Oro, a key partner of Smile in the B2B space, leverages artificial intelligence to transform business practices and better address customer challenges. Itay Braverman, VP of Product at OroCommerce, shares his vision for the future of AI in this sector. Through innovative solutions like AI Smart Order and AI Smart Agent, Oro and Smile combine their expertise to simplify complex processes and anticipate market needs.

Chloé: Could you start by introducing yourself and telling us about your role at Oro?
Itay: I’m Itay Braverman. I joined Oro when we launched our first B2B commerce offering. In my initial role, I led solution engineering, working closely with customers worldwide to identify their pain points and needs. Through this, I gained a deep understanding of the different use cases in B2B commerce, which allowed me to contribute to product improvements and add value to our roadmap.
Earlier this year, I transitioned to the role of VP of Product, which allows me to continue learning from our customers and integrating their needs into our products. Today, we’ll be talking about AI, a perfect example of how we create solutions that truly address our customers' needs.

Chloé: How has AI been integrated at Oro, and how long has the team been working on it?
Itay: The AI boom really started with the release of ChatGPT. It shook up the market, with people like Elon Musk calling it a "Magic genie problem". But despite this incredible potential, we had to figure out practical applications for our B2B space.
For about two years now, we’ve been exploring ways to use AI to automate processes—especially in B2B, where efficiency is critical. We had already been using machine learning processes to improve automation, but they weren’t as impactful as we had hoped. The power of AI changed everything. We started developing cutting-edge AI functionalities about a year and a half ago and began integrating them into Oro.

Chloé: How big is the team working on AI at Oro?
Itay: I like to call them "The AI-Team," an analogy/taken from the 80's American TV series "The A-Team" - special forces that are designed to deal with special missions. When we started, there were just two of us—me and one of our top tech leads. Now, we have about six core members, though the overall team is bigger. The "AI gurus," as I call them, are the ones who’ve really grasped how to fully leverage AI’s potential. It can be challenging for developers who are used to traditional coding to understand how AI can truly support them. But once the team had that lightbulb moment, we were able to approach AI solutions in a completely new way.

Chloé: Can you tell us more about the future developments you’re working on for the B2B space, like intelligent order management?
Itay: Our journey with AI has evolved gradually. We started with simple functionalities like content generation. In B2B, many clients lack tools to manage their product information and create SEO-optimized descriptions. So, we developed a feature that allows them to generate descriptions based on product attributes, making the process faster and more flexible.

However, B2B is behind retail in adopting these tools. For example, solutions like Google Vertex AI, which offer data-driven recommendations, work well in retail, but in B2B, clients weren't yet ready for such advanced recommendations. This led us to focus on immediate needs, which is where innovations like AI Smart Agent and AI Smart Order came into play.

Take Smart Order as an example. The B2B ordering process is often complex. Many clients send purchase orders in their own format, and integrating them into an ERP is cumbersome. Traditional solutions using machine learning were only about 30% effective. AI has allowed us to automate this process with impressive accuracy, particularly thanks to models like GPT-4. While AI is accurate, human validation is still necessary to adjust outdated information. This has already saved a lot of time, and we are currently in the beta-testing phase.

We also developed AI Smart Agent, which allows clients to get responses via natural language queries, whether it's for product information or order tracking. It’s like having 24/7 customer service, capable of handling multiple requests simultaneously.

In summary, we’ve moved from simple tools to more advanced solutions like AI Smart Order and AI Smart Agent, which directly address B2B clients' needs by automating complex and time-consuming processes. We are excited to see how these solutions will continue to evolve and deliver even more benefits.

We’re not just using AI for the sake of it, but to truly solve our customers' pain points by automating processes that were previously time-consuming and error-prone.

Chloé: How have customers reacted to these innovations?
Itay: So far, the feedback has been really positive. We have three major customers currently testing these solutions. What’s interesting is that many of them had already invested heavily in custom automation solutions, but without AI. Now, they’re seeing how AI can enhance these processes, especially in areas like intelligent order management.
For instance, many B2B customers send purchase orders in custom formats that don’t match the merchant’s system. AI allows us to automate the processing of these orders with much higher accuracy, saving a lot of time and effort. We’re still gathering data on the overall impact, but the initial results are very promising.

Chloé: Could you explain the concrete benefits AI brings to your customers?
Itay: The two main benefits are time savings and better access to information. Customers often spend a lot of time manually entering orders, which leads to errors and time-consuming back-and-forth communication. With AI, we’re drastically reducing the time spent on these processes.
The second major benefit is better data insights. B2B customers often have a wealth of information—like order trends and product preferences—but they don’t always have the tools to analyze it effectively. AI helps process this data, enabling better decision-making and, in some cases, even the innovation of new products.

Chloé: What does the future of AI in B2B look like to you?
Itay: We can’t predict the future with certainty, but I’m confident that automation in B2B will continue to strengthen. Right now, we’re focused on improving efficiency on the merchant side. However, I believe that eventually, both merchants and their customers will use AI agents to communicate and transact in a seamless, frictionless way. The real challenge will be finding the balance between automation and maintaining the personal touch that sales teams bring.
In the coming years, I think AI will fully transform B2B processes. We’re only at the beginning, and the potential is immense.

I believe we’ll reach a point where both merchants and their customers will use AI agents to seamlessly communicate and transact, making processes smoother and more efficient than ever.

Conclusion

This interview highlights how artificial intelligence is redefining the B2B sector. With innovations like AI Smart Order and AI Smart Agent, OroCommerce, in partnership with Smile, offers powerful tools that automate complex processes and provide real value. These solutions improve efficiency and help businesses make better use of customer data for more informed decision-making. As AI continues to evolve, the opportunities to transform business practices are vast, and OroCommerce is at the forefront of this revolution.