Stock reaches the people who have to move it on WhatsApp: the urgent alert, the Monday list and the questions.
An add-on to our inventory control system for companies with technicians, drivers or shop managers who will not open a dashboard. The technician gets "your van has 2 capacitors of 35 µF left and four air conditioning jobs this week", the warehouse gets the loading list with "ready" and "left" buttons, and anyone can ask how much of something is left. We build it with our partner Bedel, with more than 18,000 incidents resolved over WhatsApp, mostly in student residences, among many other sectors.
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Read-only connection · Tested on your own data first · Data hosted in the EU · Demos in English or Spanish
The short answer
WhatsApp stock alerts are messages that an inventory control system sends to the phone of whoever has to act when a product is about to run out at a location, plus the Monday shipping list with buttons and the answers of the assistant. They run on Meta's official WhatsApp Business platform, with approved templates and a log of every reply. They suit companies with technicians, drivers or managers on the road. Arume builds it with its partner Bedel.
By Manuel Gómez González, founder of Arume · Reviewed on
What it does
Urgent alerts, only when it matters
When the risk of running out of a product at a location passes the threshold you set, a message goes to whoever can do something: the technician with that van, the manager of that shop or purchasing. With the product, what is left, when it runs out and what the system proposes. If all is well, nothing arrives: a channel that warns about everything ends up muted.
The Monday shipping list, with buttons
On Monday morning the warehouse receives the approved load for each van or shop, with quick-reply buttons: "Ready", "Left", "Something missing". Each tap is recorded in the system with the time and the person, and purchasing sees on the dashboard what is ready and what is not without phoning anyone.
Questions to the assistant from a phone
The same assistant that answers on the web answers on WhatsApp: "how much is left of R32 gas in van 07?", "what is on tomorrow's load?". With the same permissions, and with the source of each figure.
The official platform, not a phone in a drawer
Not the WhatsApp Business app with a handset left in the warehouse. It is built on Meta's WhatsApp Business platform, which lets a system send messages from a company number, with approved templates and a record of each message.
Templates written with you
Messages that go out without anyone writing first (the alert, the Monday list) travel as templates that Meta reviews and approves. We write them with you, short and with only the data needed, and register them. If you change the wording, it is reviewed again.
Built with Bedel
Bedel is a WhatsApp communication software that handles incidents in student residences, university halls, coliving and businesses with premises, with more than 18,000 incidents resolved over WhatsApp. We build the WhatsApp part of this system with them: their experience with messages that get delivered and answered, and our stock system behind.
What are WhatsApp stock alerts?
They are messages that the inventory control system sends on WhatsApp to the person who has to act when a product risks running out at a location, together with the approved shipment list and the answers to questions put to the assistant. They go out from a company number, on Meta's official WhatsApp Business platform, and every message and every reply is logged.
They are an add-on, not the core of the system. The calculation of what to send is done by the inventory system; WhatsApp is the channel that gets it to people who are not at a desk.
How are people on the road told about stock today?
In most companies with technicians or delivery vans it is a WhatsApp group, a phone call to the warehouse or a note on the van. A technician needs a part, writes to the group, someone answers "I think there are some at the warehouse", and the part is not there when he arrives.
The group works for the immediate and fails at everything else: nobody knows who collected what, messages from two days ago vanish among photos, and nobody can ask "which van has thermocouples?" and trust the answer. What we propose uses the same channel, which the team already has and knows how to use, and puts data and a record behind it.
What is the difference between the WhatsApp Business app and the platform?
Meta has two products with similar names. The WhatsApp Business app, designed for the small business owner: a business profile, greeting messages and quick replies, answering by hand from a phone. And the WhatsApp Business platform, Meta's enterprise-level API: a system sends and receives messages programmatically, through a provider or a direct integration.
For stock alerts you need the second. An alert that goes out when the risk passes a threshold is sent by the system, not by a person with a phone. The platform also allows templates with data, reply buttons that return to the system and delivery records. The company number is registered on the platform, and at the start we decide with you whether it is a new number or the one you already use to serve customers.
- WhatsApp Business app: a person answers from a phone.
- WhatsApp Business platform (API): a system sends and receives, with templates, buttons and logs.
Who receives what?
The value of the channel depends on each message reaching only the person who can act. When each person is registered, we fix what they receive: the technician what concerns their van, the shop manager their shop, the warehouse lead the loads, purchasing the alerts that depend on a supplier. An alert that reaches fifteen people is handled by none of them.
The threshold is also set. By default an alert goes out when the risk of running out of a product before the next shipment passes the service level of that family; for critical parts, earlier. If a technician gets an alert that is no use, they can tap "Not needed", and if that happens several times the threshold for that product is reviewed.
Why do we build it with Bedel?
Bedel is a WhatsApp communication software that serves residents of student residences and university halls at any hour and in the language they write in, and passes to a team member what it should not decide alone. It also works with coliving, apartments and businesses with premises. It has resolved more than 18,000 incidents over WhatsApp, mostly in student residences, among many other sectors.
What it contributes to this system is what you do not learn from the documentation: how to word a template so it is approved first time, how people behave with buttons, which messages are ignored and which are answered, how to register a number without losing the one already in use. We provide the stock calculation, the forecast and the assistant; Bedel provides the channel.
Consent, cost and data
Meta requires that each person has agreed to receive messages before anything is sent, and each can opt out. Each team member is registered with their number and accepts. Phone numbers of staff are personal data: they are kept only to send these messages, on servers in the European Union, and deleted when someone stops receiving them. If the phones are personal rather than company-owned, using them for work is something your employment adviser should review.
Meta charges per message delivered, with a rate that depends on the template category and the destination country. That cost is separate from the system, and we calculate it with you from your real volume of alerts before starting. As alerts go out only when there is risk, volume tends to be low.
How do we start?
WhatsApp is added once the inventory system is already calculating, normally at the end of set-up or during shadow mode. We choose the number, write and get the templates approved, register the first people (a couple of technicians or two shops) and test with real alerts for a few weeks before opening it to everyone.
In the 30-minute video demo, in English or Spanish, we show you the alert, the Monday list with its buttons and a question to the assistant from a phone.
Frequently asked questions
Can we just use the normal WhatsApp Business app?
Not for automatic alerts. The app is designed for a small business answering by hand from a phone. For a system to send alerts with templates and a log, you need the WhatsApp Business platform, which is the API. A company number is registered on it; at the start we see with you whether a new number is better than the one you have.
What is a message template and why is it needed?
It is a message with fixed text and gaps for data ("Your van {{1}} has {{2}} of {{3}} left"), which Meta reviews before it can be sent. According to Meta's documentation, outside the customer service window only approved templates can be sent. We write them with you and register them ourselves.
What is the 24-hour window?
When someone writes to the company number, a 24-hour window opens in which you can answer with free messages. Each time they write again, it restarts. Outside it, only templates go out. That is why assistant answers are free text, while alerts and the Monday list are templates.
Can people answer with buttons?
Yes. Templates allow quick-reply buttons. In practice we use two or three per message ("Ready", "Left", "Something missing"). Each tap is recorded in the system with the time and the person.
Who is Bedel?
Bedel is a WhatsApp communication software and a technology provider of Meta's WhatsApp Business platform. It has resolved more than 18,000 incidents over WhatsApp, mostly in student residences, among many other sectors. They provide the channel; our system provides the stock calculation.
Do staff have to agree to receive the messages?
Yes. Meta requires each person to have accepted receiving messages from the number, and they can opt out. If phones are personal, we suggest your employment adviser reviews the use.