Zip

What it Does

Zip is a new vendor that describes itself as operating in a new segment adjacent to and overlapping with P2P known as “intake-to-procure.” Its value proposition is to provide both requesters and stakeholders with an “intelligent, intuitive front-end to their ERP or P2P.”

Zip is therefore meant to be the one place for any employee to initiate a new purchase or vendor request through a flexible, configurable intake that requires no code to change. Zip will then support communication and approvals to ensure that the need is clearly understood and that all sign-offs are obtained.

Zip’s solution has three functional areas: intake, approvals, and supplier 360. In intake, users are provided with intuitive forms that help to understand the user’s needs and, when applicable, guide the user to any relevant contracts or documents. Zip approvals uses Zip’s no-code, user-friendly workflow system. Users can very easily tweak workflows and manage approvals for a given procurement objective. Zip supplier 360 is its vendor portal, wherein suppliers are prompted for information via questionnaires and real-time logic, much like its buy-side intake system. Zip is working to add dashboarding and spend analysis capabilities.

Why We Chose It

Zip was chosen for the 2021 Future 5 because it is addressing a major problem in procurement that other vendors have not yet effectively solved by flexibly including stakeholders in the sourcing process. By receiving inquiries and demand from stakeholders directly, Zip allows companies to cut out unnecessary middlemen and route requests directly into the appropriate areas of the sourcing process. While other tools primarily focus on that process, Zip’s inclusion of stakeholder interaction is central to its value proposition. Stakeholders, in addition, are kept in the loop throughout the sourcing process directly through Zip’s interface.

Moreover, Zip has high applicability as a front-end to many other systems. This, combined with its delivery on its value proposition to date and its easy user experience, makes the solution ripe for widespread end-user compatibility. This fact is only accentuated by Zip’s early but encouraging customer acquisition rates. Overall, it is easy to understand why Zip is worthy of its 2021 Future 5 selection.

Any threats or challenges ahead?

While Zip’s ease of use, centralized workflow, and stakeholder involvement are conspicuous advantages, it does face some risks. For example, companies may be deterred by its current lack of certain capabilities. Strong marketing and a positive track record could mitigate concerns of migrating to a new type of software, but it is always a challenge to ask an organization to rethink the way it operates to any extent, no matter how impressive a particular offering may be.

Moreover, the “intake-to-procure” market does not yet exist as defined. Zip is burdened with needing to appeal to companies that desire some — but not all — P2P capabilities while simultaneously understanding that Zip offers benefits in areas that standard P2P providers may overlook or deem unnecessary.

Finally, while Zip’s no-code offering is intuitive and appealing, it will