In this exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Warren Patterson, Founder and CEO of OrderEase, shares his journey from operating a retail store to founding a groundbreaking platform that is transforming supply chain operations for Canadian SMBs. With over two decades of experience in retail and supply chain management, Warren has created OrderEase to address the critical challenges faced by SMBs in sectors like lawn & garden and building materials. Through automated order management and seamless integration with existing systems, OrderEase is helping businesses eliminate inefficiencies, reduce errors, and scale smarter. Warren discusses the platform’s impact, its no-code philosophy, and the key strategies that have fueled its success. His insights provide invaluable guidance for Canadian SMBs looking to modernize their operations and embrace the future of digital supply chain solutions.
Warren brings a unique blend of industry expertise and technological vision. After running a successful retail store, he identified a critical gap in how orders were managed across fragmented supply chains, in particular for Independent Retailers—and built OrderEase to solve it. Today, he’s focused on empowering Canadian SMBs to modernize their operations, eliminate manual inefficiencies, and scale through smart, no-code integrations with trading partners.
OrderEase’s middleware platform automates order workflows between ERPs and sales channels. How does this approach specifically address the operational bottlenecks faced by Canadian SMBs in industries like lawn & garden or building materials?
Canadian SMBs in sectors like lawn & garden or building materials often operate with legacy processes that rely heavily on manual data entry, disconnected systems, and time-consuming workflows. These industries deal with complex supply chains—seasonal demand, large product catalogs, and fragmented vendor networks. OrderEase helps eliminate these pain points by acting as a bridge between disparate systems. Our platform automates the order flow from retailer to supplier, integrating with ERPs and sales channels so data flows seamlessly without manual input. This not only saves time but also reduces costly errors and ensures everyone is working with the same real-time data. It’s about empowering SMBs to be agile, accurate, and efficient—without needing to overhaul their existing tech stack.
Your team highlights reducing manual order entry by digitizing PDFs/emails. Can you share a measurable impact story, such as how a client like Manchester Pets improved fulfillment speed or reduced errors using your tools?
Absolutely. Manchester Pets is a great example of how digitization drives performance. Before using OrderEase, their sales and fulfillment teams managed a significant volume of email-based orders, often requiring manual re-entry into their systems—slowing things down and increasing the risk of errors. By integrating our platform, Manchester Pets was able to ingest those orders automatically, regardless of format (PDFs, Excel, email), and map them directly into their ERP. As a result, they saw a 80% reduction in order processing time and a dramatic drop in order errors. Fulfillment became faster, more reliable, and less dependent on administrative resources—freeing up the team to focus on higher-value work.
With compatibility across systems like Sage, QuickBooks, and NetSuite, how do you ensure seamless integration for SMBs with limited IT resources? What role does your “no-code” philosophy play in democratizing supply chain automation?
Many of our customers don’t have internal IT teams, so simplicity and accessibility are critical. That’s where our “no-code” approach comes in. We’ve designed OrderEase so that users can connect systems like Sage or QuickBooks to OrderEase with minimal setup and zero coding required. Our integration wizards, templated connectors, and managed onboarding services allow even resource-constrained businesses to go live quickly. By removing the technical complexity, we’re leveling the playing field—making supply chain automation something any SMB can access, not just enterprises with big budgets. It’s about putting powerful tools into the hands of everyday operators.
OrderEase serves fragmented sectors from food to home decor. How do you tailor solutions for niche markets while maintaining platform scalability, and what unique challenges arise in standardizing workflows across these industries?
At its core, order processing is actually quite simple—it’s a product code, a description, a price, and a quantity. When you boil it down, that foundational structure is the same across industries. The complexity doesn’t come from the order itself, but from how different sectors handle product attributes, compliance, and workflows. That’s where we’ve focused our innovation.
We built OrderEase with a standardized core that understands the fundamentals of an order, but with the flexibility to adapt to the unique nuances of any industry. Whether it’s batch-level traceability in food, thousands of constantly changing SKUs in home décor, or seasonal fluctuations in lawn and garden, our system can accommodate those specific needs through customizable data mapping and catalog structures.
The real challenge isn’t the order—it’s the disconnection between systems. Our platform solves that by acting as the common language between ERPs, sales channels, and suppliers. With configurable integration tools and a centralized product catalog, we can bridge the gaps between different formats and expectations. That flexibility has allowed us to serve a wide range of verticals without rebuilding the wheel each time.
Having transitioned from running a garden center to leading a tech firm, what advice would you give Canadian SMBs hesitant to replace legacy systems (e.g., fax/phone orders) with digital tools?
I’ve been there—relying on fax machines, phone calls, and spreadsheets to run a business with over 200 suppliers. Change can feel risky, especially when old methods still “work.” But in today’s fast-moving environment, sticking with legacy systems means falling behind. My advice? Start small. You don’t need to digitize everything overnight. Begin with a workflow that causes the most friction—maybe manual order entry—and explore a solution like OrderEase that can automate just that piece. As you see the time saved and errors reduced, confidence builds. Digital transformation isn’t about replacing people; it’s about enabling them to do more with less. The tools are ready—you just have to take the first step.
The post Revolutionizing Order Management for Canadian Small Businesses first appeared on CanadianSME Small Business Magazine.