Insights
How a WhatsApp sales agent connects to your ERP without putting it at risk
An AI sales agent is only useful if it works with real stock, prices and customers. Here is how we connect one to a live ERP safely.
Published 5 min read Erö Digital Solutions
Why the ERP connection is the hard part
Taking a message is easy. Turning it into a correct order means knowing the customer, the live price and stock, the route and the rules. That information lives in the ERP, which the whole company uses all day.
So the question is never only what the agent can do. It is what it can do without disrupting everyone else.
Read first, write second
We start with read-only access. The agent answers questions about stock, prices and balances from live data, and the team checks the answers.
Writing is added later, behind a switch that can be turned off, and first used with a small group of trusted customers.
One write path, previews and approvals
All writes go through a single, tested component instead of being scattered through the code. Changes to products, prices and stock are previewed with a before and after, applied all-or-nothing, and logged.
Changes to customer records go to an approval queue rather than touching live records directly.
People stay in charge
Doubtful payments, unusual orders and unclear requests are handed to a named person. The agent says it is verifying instead of guessing.
The team can also teach the agent new rules from WhatsApp, so its behaviour follows the business rather than the other way round.
Working within WhatsApp's rules
The agent runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Free-form replies are possible within 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that, messages use templates approved by Meta. Reminders and summaries are designed around that window.