A Five-Pillar Framework for AI-Ready Distribution

AI is moving from hype to practical use in distribution. For mid-market leaders, the opportunity lies in managing increased volume and complexity without corresponding increases in headcount or overhead. Modern Distribution Management’s three-year benchmarking shows that the share of distributors stating they have done nothing with AI fell from 47.1% in 2024 to 25.0% in 2025, while those using AI in several activities rose to 36.4%. These results are notable given the survey’s skew toward smaller firms, and they signal accelerated, real adoption in the channel.

At the same time, usage intensity across the broader workforce is rising. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reports that for U.S. workers ages 18 to 64, the share of work hours spent using generative AI increased from 4.1% in November 2024 to 5.7% in August 2025.

Together, these signals point to a simple conclusion for distributors. Generative AI solutions are becoming more relevant, and they will matter most where they can operate on valuable, trusted, secure company data. Generic consumer-grade AI tools (ie, ChatGPT) are useful, but their impact is limited if they cannot access the context that lives in your ERP, WMS, CRM, supplier agreements, and customer histories. That is where AI agents come in: think of them as intelligent software coworkers that operate across your systems to support workflows that drive revenue, margin, and customer service.

In the sections that follow, AI agents are defined and a readiness framework built on five pillars is outlined, providing practical methods for organizations to invest purposefully so agent value compounds over time.

Defining AI agents

Creating an AI agent is like training an employee to perform a new task – they require context in the form of data, systems, goals, and guardrails to perform the work effectively. When executing a task, an AI agent would use its training to evaluate new inputs, reason about task execution, and then produce an output.

This new technology automation doesn’t replace traditional automation; rather, it should be considered another tool in your company’s arsenal. Traditional, rules-based automation remains the most effective approach for handling stable, well-defined processes. Agents

add flexibility to process automation, executing processes that require ingesting a variety of inputs, complex reasoning, and creation of complex, multi-step outputs.

Modern Distribution Management’s inventory of 52 real-world use cases showcases an exciting diversity of applications, some of which are more immediately feasible than others. The report suggests that marketing, sales, and customer service have been the business functions most commonly capable of achieving value from AI tools. Tasks such as collateral development, pricing, RFP response, meeting support, and post-case summarization are well-suited for AI agent applications. Of course, there are other viable use cases across various business functions, such as inbound logistics, operations and inventory, demand planning, order processing, and support functions (HR, Finance, IT), that are continuing to mature as organizations prepare for future investments.

5 Pillars of readiness

As AI agents become increasingly significant in the distribution sector, the next logical step is to establish an environment that enables them to operate securely and generate tangible results. The following sections outline each pillar, providing a concise overview of what robust readiness entails, its importance for AI implementation in distribution, and straightforward actions organizations can take today to advance their preparedness.

People

Teams are comfortable using core technology tools, consistently document their work in systems of record, and operate in a culture that encourages innovation and small, low‑risk experiments. This enables leadership to invest in technology as a true differentiator, creating the habits, visibility, and trust that agents need to add value and scale without disrupting day‑to‑day operations.

Increase your readiness today: identify 2-3 champions in the business to be upskilled in AI, identify use cases for the business, trial new technology tools, and socialize success across the company

Process

Key workflows are thoroughly documented, end-to-end, with clear inputs, decisions, handoffs, quality checks, exception paths, and basic success metrics. With this clarity, you can automate rule-based steps, apply agents to context-rich decisions, and avoid simply lifting old processes into new tools.

Increase your readiness today: pick one high-friction workflow and electronically document it end-to-end with a group of cross-functional team members

Data

Product, price, inventory, supplier, and customer data are accurate, deduplicated, time-stamped, connected across systems, and have named owners with simple governance. Agents depend on this trustworthy context to make precise recommendations, update records safely, and reduce rework.

Enhance your readiness today: select a few critical data records (e.g., product and customer), assign clear owners to clean duplicates, establish clear definitions, and help ensure consistency across multiple systems, if applicable.

Applications

ERP, WMS, CRM, and document repositories are integrated with secure permissions, activity logs, and a limited set of approved agent actions that align with real-world work. These connections enable agents to convert suggestions into executed tasks, such as creating orders, updating quotes, or drafting supplier messages that your team can review and finalize.

Increase your readiness today: inventory the integration documentation for your ERP, WMS, CRM, and document systems by collecting vendor manuals, help articles, and internal notes that describe available APIs, connectors, export/import options, file formats, and security settings, then store them in a shared folder for your team.

Security

Clear policies define data use, access rights, approval steps for sensitive actions, vendor boundaries, and complete audit trails for what agents read and do. Strong security builds trust with customers and employees, meets compliance expectations, and enables you to scale agent capabilities without incurring unacceptable risk.

Increase your readiness today: create a one-page AI acceptable use policy (including purpose, approved tools, simple dos and don’ts, and a contact for questions), assign an owner, post it in a shared location, and socialize it across the business.

About the author:

Jake Rohrer is the Digital Dtrategist for WIPFLI, a top 25 advisory firm with a strong CPA foundation serving 54,000 clients across today’s most complex industries and an ASA supplier partner.