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Coupa Named a Leader in Forrester’s Wave for Collaborative Supply Networks

Today, Forrester has named Coupa as a leader in The Forrester WaveTM: Collaborative Supply Networks, Q4 2022. This report is aimed at helping executives understand how collaborative supplier networks (CSNs) can improve supply chain resilience and sustainability. CSNs enable demand, fulfillment, and supply collaboration between organizations and their supplier network. Coupa is thrilled to be named as one of three leaders in this report.

According to the Forrester report, “Coupa integrates B2B procurement with continuous planning and execution.” Coupa’s acquisition of LLamasoft has created a significant value opportunity for its customers to break down procurement, finance, and supply chain silos and participate in CSNs. Forrester goes on to say, “Coupa applies AI to aggregated data collected across its customers’ US$3.6 trillion procurement spend to manage supplier performance and risk. It added more than one million unique suppliers to its network in 2021 alone.” Coupa’s community of buyers and suppliers generates significant amounts of data that is anonymized, aggregated, and analyzed to provide insights at the point of decision-making.

The report further states that Coupa’s current offering demonstrated strengths in the identification and authentication of network participants, connectivity options, attributes and ratings, architecture, supply network optimization, portfolio cohesion, and internationalization.

Forrester Wave Collaborative Supply Networks Graphic

Collaborative supply networks and the future of supply chains

Creating agile, collaborative supply networks matters so that organizations can react faster to disruption. When enterprises have greater visibility into their networks, it’s easier to identify areas where their supply chains might break apart and plan accordingly. But collaborative supply networks are complex, and no single vendor can solve every challenge when it comes to making these networks as effective as they can be.

Why do collaborative supply networks matter?

No company is completely isolated enough or vertically integrated enough to never experience disruption. Take the recent threats of strikes from U.S. railway workers or other holiday-related transport delays. Even the most vertically integrated company likely needs to depend on railways and ports they don’t own and operate. Even if companies own their methods of transportation, other issues such as health and safety issues, raw material shortages, etc. can cause major disruptions. So partnerships and collaboration are essential.

What should executives look for when selecting a vendor?

There are many factors to consider, as Forrester states: the ability to model expected demand for supply network optimization, identify and authenticate network participants, and enable collaborative master scheduling.

Beyond these factors, while we might be biased, given that no single vendor can provide every function companies need, we believe this is where a platform that can break down silos, integrate with a variety of vendors and solutions, and provide better visibility across all areas of business spend, is paramount.

How can a unified Business Spend Management platform address collaborative supply network goals?

If siloed information represents one challenge companies face, then placing all of that information in one cloud-based system can help solve that challenge. This level of visibility and information sharing can help companies identify risks, spot errors faster, improve business performance, and optimize areas of their supply chain. In addition, companies can estimate and track carbon emissions to meet sustainability targets.

Discover more collaborative supply network insights

Coupa is honored to be named one of three leaders out of fifteen eligible vendors in The Forrester WaveTM: Collaborative Supply Networks, Q4 2022 report.

Learn more about collaborative supply networks, what leaders should consider, and how Coupa stacks up to other solutions.