In many B2B organizations, creating a customer quote still involves a familiar sequence of emails, approvals, contract reviews, and manual handoffs. The process can take days or even weeks, creating delays for customers and additional work for employees.
Ericsson knows this challenge well.
As a global leader in telecommunications technology operating in more than 190 countries, Ericsson manages highly complex commercial relationships involving products, services, customer-specific contracts, pricing agreements, and global fulfillment operations. Behind every quote is a web of business rules, approvals, and dependencies that must be coordinated accurately and efficiently.
For years, that complexity created friction in the quoting process. In some cases, generating a quote could take more than two weeks. Today, many of those same requests can be completed in minutes or even seconds.
The hidden complexity behind every quote
At Ericsson, many customer transactions are tied to multi-year framework agreements that include negotiated pricing, contract-specific products, and customer entitlements. Sometimes customers return months or even years after an agreement is signed and need to understand what products, configurations, and pricing are available to them before placing an order.
Historically, that process often required customers to contact their account representative, who would manually gather information, validate contract terms, and prepare a quote. Depending on the complexity of the request, responses could take days or even weeks.
Ericsson’s objective was straightforward: make it easier for customers to do business with the company.
“We want to be easier to work with as a partner to our customers,” said Aaron Thomas, global product owner at Ericsson.
Using SAP Commerce Cloud, Ericsson introduced digital commerce capabilities that allow customers to access contract-specific products, generate quotes, and place orders through self-service channels. Customers can now access dedicated storefronts built around their agreements, browse available products, generate quotes, and complete transactions without relying on manual intervention from account teams.
What once took days or weeks can now be completed in minutes or even seconds, helping improve accuracy and reduce rework across commercial operations.
Beyond automation: Exploring the role of AI agents
Once the quoting process became digitized and streamlined, Ericsson began exploring how AI could take commercial execution to the next level.
“We’ve moved from manual processes to digitized and automated processes,” Thomas explained. “Now we’re asking: can an agent perform those tasks?”
Rather than using AI solely as a <a href="https://bitcomme.com/toxic-productivity-busy-does-not-always-mean-successful/” title=”Toxic productivity: busy does not always mean successful”>productivity tool, the company started evaluating how AI agents could actively participate in commercial processes.
One area Ericsson is exploring is quote creation. The company is evaluating how AI agents could analyze customer requests, identify relevant contract information, assemble recommendations, and prepare proposed quotes for human review.
Employees remain responsible for oversight and decision-making, while AI helps reduce administrative work and allows sales and account teams to spend more time advising customers, solving business challenges, and strengthening relationships.
The company is also exploring other AI-driven capabilities, including agents that can improve product descriptions and search experiences across its internal product portfolio, helping employees find information more quickly across a large and complex catalog.
Defining the next chapter of B2B commerce
For Ericsson, AI is becoming more than a productivity tool. It is creating new possibilities for how commercial work gets done.
Reducing quote creation from weeks to seconds delivered immediate value for customers and employees alike. But the company’s exploration of AI agents points to a broader shift, one where intelligent systems help businesses execute complex processes faster, more consistently, and at greater scale.
For Ericsson, the journey from weeks-long quoting cycles to AI-assisted execution is about more than efficiency. It is about creating a simpler experience for customers and helping employees focus on the work that matters most. As the company continues exploring how agents can support commercial operations, it is helping redefine how complex B2B processes can be executed in the age of AI.
To learn more about Ericsson’s approach to AI and the future of agentic commerce, watch the webinar: Agentic B2B Commerce: Finding the fast track to profitable growth. You can also explore SAP’s vision for unified commerce at sap.com/unified-commerce and learn how organizations are connecting commerce, customer experiences, and operational execution to drive better business outcomes.
