Zip has launched a suite of AI agents to help companies identify overpayments and negotiate deals, aiming to cut costs across all categories of spend.
The suite of AI agents was revealed at the third annual Zip Forward conference, and the most powerful one, according to the company, is the Price Negotiation Agent, which supports IT and software solutions, professional services, real estate, and advertising.
AI for procurement teams
Zip’s Price Negotiation Agent solves one of procurement’s principal problems. In enterprise purchasing, suppliers set the price, yet companies pay vastly different prices for the same product. The pricing power is in the hands of the suppliers, as they know what everyone is willing to pay for certain products. Without market benchmarks, procurement teams don’t have the information to negotiate the best deals, which often leads to overpayments.
The Price Negotiation Agent aims to tackle this challenge by analysing internal purchase history and external market benchmarks to offer data-backed negotiation insights. For instance, when procurement teams plan to renew their marketing automation software, the AI analyses their companies’ payment histories, benchmarks against third-party market intelligence, and offers specific negotiation tactics on each contract.
Beyond this feature, Zip also rolled out additional agents, including a Preferred Vendor Agent that surfaces approved suppliers during intake, and a suite of finance agents that automate accounts payable tasks like invoice-to-contract compliance checking. Additionally, the company introduced conversational AI features across its platform to enable users to handle the procurement process through natural language.
Zip’s AI asks questions, reads uploaded documents, and completes requests automatically while offering instant policy answers. As the procurement industry experiences a shift with agentic AI, Zip offers compliant and convenient solutions tailored to its clients’ needs and demands in an ever-evolving environment. The company aims to transform old procurement challenges into AI solutions that solve real-life problems. The Price Negotiation Agent addresses a gap that has cost companies millions, according to the company.
