--- title: "Digitalise operations Multiply your team's impact" url: "https://referent.app" description: "Referent is an AI assistant that works on top of the software your company already runs, including custom and legacy systems with no documentation and no connectors. Live in days." --- # Digitalise operations Multiply your team's impact Referent learns how the app your team uses talks to the system underneath [Book a demo](/demo)[How it connects](#how-it-works) ChatDocumentsMemoryAutomations Enter my ERP. Tell me what sales orders are on file for the Nordvik project and what the total amount is. Referent There are 8 sales orders on file for the Nordvik project: Sales orders · Nordvik (PROJ-0001) Order Date Delivery Amount Status SAL-ORD-2026-00012 14/04/2026 08/05/2026 32.980,00 € Completed SAL-ORD-2026-00013 14/04/2026 08/05/2026 24.360,00 € Completed SAL-ORD-2026-00014 27/04/2026 22/05/2026 58.400,00 € To bill SAL-ORD-2026-00015 27/04/2026 22/05/2026 6.850,00 € Completed SAL-ORD-2026-00016 12/05/2026 06/06/2026 18.900,00 € To deliver SAL-ORD-2026-00017 12/05/2026 06/06/2026 11.240,00 € To deliver SAL-ORD-2026-00018 12/05/2026 19/06/2026 34.560,00 € To deliver SAL-ORD-2026-00019 26/05/2026 19/06/2026 27.310,00 € Draft Total 214.600,00 € Three complete, three to deliver, one to bill and one still in draft. Together, 214.600,00 €. ERP · Sales orders Message your assistant 0106How it connects ## It connects where your interface already connects. It maps the queries, the actions and the endpoints behind the interface, then connects at that level. Nothing to rebuild, nothing to migrate. Your team ### Questions and work, in plain language Chat, Slack, Teams or Telegram. Ask for a number, a report, a draft or a status. No new tool to learn. Referent ### The layer that understands your systems Maps queries, actions and endpoints. Answers from live data with citations back to the source. Executes the work on top: pulls the numbers, builds the report, drafts the follow-up. Your software ### Systems nobody else reaches Custom ERP. Internal tools built years ago. Vendor software whose maker no longer exists. Databases behind an interface and nothing else. * Custom ERP * Internal tools * Legacy vendor apps * AS/400 era systems ### Standard tools too The 50+ connectors everyone advertises are included. That part is commodity. The hard systems are the point. * Microsoft 365 * Google Drive * Slack * Jira * Salesforce This is not RPA. No screen reading and no bots clicking buttons. Referent connects at the data layer, so a UI change does not break it. 0206Where it lands ## Built for companies whose core system was never meant to be connected. Every mid-market operation runs on something specific. These are the sectors we work in most. Transportation & Logistics01 ### Transportation & Logistics The TMS says one thing, the carrier portal says another and the person who can reconcile them is on the road. Referent connects to the systems directly and answers with the live position, citing the source. Use cases Shipment statusException alertsCustomer updates Systems Custom TMSWMSCarrier portalsEDI exports [See the use cases](/industries/transportation-logistics) Manufacturing & Industrial02 Financial Services & Insurance03 Travel & Hospitality04 Retail & Consumer Goods05 0306What it does once connected ## Answers from live data, then the work that follows. Four patterns that show up in almost every deployment. 01Questions answeredOperational questions answered in secondsReal stock right now. Orders at risk. Which lots are on hold. Questions that are not hard, only slow, because today only a person who knows the system can navigate it.02Reports on scheduleThe morning export, retiredSomeone starts every day pulling numbers out of the system by hand and pasting them into a spreadsheet. Referent produces the same report from the same data, on schedule, without the copy and paste.03Work executedWork that gets executed, not just describedPull the numbers, build the report, draft the follow-up to the customer whose order slipped. Referent acts on the system rather than handing you a to-do list.04Knowledge that staysThe knowledge stops being one resignation awayWhen only one person really knows how to drive the system, every process depends on their availability. Referent makes that knowledge queryable by anyone with the right permissions. Live sessionERP · Stock and orders You: How much of SKU-4471 can I actually promise this week? * read ERP · stock\_ledger * read ERP · sales\_orders Referent 1,240 units on hand, but 210 are already committed against open orders. You can promise 1,030 this week. Warehouse A 840 Warehouse B 400 Committed −210 Free to promise 1,030 ERP · Stock ledger You: Send that to sales before their nine o'clock. * drafted the note * sent to the sales channel Referent Sent. I'll flag it again if the free figure drops below 800 before Friday. 0406Coverage ## The standard tools are included. They were never the hard part. Referent covers more than 50 of the systems every vendor connects to: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Jira, Salesforce and the rest. That coverage is commodity. What makes a deployment work is the system underneath, the one with no connector, no documentation and no vendor left to call. [Book a demo](/demo)[Talk to us](mailto:hello@referent.app) * Microsoft 365 * SharePoint * Teams * Outlook * Google Drive * Slack * Salesforce * HubSpot * Asana * Zendesk * Dropbox * SAP * Oracle * NetSuite * Dynamics 365 * Sage * Odoo * IBM AS/400 * \+ 30 more 0506Deployment ## Days, not months. There is nothing to migrate and nothing to rebuild, so the timeline is short by construction. 1. 01 ### Map the system We watch how your existing app talks to the system underneath and document the queries, actions and endpoints behind it. 2. 02 ### Connect at the data layer Referent connects directly at that level. No connector to build, no migration, no change to the software your team uses every day. 3. 03 ### Validate with your team The people who know the process check the answers against reality. Permissions are mapped to the roles you already have. 4. 