Manufacturers are entering a new era many are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution – or Industry 4.0. For years, digital transformation meant ERP upgrades, CRM integrations, and eCommerce rollouts.

But today, the next wave of modernization is clear: fully connected manufacturing quoting and selling with AI built for how manufacturers to sell and their buyers buy. 

At Aleran, our North Star is simple: AI-guided Connected Commerce that helps manufacturers quote and sell with ease at the speed of demand.  

With our latest release, we’re putting that vision into action with a new AI capability that directly impacts how manufacturers sell. 

AI Sales Assistant Now Enhanced with Sales Orders + Quotes Data 

Think of it as your Aleran AI Sales Assistant that understands sales orders and quotes 

One of the most common pain points in manufacturing sales and service is simple: finding the right information fast. Aleran’s enhanced AI Sales Assistant now connects directly to your Sales Orders and Quotes. 

That means you can now ask: 

“Show me the last order for 25 stainless steel valves.” 

“Find the quote we issued for 100 HVAC units in July.” 

The AI instantly surfaces the right records, complete with hyperlinks to order history pages. No more manual digging through ERP screens, spreadsheets, or email threads. 

This is pragmatic AI in action – helping sales teams answer buyer questions in seconds, cut cycle times, and improve trust with every interaction. 

Building On Our AI Innovation For Search Visibility – From SEO to GEO For Manufacturers 

The search game isn’t just changing – it has changed. Buyers aren’t just typing keywords into Google anymore and clicking on the first results. They’re asking AI platforms questions, including recommending suppliers, comparing products, and even quoting configurations. 

Aleran Connected Commerce already had built-in functionality for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on product content and listings. 

Then in August, we made even more enhancements – launching AI-Powered Product Descriptions. This brings Generative AI directly into your product content workflow, making it easy and seamless to create high-quality, search-optimized product descriptions that perform in both traditional SEO and now also Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), including ChatGPT, Gemini and more. You can read more about that here in another post I wrote. 

And we’ll continue to build and expand on how we continue to make it even easier and faster for your products to be fast and first so that manufacturers don’t get left behind in the AI search era.  Look for more to be shared in an upcoming release.

Why AI Matters Now in Manufacturing Sales 

We recently released our annual Built to Sell Report 2025 on the state of manufacturing quoting and selling and now are preparing to launch another edition focused on AI survey data. 

And the results we’re seeing on AI are telling for what’s ahead in 2026 and beyond: 

• Six in 10 manufacturers rank AI-powered pricing as their #1 modernization goal 

• Nearly 40% have already deployed AI sales agents to guide customer interactions 

AI is no longer experimental: it’s essential. Manufacturers that embrace it now will shorten quoting cycles, increase accuracy, and boost sales velocity. Those that wait risk being invisible to buyers who are already shopping with AI-driven tools. 

Looking Ahead 

Manufacturers that adopt AI for quoting, orders, and GEO today are setting the pace for the industry. At Aleran, we’re proud to deliver practical AI that works with your ERP, CRM, and product data to create faster, smarter, more connected sales. 

Download the Built to Sell Report 2025 to see how manufacturers are already using AI to modernize sales and accelerate growth and look out for our new AI-focused edition to be released September 29, 2025. 

Let’s Talk 

If you are reassessing how you sell, including quoting – or have questions to help assess your requirements, please send me a message at sales@aleran.com.