From manual RFQ entry to drag-and-drop automation

Overview

Ply is an AI-powered inventory and purchasing platform built for trade businesses — plumbing, HVAC, flooring, and more. Founded in 2022 by Dave Wigder and Darion Miller (ex-Amazon, Vendr, PathAI), Ply modernizes how owners, warehouse managers, and technicians source, buy, and manage materials. With $8.5M raised in a strategic round led by Ferguson Ventures, Ply needed a partner to automate the complex RFQ process at the core of their platform.

The Challenge

Manual RFQ Data Entry Creates Bottlenecks: For Ply's customers, managing RFQs (Requests for Quote) manually was time-consuming and error-prone. The traditional process required users to enter each line item from a supplier's RFQ file by hand, creating inefficiencies that made it hard to scale as quote volume increased.

Need for Seamless Automation: Ply's vision was to offer an effortless experience where users could simply upload an RFQ file and have it transformed automatically into structured data — eliminating manual entry and accelerating time-to-quote for faster procurement decisions.

The Solution

Ply partnered with bem to build next-generation RFQ automation:

Automated RFQ Data Entry: Users drag and drop RFQ files directly into Ply's platform. bem handles the entire transformation — mapping each line item to Ply's schema and displaying it in real-time.

Scalable Data Processing: bem's API infrastructure allows Ply to process thousands of RFQs daily, eliminating bottlenecks with reliable performance regardless of data volume.

Enhanced User Experience: RFQ data is automatically populated, reducing manual errors and increasing speed to quote.

Results

Eliminated Manual RFQ Data Entry: The integration completely removed the need for manual data entry, freeing up time for strategic procurement activities.

Accelerated Time to Quote: Real-time data transformation significantly reduced time-to-quote, enabling faster decision-making and more efficient supplier relationship management.

Fast Time to Value: Ply integrated bem into their existing workflow in a matter of days — instantly transforming how their customers handle RFQs.

Hundreds of teams now rely on the Ply platform, reporting a 20% increase in billable work, dead stock reduced below 15%, and 10-15 hours saved each week per operations team member.