Most requests arrive half-specified, because the person asking does not know what a supplier will need to know. Ellie has the conversation for them, asks the questions that matter for that category, and builds a structured RFQ as you talk. No forms, nothing missing before it goes out, and everyone works in their own language.
Why requests arrive broken
“I want to buy cups” goes to the supplier, who asks: porcelain or plastic, what size, what print? The requester did not know to say, and procurement is only passing the request through, so it comes back for another round. The knowledge gap, not the negotiation, is where most time and money leak out.
How it works
Seven steps, one conversation: a plain-language request goes in, a complete RFQ comes out, and it flows straight into sourcing.
01
A single front door for every request.
Anyone in the organisation opens a chat and describes what they need in plain language. No intranet page to hunt through, no template to decode, no fields to guess at. If they have a spec sheet, a drawing, or an old invoice, they attach it and Ellie reads it. A request can even start from an email: forward it and Ellie picks it up. This is the “no more forms” promise, made real.
Or forward an email — Ellie picks it up as a request
02
The knowledge gap, closed before anything goes out.
This is the difference. Ellie asks the questions that actually change the quote for that category: where the safety shoes will be worn, what certification the part needs, what size and print the cups are. Answer them once, up front, and you avoid the expensive version of this — an RFQ goes to five suppliers, one asks a question that changes the quote, and now you are chasing the internal owner and re-sending a corrected RFQ to everyone. And Ellie remembers: order the same category again and you are not re-answering, and when a supplier raises something new, she learns to ask it up front next time.
03
Watch the RFQ take shape in real time.
Alongside the conversation, a structured RFQ document assembles itself: specifications, quantity, delivery date, required attachments. You can open it any time to see exactly what will go out. Ellie enforces category-specific completeness, so she will not forget the field that matters — insurance on a vehicle, licensing on software — and will flag a spec that looks over-tight or contradictory before it inflates the price.
04
Enough questions, not endless ones.
A good intake is complete, not exhausting. Ellie asks what she needs and then stops, rather than interrogating the requester or padding the brief. The requester gets back to their job in a couple of exchanges, and procurement gets a request that is actually ready.
05
Requests route to procurement, and procurement alone owns the supplier channel.
When the request is ready, it routes to the procurement team automatically. Internal teams never see suppliers at all: Ellie does not surface supplier names, options, or prices during intake, because procurement owns those relationships and controls what goes to market and when. Mention a colleague to pull them into a thread when a spec needs a second opinion, and attach the technical documents that belong with the request. The compartmentalisation that prevents crossed wires and off-channel deals is enforced by the platform, not left to etiquette.
Requester
Plain-language request
Procurement
Owns the supplier channel
Suppliers
Never visible internally
Internal teams never see supplier names, options, or prices during intake.
06
Transparent translation across the whole flow.
Language is never a barrier or a setup step. A requester can chat with Ellie in Turkish, the RFQ can be written in whatever language you choose, and a supplier in Vietnam can read and answer in Vietnamese, with translation handled invisibly so nothing is lost in a spec and nobody waits on a human translator. Prefer to keep the whole flow in a single language? That works too. English is never required.
Translated transparently — each party works in their own language
07
No re-typing the brief.
A finished request does not sit in an inbox. It flows directly into a sourcing session, pre-loaded with everything the conversation captured, so the buyer never reconstructs the brief by hand. Intake, sourcing, and evaluation are one connected flow, not three tools that hand off by copy-paste.
Sourcing session · context loaded
The brief carries over intact — nothing is retyped between intake and sourcing.
Ellie asks the questions suppliers would ask before the RFQ goes out, so you are not chasing an internal owner for a missing answer and re-sending a corrected RFQ to five suppliers who already quoted on guesses.
Order the same category again without re-answering the same questions, and Ellie starts asking about anything a supplier once queried — so each intake is sharper than the last.
Requesters, the RFQ document, and suppliers can each work in their own language, translated transparently, or keep the whole flow in one. Cross-border sourcing with no translator in the loop.
A plain-language conversation replaces templates and email chains, and requests can even arrive by email.
See it in one request
What the requester types
“I want to buy cups.”
What goes to suppliers
No. They describe the need in plain language; Ellie handles the structure and asks what is missing.
That is the point of the clarifying step. Ellie asks the questions a supplier would ask and flags specs that look over-tight or contradictory before anything goes out.
Yes. Spec sheets, drawings, and prior invoices can be attached and Ellie reads them into the request.
Yes. Forward an email and Ellie picks it up as a request.
Yes. As one example, a requester can chat in Turkish while a supplier reads and replies in Vietnamese, with translation handled transparently. You choose the RFQ’s language, and keeping the whole flow in a single language works too. English is never required.
Yes. Order the same category again and Ellie does not re-ask what you already answered, and she starts asking about anything a supplier previously raised.
Only procurement. Internal teams never see suppliers; Ellie does not surface supplier options during intake. Procurement owns the supplier channel.
It routes to procurement and flows straight into a sourcing session, pre-loaded with the full brief, so nothing is retyped.
No. Ellie asks what she needs and stops, usually in a couple of exchanges.