PROCUREMENT STRATEGY
Lu Cheng: Reimagining intake for the AI era Lu Cheng, Co-Founder and CTO, took the stage next to discuss Zip ' s founding mission: simplifying the unnecessarily complicated process of purchasing software, services and other business necessities.
Five years ago, Zip pioneered the " intake " category, creating a unified entry point for requesters to navigate procurement. This innovation established the infrastructure for control, compliance, visibility and consistency throughout the procurement lifecycle.
With AI reshaping industry expectations, Zip is now reimagining intake. According to Zip ' s State of Spend Report, procurement leaders prioritise reducing friction, integrating cross-functional processes and implementing AI-driven automation.
" The rise of AI has raised the stakes again— procurement processes must evolve to keep pace with the business and its end users," Lu explained. " Leaders expect processes that minimise friction, are connected across functions and are automated with AI."
Zip ' s response is a redesigned AI-powered intake experience
68 November 2025