Turn a client's WhatsApp message into a structured, priced, fillable order in seconds
Client orders arrive as "need 6 more for Saturday, same as last week, two with forklift". A coordinator decodes it, retypes it, guesses the start time, and spends the week answering "any update?". The Client Desk makes the message executable and keeps the client informed without a human typing.
What this work looks like today, and what changes.
Today, per client order
- Site manager sends a WhatsApp at 21:40: "need 6 more sat night same as last wk 2 need forklift".
- Coordinator sees it in the morning. Asks what time. Waits.
- Retypes the order into a spreadsheet or the ATS. Looks up last week's rate.
- Sourcing starts around 11:00.
- Client asks "any update?" three times. Each answer is a manual check and a message.
- Rate on the invoice does not match what was agreed in the chat. Dispute.
With the Client Desk
- The message is read the moment it arrives, in the client's language, from WhatsApp, email or a voice note.
- Role, count, site, date, shift pattern and special requirements are extracted. "Same as last week" resolves to last week's order.
- The rate card is applied. Anything the client did not say is asked back immediately, in one message.
- The structured order is created in your ATS and handed to the Sourcing Engine.
- Fill updates go to the client automatically: "4 of 6 confirmed, 2 forklift-certified, remaining 2 by 14:00."
- A new site, an off-card rate or an unusual request goes to a coordinator, with everything already filled in.
Step by step: what goes in, what the automation does, where a person decides.
Green steps run on their own. Amber steps are where a human approves or decides, by design.
WhatsApp, email, a portal form or a voice note. Free text, abbreviations, "same as last time".
A language model reads the message and pulls out role, count, site, dates, shift pattern, certifications and any special requirement, with a confidence per field. Voice notes are transcribed first.
Automated"Same as last week" is looked up. The site is matched to your records. The rate card is applied in code. Missing or low-confidence fields are listed.
AutomatedOne message to the client with the order as understood and the two questions that remain. A tap confirms. The client sees exactly what you will fill.
AutomatedStructured order in your ATS or scheduling tool, linked to the client, site and rate. Sourcing starts immediately.
AutomatedNew site, rate outside the card, unusual certification, ambiguous message. The coordinator sees the pre-filled order and decides.
Human decidesFill updates sent automatically at milestones. The invoice later matches the confirmed order, because they are the same record.
One screen, three panes: the input, the reasoning, the result.
- Client
- Riverside Logistics · J. Hart
- Role
- Warehouse operative × 6
- Site
- Riverside DC, Bay 3 · matched
- When
- Sat 6 Sep · 22:00–06:00 · night premium
- Certs
- 2 × counterbalance forklift, RTITB
- Rate
- Card: £14.20/h + night uplift · applied
- Source
- "same as last week" → order #7698
- Status
- Confirmed · sourcing started 21:44
No "any update?" messages. The client hears from you at every milestone.
A composite order. The model reads and drafts. Your rate card and site records decide. The client confirms with a tap, and a coordinator is only involved if something is unusual.
Where the advantage comes from, step by step.
| Step | Today, by hand | With ShiftMargin | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading the order | A coordinator decodes shorthand the next morning. | Read on arrival, any hour, any language. Fields extracted with a confidence score. "Same as last week" resolved from your records. | Sourcing starts the same evening. Speed to fill is the service. |
| Missing details | Back-and-forth over a day. | One message asking exactly what is missing, with the order as understood. The client confirms with a tap. | Clients like being shown what they will get. It also removes disputes later. |
| Pricing | Looked up, remembered, or guessed. | Rate card applied in code, including premiums. Off-card requests go to a person. | The invoice matches the order because they are the same record. |
| Entering the order | Retyped into the ATS or a spreadsheet. | Created automatically, linked to client, site and rate, handed to sourcing. | Every retype is a transcription error waiting to happen. |
| Updates to the client | Manual, when asked. | Automatic at milestones: confirmed count, certifications covered, names and start times before the shift. | Operators lose accounts over silence, not over difficulty. |
| Consistency across branches | Every branch does it its own way. | One intake layer for every branch and brand, with local rate cards and languages. | Service quality stops depending on which coordinator is on shift. |
The components, in plain language, and why each one matters to you.
Everything here is chosen so your ops team can maintain it after we leave. The only pieces we keep maintaining are the ones that move money.
Reads free text and voice-note transcripts into a fixed set of fields with a confidence per field. Costs under a cent per order. It never sets a price.
Sites, previous orders, client contacts and rate cards live in your ATS and a small database. Matching is deterministic and explainable.
The same intake logic behind every channel your clients already use. No new portal to force on them.
Bullhorn, zvoove or your system via API, or a structured import. The order the Sourcing Engine fills is the order the invoice bills.
When and how the client is updated is a flow your ops team can see and change.
The original message, the extracted fields, what the client confirmed and who changed what. Disputes become a lookup.
What stays human, and what happens when something goes wrong.
An order is only created once the client has confirmed the structured version. Ambiguity is asked back, not assumed.
Any rate outside the card, any new site, any unusual requirement is routed to a coordinator with the order pre-filled.
Client-facing messages use templates you approve. The model fills fields; it does not freestyle with your customers.
Messages still land in the same inbox they always did. If the desk is down, coordinators work exactly as before.
What it costs by hand, what it costs to run, and where the margin goes.
per order across reading, asking, retyping, pricing and answering updates. Multiply by orders per week per branch.
per order in model cost, plus cents for the client messages. The infrastructure for a mid-size operator is tens of dollars a month.
The measurable outcomes are zero-touch order rate, time from message to sourcing start, and invoice disputes per 100 orders. All three are baselined in week one.
Six weeks to production, behind a manual fallback.
Sample two weeks of real client messages. Time from message to order. Retyping errors. Update messages sent. Invoice disputes traced to intake.
Extraction schema from your real orders, rate-card and site matching, ask-back templates in your voice, ATS integration, update milestones.
The desk drafts every order while coordinators still create them. Every difference is reviewed. Clients see nothing new until you say so.
Zero-touch rate, minutes from message to sourcing, disputes per 100 orders, coordinator hours redirected.
Before they let this near the business.
Our clients will not use a portal.
They do not have to. The desk reads WhatsApp, email and voice notes exactly as they send them today. The only change your client sees is a faster, clearer reply.
What if the model misreads an order?
Every field carries a confidence score. Low-confidence fields are asked back, and the client confirms the structured order before it is created. A misread that survives that is corrected by the client in one tap, and it is logged.
Can it handle multiple brands and branches?
Yes. One intake layer with per-branch rate cards, sites, languages and message templates. Head office gets consistency; branches keep their client relationships.
Does it negotiate rates?
No. Rate negotiation and any off-card request go to a person, with the order pre-filled. The desk applies the card you agreed.
Start with your number, not our demo.
Bring the volumes and the time your team spends on this workflow today. In thirty minutes we will tell you whether it is your most expensive line, and if it is not, which one is.
Book a free 30-minute teardown →