Zip has announced the integration of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) procurement assistant into its spend orchestration platform. This new function, along with two other AI-powered features, document extraction and input automation, promises to help firms expedite their procurement operations.
“The problem with business purchasing today is that much of the process is still cumbersome and time consuming,” said Lu Cheng, Zip Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, in a press release on Wednesday. “Zip’s generative AI capabilities change that, transforming this process by guiding employees through purchasing decisions, automating tedious tasks and reducing the complexity of navigating company policies.”
The AI procurement assistant assists staff with the purchasing process, automatically starting purchase requests and navigating the company’s spending regulations. This new feature is intended to simplify and speed the purchase process, guaranteeing compliance with business regulations while decreasing manual intervention.
Furthermore, the platform’s new AI document extraction tool can scan order forms, contracts, and other documents in seconds, parsing the data to produce a unified source of truth. This data is then used to automate procedures, increasing efficiency and accuracy in procurement operations. The AI intake automation tool automatically fills up purchase requests using data from order forms, reducing the need for human entry of parameters like price, item quantity, and billing frequency.
“This is a concrete use of generative AI that makes work faster, easier and more efficient so that every team that touches the procurement lifecycle can focus on the real, strategic work that will move the needle,” Cheng added.
By integrating generative AI solutions to automate previously manual workflows, flag legal and security risks, and generate valuable business insights, Zip aims to provide downstream enhancements across operational workflows. This can lead to rethinking staffing requirements for procurement and payment functions. Cheng elaborated on this point in an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in October 2023, stating, “CFOs are excited about the labor savings and the ability to run their teams a lot more efficiently. And when we talk to procurement heads, they look at it as a pretty massive time saving because they are typically spending 50% of their time reviewing contracts but now they’ll be able to actually spend more time negotiating and running RFPs and doing a higher level of work that will help the company’s bottom line.”
Zip continues to push the frontiers of procurement technology, demonstrating its dedication to innovation and quality. Zip has revolutionised business procurement by partnering with major organisations such as Discover Financial, Snowflake, Canva, Sephora, and Northwestern Mutual. Zip’s breakthroughs, powered by generative AI, are intended to expedite procurement processes, decrease complexity, and optimize efficiency, ushering in a new age of business procurement.