**London:** Zip has introduced Zip for Risk Orchestration to enhance supplier risk management, addressing compliance challenges and fraud prevention. Announced during the Zip Forward Europe event, the solution aims to streamline vendor assessments and supports businesses in navigating a complex regulatory landscape across EMEA.
Zip, a procurement orchestration platform that processes over $100 billion in business spend, has unveiled a new solution named Zip for Risk Orchestration, aimed at enhancing supplier risk management for global enterprises. This announcement was made during the Zip Forward Europe event held in London, where industry leaders gathered to discuss pressing challenges in the procurement landscape.
As companies navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment, the need for robust supplier risk management has heightened. Many organisations today are experiencing a significant spike in security vulnerabilities and compliance challenges. The new solution from Zip allows businesses to streamline supplier risk assessments, financial verification, and regulatory compliance efforts. According to Zip, this development is essential to mitigate risks associated with fraud, security breaches, and costly regulatory enforcement actions.
The necessity for such a solution is underscored by the current state of supplier relationships across the globe; many companies have more suppliers than employees, and a staggering 98 per cent of organisations are connected to at least one third party that has suffered a data breach. As notable figures reveal, companies in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region must contend with particularly stringent regulations, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the proposed AI Act, as well as Germany’s Supply Chain Act. The financial repercussions are significant, with GDPR fines alone amounting to €5.88 billion since the regulation’s implementation.
Rujul Zaparde, co-founder and CEO of Zip, noted the growing demand for effective risk management solutions, stating, “As we expanded into EMEA and saw 200 per cent growth, we noticed something unexpected – customers were already using Zip to orchestrate third-party risk in ways we hadn’t designed for.” He emphasised the fragmented nature of existing solutions, adding that Zip is transforming these customer practices into a purpose-built tool. “Just as we transformed procurement orchestration, we’re now helping businesses proactively manage regulatory and operational risks worldwide,” Zaparde remarked.
The capabilities of Zip for Risk Orchestration include a proactive AI-driven approach to compliance covering various aspects such as vendor due diligence, centralised risk repositories, automated approval workflows, and risk scoring and tiering. The solution facilitates comprehensive checks to prevent financial fraud, provides users with visibility into supplier risk with a single compliance data source, and fosters unified risk management across different departments including Procurement, Finance, Legal, and IT.
Current users of Zip’s approach include major companies such as Invesco, Prudential, and Coinbase. Clare Cassano, head of procurement strategy and execution at Invesco, expressed the importance of comprehensive spend visibility for effective supplier risk management. She stated, “By implementing Zip to drive more spend under management, we’re in turn creating a foundation for better supplier governance and risk oversight.” Cassano added that this approach allows for more informed decision-making about supplier relationships while enhancing overall risk management capabilities.
The event also featured keynote sessions from notable figures, including EcoVadis chief impact officer Nicole Sherwin, alongside discussions from procurement leaders and industry experts about the future of procurement in the context of regulatory changes and advancements in technology, such as agentic AI.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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