AI back office for freight forwarders

The AI back office for forwarders

PULSE is the AI back office for freight forwarders from synetra GmbH, Bremen: it handles incoming emails, incoming invoices and customs documents in the Outlook you already use, without changing your transport management system (TMS). Your back-office staff spend 30 to 50% of their time in the inbox. First results after four weeks, fully in production after 8 to 12 weeks.

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What
AI back office for mid-sized freight forwarders in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: handles incoming emails, incoming invoices and customs documents
Modules
CURA for emails, FINUS for incoming invoices with DATEV export, VECTIS for customs declarations
How it works
In your existing Outlook, without changing systems: the AI drafts, your back-office staff check and send
Operation
Open models on our own infrastructure in German data centres, without US cloud providers
Timeframe
First results after four weeks, fully in production after 8 to 12 weeks
  • Parcelbroker
  • Baltic Logistik Service
  • Alpha Cargo Plus
  • Noah Maritim
  • Westar
  • CR Logistic Germany
  • 7WL
  • Cargomar

Your back-office staff spend hours on recurring tasks

Booking emails, status requests, rate requests, incoming invoices, customs documents: everything has to be read, classified and answered. Each one costs minutes to hours. With ten back-office staff, that adds up to several full-time positions spent on routine instead of value creation.

Three modules, one platform.

CURA for incoming emails, FINUS for accounting, VECTIS for export and import customs declarations. All without changing your TMS, all in Outlook, all on the same platform. Ideally you start with CURA; we switch on the rest when you are ready.

  • CURA — AI back-office assistant for incoming emails: reads every email, classifies it, creates jobs as cases, assigns follow-up emails to the same case and drafts the reply in your tone of voice. Multilingual, job data straight into the TMS on request. Recommended starting point.

  • FINUS — Incoming invoices for the DATEV accounting software: text recognition (OCR) and AI account coding with your chart of accounts, early payment discount and due date logic, plausibility check against your existing jobs.

  • VECTIS — Customs declarations + EUR.1: suggestions for the HS code (the internationally harmonised commodity code on which the customs tariff number is based) with a rationale, the movement certificates EUR.1 and A.TR, and supplier's declarations. The customs declaration runs via CargoSoft; the connection to DAKOSY and dbh is to follow.

Three steps. In Outlook.

No new email client, no change of TMS, no IT project.

  1. The email arrives, just as it does today.
  2. PULSE reads and classifies it: it recognises a job, status, price, invoice or customs request, extracts the data, creates jobs as cases and checks for gaps.
  3. The draft is waiting in your tone of voice in the right mailbox; your back-office team checks it and clicks send.
Outlook · InboxPULSE active

    You stay in control

    The AI does not send anything itself; it drafts. Your back-office staff check every draft and click send themselves. In uncertain cases the AI escalates to a person instead of guessing. Automatic sending (auto-send) is optional and tied to confidence thresholds that you set yourself, in other words to how certain the AI is about a case.

    Open models, operated in Germany

    Open models on our own infrastructure: data centres in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, no US cloud providers, no data transfer. The data processing agreement (DPA), technical and organisational measures (TOMs) and data protection impact assessment are prepared. That way, compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is solved structurally, not just contractually.

    Solutions in detail

    The right page for every task

    Email automation for freight forwarders

    Module CURA: classify incoming emails, create jobs as cases and reply in Outlook.

    Learn more     Provider comparison 2026: AI for emails and jobs

    14 providers by type of solution: data extraction, TMS with AI capture, email back office, with date and sources.

    Learn more     GDPR-compliant AI for logistics

    Open models, our own infrastructure, data centres in Germany, without US cloud providers.

    Learn more     Shipment status requests answered from the TMS

    Answer status and tracking requests in Outlook with the current status from the TMS.

    Learn more     Freight rates & bookings

    Recognise rate and booking requests, extract the data, prepare the reply.

    Learn more     AI customs clearance

    Module VECTIS: HS code suggestions, EUR.1/A.TR, customs declaration via CargoSoft.

    Learn more     Order entry from emails

    Module CURA: create jobs as cases, check for gaps, ask follow-up questions and assign follow-up emails.

    Learn more     Incoming invoices with DATEV export

    Module FINUS: read incoming invoices, code them, check discount and due date and pass them to DATEV.

    Learn more     AI funding in Bremen: grants of up to 40%

    Introduce AI automation in Bremen with funding. A BAB grant for your PULSE project.

    Learn more

    FAQ

    Common questions

    What is PULSE by synetra?

    PULSE is an AI back office for freight forwarders. It reads incoming emails in the mailbox, classifies them, creates jobs as cases and drafts the reply in your tone of voice, directly in Outlook. Three modules: CURA for emails, FINUS for incoming invoices, VECTIS for customs. Operated in German data centres, GDPR-compliant.

    Does our email data stay in Germany?

    Yes. All data stays in Germany, in data centres in Nuremberg and Falkenstein. PULSE uses open models on its own infrastructure, without US cloud providers. No email leaves the country, and there is no interface to OpenAI or Microsoft in the critical path. Data processing under the GDPR is standard.

    What happens if the AI gives a wrong answer?

    PULSE works in draft mode: replies land in Outlook as drafts, and your staff always have the final say. In uncertain cases the AI escalates to a person instead of guessing. Automatic sending (auto-send) is optional and tied to confidence thresholds that you set yourself, in other words to how certain the AI is about a case.

    Do we have to install anything in Outlook for PULSE?

    No, PULSE can be used without an add-in. It works on the mailbox itself, not in the email client: drafts, categories and folders appear directly in your normal Outlook, whether web, desktop or mobile. An Outlook add-in is available as an option.

    Can PULSE be connected to our TMS and our customs software?

    On request, CURA passes job data straight into the TMS (via an application programming interface, API for short, or as a one-click suggestion). FINUS exports to DATEV. With VECTIS, the customs declaration for ATLAS, the IT system of the German customs administration, runs via CargoSoft; the connection to DAKOSY and dbh is to follow. As TMS integrations, synetra lists CargoSoft, Scope by Riege Software and SLS Works; PULSE is not connected to Soloplan CarLo, WinSped or LIS.

    How quickly does PULSE make a difference?

    You see first results after four weeks, and you are fully in production after 8 to 12 weeks: a rollout, not an IT project. Ideally you start with CURA; we switch on FINUS and VECTIS when you are ready.

    PULSE for your business

    See in a short demo how PULSE takes email work off your back-office staff: first results after four weeks, fully in production after 8 to 12 weeks.

    Request a demo