CoupaLink: Bringing Best of Breed Applications to You

Digital transformation has moved from an operational outlier to a mission-critical mandate for organizations and the events of this year have accelerated the importance of it. However, Gartner noted that despite increased advocacy from corporate leaders, these transformation efforts often lack specifics. And while improved efficiency and impact remain key goals, many roadmaps remain vague and undefined.

Consider business spend management (BSM) solutions like Coupa. Designed to help organizations streamline spending practices, the increasing demand for real-time value and robust visibility means that these solutions need to deliver transformative outcomes on their own. Now, companies are often best-served by BSM ecosystems that leverage value-added partnerships to empower spend management operations and digital initiatives. 

CoupaLink extends our industry-leading BSM platform's power through partnerships to bring you best-of-breed applications to bridge specific processes and areas that are not offered natively through Coupa.

What is CoupaLink?

The Coupa platform combines comprehensive functionality and open architecture to deliver a best-of-breed framework of powerful, natively supported applications used at every step in the spending chain. The CoupaLink program extends this advantage by allowing customers to extend their Coupa platform with validated complementary partner solutions.

In effect, CoupaLink makes it possible for companies to find and implement the app-driven functionality they need without having to build it themselves or to outsource it. By integrating trusted, vetted partner solutions under the umbrella of Coupa's trusted platform, companies can connect the dots between digital BSM initiatives and outcomes without compromising security or speed.

How CoupaLink Extends the Coupa Platform

While companies can build their own apps and integrations in-house, this is often time- and cost-prohibitive. CoupaLink streamlines the process by empowering companies to select a valued partner and easily integrate specific apps or services into their spend management process chain. 

CoupaLink supports multiple app and integration categories, including these examples:

•     Business intelligence
•     Corporate responsibility and sustainability 
•     Contingent workforce
•     Invoicing control
•     Travel and expense

In addition, the CoupaLink program offers three approaches to extend the value of Coupa:

• API integrations — Application programming interface (API) integrations connect the Coupa platform with third-party applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or human capital management (HCM) systems. For example, companies can implement powerful e-signature capabilities into their Coupa workflow using API integration with Adobe Sign. Enterprises can create and send documents for e-signatures in seconds within Coupa and have it tracked at every step.

• Iframe applications — Iframes are embedded webpages that appear within Coupa platform webpages or applications to deliver value added functionality and data. The PeopleTicker Iframe offering through CoupaLink provides real-time labor rate information for more than 500,000 contingent labor and direct hire job titles across multiple industry sectors and more than 100 countries to help companies ensure their approach to labor and compensation is both competitive and sustainable.

• Panel applications — Similar to widgets, panel apps leverage Coupa UI and UX to deliver context-specific, content-rich data designed to help users make better spending decisions. With CoupaLink, companies can access panel app solutions such as The Smart Cube's Amplifi PRO digital procurement intelligence platform, which delivers essential procurement intelligence from a single, on-demand gateway that users can access from within their Coupa instance.

Use a Middleware Partner to Connect Coupa

Many integration offerings now allow companies to work within partner-specific ecosystems, but what happens if enterprises can't find what they're looking for? At Coupa, we've taken integration management a step farther with middleware partner support. Companies can use integration platform-as-a-service (IPaaS) providers such as MuleSoft, SnapLogic, and Software AG to connect Coupa with their applications or systems.

In practice, middleware tools such as Software AG's webmethods.io Coupa Connector make it possible to simplify the integration of multiple Coupa services — such as Coupa Procurement, Accounts Payable, and Expense Management — with SAP to both automate key processes and streamline data collection.

The webmethods.io connector offers key benefits, including:

•     Real-time integration between Coupa solutions and SAP
•     Simplified hybrid integration model to empower connections between on-premise and cloud applications
•     Data synchronization for improved business transaction visibility
•     Bi-directional data flows
•     Seamless orchestration of key financial processes

Put simply? Through the CoupaLink program, middleware management empowers organizations to address the biggest challenge to actionable insight: data silos. By implementing process automation and multi-source data collection with robust middleware integration, organizations can break down data silos and maximize information insight without compromising security.

Get the Best of Both Worlds with CoupaLink

Power or performance? Many companies feel compelled to choose one or the other when managing their business spend management at scale. CoupaLink offers a way for businesses to get the best of both worlds with the ability to extend the Coupa BSM platform with complementary apps and services from a growing ecosystem of trusted partners.

As we approach 2021, digital transformation will continue to be top of mind for C-suites and corporate decision-makers. Companies must create roadmaps that look beyond industry buzzwords to deliver specific outcomes that improve visibility and scale to match evolving spend management needs. Coupa has you covered with an open, extendable, and growing solution ecosystem focused on customer success.

For customers: Ready to extend the Coupa platform with complementary apps? Contact your Coupa Representative to get started. 

For partners: Ready to build on the Coupa platform? Visit CoupaLink to get started.