04 ### Live Your team asks in plain language and gets answers from live data, with citations. Scope grows from there. Reference deployment ### A mid-market manufacturer, on a custom ERP. Mapped, connected and in production in under a week, on a system no AI product could reach. System Custom ERP Time to production One week Migration required None 0606Security ## Built to clear the security review, not to argue with it. Most AI proposals die in IT. These are the properties that get the conversation past that point. * 01 ### Single-tenant isolation Your deployment runs in its own environment. Nothing is shared with another customer. * 02 ### Zero-retention models Prompts and responses are not stored by the model providers and are never used for training. * 03 ### Your permissions, mirrored Referent respects the access rules your systems already enforce. Nobody sees what they could not see before. * 04 ### No data duplication Answers are fetched from the live system at query time. We do not build a second copy of your database. * 05 ### GDPR European data protection requirements are part of the deployment, not an afterthought. * [ Read the security detail](/security) ## See it running on a system like yours. [Book a demo](/demo)[Sign in](https://dash.referent.app/onboarding) FAQ ## FAQs ### What is Referent? An AI assistant that works on top of the software your company already runs, including the custom, legacy and vendor systems that have no API, no documentation and no integrations. It answers questions from live data with citations, and it executes work on top: pulls the numbers, builds the report, drafts the follow-up. It also covers 50+ standard tools like Slack, Drive, Jira and Microsoft 365. ### How do you connect to a system that has no API? Referent learns how the app your team already uses talks to the system underneath. It maps the queries, actions and endpoints behind the interface and connects at that level, directly. There is no screen reading, no migration and nothing to rebuild. Standard tools that do have an API connect the usual way, in minutes. ### Is this RPA, a bot clicking through screens? No. RPA drives the interface, so it breaks the moment a button moves or a form changes. Referent connects to the data layer underneath, which is why a UI change does not affect it. Nothing is recorded, replayed or clicked. ### Is my company data secure with Referent? Referent is built for the security review, not around it: single-tenant isolation, model providers under zero-retention agreements, permissions inherited from your own systems, and no duplicate copy of your data. On certifications, we publish only what we can substantiate. If your review needs specific evidence, ask us and we'll tell you exactly where we stand. ### Which AI models does Referent use? Referent runs on managed frontier models under zero-retention agreements: prompts and responses are not stored after the request completes and are never used for training. You don't manage API keys or model infrastructure. Deployments run on global infrastructure by default; if your data has to stay in the EU, we offer EU-region inference on request. ### How do permissions and access control work? Permissions in Referent mirror exactly the permissions from your connected systems. Each user only sees information they already have access to in the original tools, with granular controls to protect sensitive data. ### How is Referent different from ChatGPT, Copilot or Glean? Those tools need a pre-built connector to exist for each system. When the program that actually runs your business doesn't have one, and most custom or legacy systems never will, the project stalls and AI ends up handling email and meeting notes. Referent reaches the systems that were never built to be reached, and every answer cites the record it came from. ### Does Referent just answer questions, or can it take actions? Both. It answers questions from your live business data instantly, and it executes work on top: pulls the numbers, builds the report, drafts the follow-up, triggers workflows in connected systems. The level of automation is configurable, and read-only is a valid starting point. ### Does Referent remember context between sessions? Yes. Referent maintains persistent memory of your preferences, recurring queries, and business context. Over time it learns what matters most to you and how your business actually works, so answers get sharper rather than starting from zero every time. ### How long does it take to get started? Days, not months. Standard tools connect in minutes. A custom system with no API takes longer to map, but our reference deployment, a mid-market manufacturer running a custom ERP with no API, was live in under a week. Nothing has to be migrated or rebuilt first. ### How accurate are Referent's answers? Referent only answers from your connected systems and always cites its sources, so accuracy is tied directly to the data in those systems rather than to general knowledge. You can see exactly where every answer came from and drill into the original record. ### Does Referent use my data to train AI models? No. Your company data is never used to train any AI model. Referent processes your data only to answer your queries, and the model providers it runs against retain nothing once the request completes. ### Does Referent work inside Slack and Microsoft Teams? Yes. Your team can ask questions and get answers directly inside Slack or Microsoft Teams, with no separate app required. The answers still come from the systems underneath, including the ones with no API. ### Is Referent proactive? Yes. Referent doesn't wait to be asked. It monitors the systems it is connected to and surfaces what matters: emerging risks, pending decisions, changes in key metrics. Routine work runs on its own once configured, so the recurring report or the morning export stops being someone's manual task. ### How can I get started with Referent? A thirty minute call, no sales deck: you tell us what you want to solve and which systems you work with, including the ones other tools can't touch. Within 48 hours you get a firm proposal in writing, with what it includes and what it does not, and no commitment. You'll see Referent working against a few of your real use cases before you decide anything. ### How does Referent handle confidential or sensitive information? Referent inherits the access controls from every connected source, so sensitive records are only accessible to users who already have permission in the original system. Admins can also mark specific systems or channels as off-limits for AI retrieval. ### What does it cost? There are no plans and no per-user pricing: one fixed monthly price that covers the whole company, so adding people does not raise the bill. Setup is included and there is no lock-in, you can cancel with effect at the end of the month. The price is sized on how much you'll use it, how many systems have to be connected and whether you need custom automations, which are the only thing quoted separately. A thirty minute call and you get a firm price in writing within 48 hours. ### What languages does Referent support? Referent is available in English and Spanish. You can ask questions and receive answers in either language. Additional language support is on the roadmap. ## Be the first to hear about Referent news.