Cazoo Achieves Spend Control with Automation to Support Rapid Growth

• Implemented a streamlined approval process and achieved spend visibility and control with less active involvement from the finance team 
• Successfully deployed a user-friendly solution that drives employee adoption 
• Seamlessly integrated with NetSuite to automate PO creation and data sync

HQ London, England
Customer Since 2021
Industry Automotive

In the digital era, you can achieve anything from the comfort of your home—even buying or selling a car. That’s where Cazoo comes in, providing you with the option to buy, finance, or subscribe to your perfect vehicle. In as little as 72 hours, you can have your new car delivered to your driveway. Or, you can sell your car—Cazoo will take your vehicle off your hands in 48 hours. 

Growing at a rapid speed, Cazoo was outpacing its processes and controls. With the finance team at the heart of this growth and crucial to strategic development, they needed to ensure a process was in place to eliminate bottlenecks and repetitive tasks. At the rate Cazoo was spending, they struggled to stay in control and maintain process efficiency. 

Cazoo’s Finance Systems Manager, Charlotte Harris, recalls the struggle of their manual processes.  

“It was quite slow because we had emails that needed to be approved; they would send the [request] in, and then it would have to go out to the managers for them to approve, and then it would come back in, and [we were] managing a mailbox and doing all of that.”

Cazoo needed a solution to capture purchase requests, as well as handle approval routing and ultimately generate purchase orders in the ERP. They were after something that would not only increase control and help them enforce company policies but would be user-friendly enough to meet their employees’ high expectations. 

Cazoo considered both legacy solutions as well as newer contenders, ultimately choosing Tipalti Approve because of the superior user experience and innovative product roadmap.

“For us, we need[ed] something easy to use, which [Tipalti] Approve definitely is.”

For better auditability and cost control, Cazoo used Tipalti Approve to enable three-way PO matching, with POs and receival confirmation being issued from the system. This process has enabled a seamless, simplified workflow for purchase requests, purchase order creation, and approvals in real-time.

“Three-way matching, because we’ve got the PO and we’ve got it approved, makes life a lot easier, again, for AP.”

Additionally, Cazoo’s ERP, NetSuite, is integrated with Tipalti Approve. Suppliers are pulled directly over from NetSuite, and once the request is made in Approve, the PO is generated back in NetSuite.

“[Tipalti Approve] is so much better than any other procurement tool that any of our employees used previously.”

Cazoo effectively replaced emails and spreadsheets with a modernized procurement process that was deployed in under a month. They can now easily ensure that purchases are checked, verified, and approved before the transactions occur. 

With their newly-automated procurement process, Cazoo’s finance team was able to achieve the control they were looking for without adding unnecessary friction or slowing down productivity. Cazoo and Tipalti are continuing to work together on adding and optimizing workflows so Cazoo can advance full speed ahead with achieving its mission: transforming the car buying experience across the UK and Europe.