built to assist teams

Enrich, draft, score, summarize, coach — designed to make YOUR people faster. Newer autonomous agents go further, but are typically configured per channel and priced per usage.

Front Office was designed from the start on three different principles: one integrated product, priced by plan — not by seat-math · the AI performs complete front-office workflows, not only assists them · every answer grounded in your approved knowledge, with Protection capping the spend.

The scoreboard: how each model delivers the job

Fourteen distributorship jobs, three delivery models. The difference isn’t whether a capability exists somewhere — it’s what you must assemble, license and operate to get it. Descriptions reflect typical published product models, Aug 2026.

The job	Traditional CRM model	Agent & copilot platforms	Zanus Front Office
Answer the order desk phone 24/7	Your inside-sales reps answer, with a customer suite and a phone system	Configure a voice agent, channels and usage separately	✓ Built in — your line card, branches and cutoffs, 40 languages, hang-ups called back, 6:30 AM rush and Saturdays included
Answer “is it in stock, what is my price?”	Whoever picks up answers from memory, or calls back	An agent you train and maintain per channel, per data source	✓ Grounded in the availability you connect and the account’s assigned tier; no source, no claim
Take the re-order	A B2B portal project with logins your customers must adopt	Agent invokes order actions you connect and configure	✓ Taken in the conversation — item, quantity, branch, pickup or delivery, PO number captured, written back to your ERP
Quote the bid list	A separate quoting module your reps operate from a PDF price list	Agent invokes processes you configure	✓ Native: from your price list and the account’s tier, companion items proposed, off-list pricing queued for a person
Acknowledge the PO in orders@	Templates and tracking for your team; the rep confirms when off the phone	AI drafts; sending policies vary by setup	✓ Acknowledged in minutes with the order number; invoice copies and proof of delivery sent; disputes routed to AR
Work the new-account request and credit application	Routed to a rep’s queue by workflow rules	Enriched and scored, then handed to a rep	✓ Answered in minutes: quoted from the standard tier, application routed complete to your credit desk, rep informed
File the short shipment or return	Usually a separate service product and seats	Support agents configured separately	✓ Filed complete — invoice, PO, item, photos — routed to counter, warehouse or AR, status sent until the credit memo
Remind the account to re-order	Templates your reps trigger when they remember	AI drafts; sending policies vary	✓ Sequences on the account’s own rhythm, stopping the moment the buyer answers or a rep should call
Book the rep visit or will-call pickup	Scheduling links and a calendar your reps maintain	Agent invokes calendar actions you connect	✓ Booked inside the call — right rep, right branch, dock window respected; calendars synced
Brief the branch manager	Dashboards you open and read	A to-do list for your reps	✓ A did-it-for-you list: orders taken overnight, quotes out, claims filed, the three accounts needing a rep today
Flag the account going quiet	Fields your reps fill; noticed at quarter end	Inferred from calls your team recorded	✓ Scored from the AI’s own conversations — order rhythm slipping, quotes unopened — before the quarter shows it
Keep credit and pricing exceptions with your people	Depends on who picks up	Best effort, disclaimers apply	✓ Your rules: special prices, terms, credit holds and application questions are transferred to a person, every time
Call your customers before they call you	Reminder calls made by staff when there is time; otherwise a text	Build an outbound flow, connect telephony, meter the minutes	✓ Auto-Call: an event, a funnel or a list triggers the call; the AI announces or converses, on your rules — Hi Steve, this is Atlas Distribution: your standing order ships Wednesday; two items are back-ordered until the 20th.
The bill	Per seat; grows with every rep and branch you add	Per seat and/or per usage: credits, actions, conversations	✓ One plan, chosen by outcome — your customers and their orders are never counted or charged

Already running a big CRM suite? Read the story: the old way vs the AI way — keep the CRM, add the AI Front Office → And the chat below will compare us to any product you name, from its published pages.

Comparing something specific? Ask the Zanus AI below — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages. Our plans are public: see pricing → Then do your own math →

The one question that cuts through every comparison: after you pay, who answers the contractor at 6:30 AM and gets the quote out? With Front Office the answer is: the AI does — from your approved information and the account’s tier — and your reps take the handshake, the credit decision and every pricing exception.

Questions, answered

Why don’t you name the other products?

Because the comparison is about the model, not the logo. Software your inside-sales desk operates, a portal your customers must adopt and metered AI on top is the norm across the market; naming brands adds nothing. If you are evaluating a specific product, ask the chat — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages.

Is this comparison fair to the suites sold to distributors?

Every description of other models comes from typical published product pages, read August 2026, and describes what a distributor must assemble, license and operate — editions, portal project, implementation partner — to get the job done. Where a vendor differs, the chat will show you.

Do we have to replace our ERP or B2B portal?

No. Your ERP stays the record for inventory, pricing and invoicing; your portal stays for the customers who like it. The Front Office is the system of work in front of them: calendars sync natively; connectors, webhooks and a read-only API write orders, quotes and claims back and read what you authorize.

Try it free on your own distributorship. 7 days. No credit card.

Give it your website. It learns your company. Then call it, chat with it, e-mail it — and decide. Nothing to install, nothing to cancel.

Start free

VIEW ALL NEXT❯