Instabase goes all-in on modern procurement with Zip

The challenge

Instabase is on the cutting edge of AI and workflow automation, conquering unstructured data and empowering its customers with intelligent document processing.

But the company’s manual procurement process was at odds with its technology-driven, high-growth business—creating roadblocks and liabilities.

Arne Mandell, Accounting Lead at Instabase, described the system as a "worst-case scenario," where the team struggled with matching POs and invoices, and faced exhausting challenges in vendor management and approval tracking.

The solution

After a comprehensive search of procurement solutions, there was one that stood out.

“Zip had all the bells and whistles we needed and even ones we didn’t know we needed,” said Monette Quintanilla, Accounting Manager at Instabase.

Automated workflows leveraging logic and conditionality eliminated tedious manual tasks—and integrations and rapid adoption set the stage for the control and visibility the company needed to cure the chaos.

The result

The adoption of Zip marked an immediate transformation in Instabase’s procurement, simplifying and streamlining the process for the accounting team and employees across the entire company. With a unified system to submit and track requests, Zip eradicated the earlier chaos and confusion surrounding POs.

Zip brought together all stakeholders—employees, managers, finance, IT, and legal teams—offering full visibility into the approval workflow. This transparency was the key factor in smoothing out the accounting process from start to finish, eliminating invoice surprises and other issues previously plaguing the accounting department.

“Before Zip, we couldn’t get a grasp on our total current outstanding pipeline, but now we can monitor spend and pay vendors on time without the reconciling errors of the past,” said Mandell.

Instabase adopted the Zip platform early as a beta tester, and took a forward-looking approach with the company—and it’s paid off.

“We’ve grown together with Zip. There’s no way our team of four people would still be able to do our role without Zip’s focus in building products for adoption. Instabase is taking charge of its working capital, and Zip helps enable that platform,” said Mandell.

There’s virtually no training needed. There’s no friction for new employees or old.