With its patented AI-powered spend-classification engine that learns data idiosyncrasies for entire industries such as Food & Beverage, Zycus offers both standard and custom spend taxonomies that can classify to an extraordinary level of detail needed for key F&B inputs such as nutraceuticals, flavorings, preservatives and proprietary chemicals, driving spend classification accuracy to 90% and beyond. The complete Zycus Spend Analysis solution (iAnalyze, iMine, iCost) empowers F&B companies to:

• Perform powerful multidimensional spend reporting, identify cost-savings opportunities and gain greater control over noncompliant spending
• Identify more opportunities for placing categories like services and other fragmented categories under management by procurement
• Track spending in context of global commodity pricing intelligence to create informed category sourcing strategies and comprehend total cost drivers
• Automatically identify & quantify cost-saving opportunities across spend categories for cost savings, supply base and SKU rationalization, contract compliance improvement, demand aggregation and payment terms rationalization

The Zycus e-Sourcing solution is built for speed, collapsing sourcing cycle times to enable food & beverage makers to take full advantage of favorable commodity market conditions as they arise and minimize risks associated with the seasonal and perishable natures of many food inputs. The Zycus e-Sourcing solution (iSource, iOptimize) enables F&B manufacturers to:

• Source virtually any item or service including logistics, complex custom production and packaging equipment, design, engineering, printing and production of paper, plastic, metal and other food & beverage packaging items
• Quickly build sourcing events, solicit supplier bids from anywhere in the world and conduct live auctions before awarding business
• Analyze complex inputs from suppliers (including non-price parameters like quality), awarding business both promptly and optimally

The Zycus Supplier Management solution (iSupplier, iPerform) provides prepackaged KPIs for important F&B industry performance parameters such as legal and regulatory compliance, third-party certifications, environmental outreach, sustainable packaging, delivery performance and social responsibility. The solution enables F&B procurement teams to:

• Build strong supplier qualification and governance processes to assure regulatory compliance and avoid costly penalties
• Obtain and maintain accurate and timely information around supplier credentials, certifications, audit reports and histories in a single structured repository (compliance to standards like ISO, BRC, AIB, IFS etc.)
• Ensure that Tier II suppliers are in compliance with quality and safety standards such as HACCP
• Proactively measure supplier performance and risk (financial, operational and reputational), including such metrics as on-time delivery, fill rates, sustainability and green packaging
• Collaborate with suppliers to enhance supplier

The Zycus Contract Management solution (iContract) minimizes risk exposure in contracts and empowers procurement to:

• Ensure use of proper standard clauses and important SLAs for a wide variety of purchase types (for example food ingredients)
• Match transactions to contracts to ensure utilization and compliance to pricing and other performance terms
• Make sure that contracts are never automatically renewed without proper due diligence
• Ensure supplier service level agreements (SLAs) are part of contracts to minimize risk in subcontracting activities
• Reduce supply-chain risk by providing a centralized repository for all enterprise contracts and obligations