AI assistants are evolving quickly. The first generation largely helped people create content and analyse information supplied to them. The next generation can increasingly interact with external business systems.
For manufacturers using Digit ERP, this creates the possibility of using an AI assistant such as Claude as another interface into operational information.
A manufacturing manager could potentially ask: “Which customer orders are currently late?” or: “Which products are below their required stock level?”
Claude can then use information made available through a secure connection to help answer the question. This represents a significant change in how employees could interact with ERP software.
Imagine asking: “Give me a summary of production today.”
The assistant could potentially analyse relevant information and highlight:
✅ Open manufacturing orders.
✅ Late jobs
✅ Material shortages
✅ Customer orders at risk
✅ Inventory issues requiring attention
Instead of management spending time finding these exceptions, AI helps bring them to the surface.
Rather than searching through different areas of the ERP to identify potential problems, managers could use AI to quickly understand where their attention is needed.
The potential for smaller manufacturers. This could be particularly valuable for SMEs. Large manufacturers often have analysts, ERP specialists and dedicated planning teams. Smaller businesses frequently don’t. The managing director, production manager or operations manager may therefore spend considerable time pulling information together. AI could provide some of the analytical capability previously available primarily to larger organisations.
For smaller manufacturing teams, easier access to information could mean less time gathering data and more time acting on it. ERP remains the source of truth. Importantly, Claude isn’t replacing the ERP. Digit continues to hold the structured operational records. The AI assistant provides a more intuitive way of accessing and potentially acting upon that information. That distinction is important.
The future may not be AI instead of ERP. It could be AI sitting above ERP and other business systems. And that potentially creates something much more powerful.
