Zip: How Companies Can Make Recession-Proof Spend Strategies

As economic uncertainty and shifting tariff policies dominate headlines, procurement teams find themselves on the frontline of corporate response strategies.

Speaking to Procurement Magazine, Rujul Zaparde, CEO of Zip, considered how companies can build recession-resilient spend strategies in this volatile environment.

The business landscape is facing unprecedented volatility with new, quickly shifting tariff policies and economic uncertainty. How has this changed procurement’s role in organisations?

We’re witnessing a pivotal moment for procurement. For decades, procurement leaders have worked to position themselves as strategic partners to the business. The current economic climate has accelerated this transformation, putting procurement on the frontline of tariff response.

Organisations can’t reorganise their entire supply chain overnight. Strategic shifts to new suppliers or alternative sourcing models take time, scrutiny and careful planning. In the meantime, procurement needs to stanch the bleeding by immediately gaining control over spend further upstream.

What immediate steps should procurement teams take to navigate tariff volatility?

Think of intake and orchestration as your command centre for tariff response. While you develop longer-term strategies, you need to immediately ensure that every dollar spent is heavily scrutinized – even routine purchases like office supplies, electronics and facilities expenses.

The key is controlling demand upstream through a structured intake and orchestration approach. When employees have multiple “front doors” to make purchases, you get maverick spend that circumvents proper review processes. Instead, all requests need to be channelled intuitively through procurement to assess whether purchases are necessary, if existing inventory can be utilised, or if refurbished alternatives might suffice.

This requires a cultural shift across the organisation. Procurement isn’t just enforcing policy – it's guiding stakeholders toward a more resourceful approach to spending. We're seeing this same behaviour in consumer markets with the rise of thrifting, and businesses need to adopt similar principles of resourcefulness.

Many organisations have established procurement systems. Are these sufficient for today’s challenges?

Rigid, legacy technology that requires internal IT resources to modify simply won't work in this environment. Organisations need flexible, no-code approaches that allow procurement to adapt controls and processes on the fly.

Every purchase category – whether office supplies, fleet replenishment or software – needs to be flagged for tariff review. The specific rules and workflows may vary widely and procurement teams need the ability to implement these controls themselves.

The pace of change is too rapid, and there are too many new variables to operate with systems that create impediments rather than enablement. If procurement is going to be in the driver’s seat for tariff response, it needs to be fully empowered with technology that moves at the speed of today’s market.

How can procurement teams manage this increased workload without additional headcount?

This is where AI becomes essential. Most procurement teams won’t receive additional headcount to manage this crisis on top of their existing responsibilities. Instead, they need to leverage what is essentially a digital workforce – AI assistants that can review spend, evaluate new requests and flag potential issues.

At Zip, we’re seeing organisations use our current AI capabilities to automate intake forms, extract key information from contracts, streamline invoice coding and validate data across systems. This is already helping procurement teams handle significantly more volume without adding headcount.

But what’s even more exciting is where procurement AI is headed. The future of workflows in this space will become increasingly intelligent and autonomous. Soon, procurement teams will be able to deploy specialised AI capabilities for specific review processes – whether that’s regulatory compliance or tariff assessment. We’re working on some breakthrough innovations in this area that we’ll be announcing later this year, which will help procurement teams adapt even more quickly to volatile market conditions.

What’s your advice for procurement leaders navigating this volatile period?

First, focus on upstream controls. If you don't stanch the bleeding at intake, you’ll face cascading problems downstream. This means shifting the culture around how requests are reviewed and approved.

Second, improve visibility across your entire supplier ecosystem. You need the ability to drill down by category and geography to understand who you’re currently working with versus what’s being requested.

Finally, ensure you have the flexibility to adapt quickly. Procurement needs direct control over workflows and the ability to build and deploy new automations independently. If procurement is taking the lead on tariff response, they need technology that empowers rather than constrains them.

The organisations that get this right won’t just weather the current volatility – they’ll build more resilient procurement functions that deliver strategic value far beyond the current crisis.

Zip’s procurement orchestration platform was designed precisely for this kind of rapidly changing environment. By providing a single intake point for all business purchases, our platform gives procurement leaders complete visibility and control over spend as it enters the system.

Our no-code workflow builder lets procurement teams instantly adjust approval flows and add tariff-specific review steps without technical support. As organisations navigate today’s economic uncertainty, we’re seeing procurement leaders leverage these capabilities to not only manage tariff challenges but also position themselves as strategic drivers of business resilience and growth.

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