“At Coupa, our customers not only know they will see results, they expect it - that’s the type of “good company” we surround ourselves with”: Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP)

As cloud computing gained prominence in the information technology industry, many financial services firms avoided it for one reason: security. However, security in the cloud has advanced significantly, and now is the time for your financial services organization to realize the many benefits of cloud computing.

Businesses who take advantage of cloud computing may actually enjoy stronger security than those who try to go it alone. As your financial services firm grows, so does its information technology hardware and software need. By migrating to the cloud, your company can reduce the amount of infrastructure stored onsite, share liability with qualified technology partners, eliminate much of the hassle associated with procuring hardware and software, and possibly even reduce costs in the process. 

Cloud platform is cushy and cost effective which propelled Coupa software commence in 2002. The firm is the leading provider of cloud-based applications for finance. More than 500 customers, located in more than 100 countries use the Coupa suite of cloud applications to amplify their spend power and to reduce costs. Only Coupa provides a true suite of cloud applications for finance, including procurement, expense management and accounts payable that enables customers to launch the solution immediately and quickly realize significant savings.

Raison d’être of Coupa software

The founders of Coupa identified that the procurement market was fragmented and did not deliver results because of legacy software that wasn’t meeting the needs of nor delivering value to business users and suppliers alike.

“We started Coupa to transform procurement into a true spend management platform that drives value through unified business processes and the power of community driven intelligence to drive a competitive advantage. Coupa’s cloud platform delivers comprehensive spend management in an open model with a user-centric approach that offers prescriptive insights and ultimately accelerates value.”

Currently, Coupa has 800 employees with office locations throughout North America, EMEA, LATAM and Asia Pacific. Our organizational structure is agile, modern and functional. As CEO, my intent is to support all employees to help them reach their highest potential. 

What is the rationale behind your excellence?

• Our employees
• Our customers
• Our partners
• The end users of our products (employees, suppliers)
• Our board

All of these five factors – individually and collectively - is why Coupa is successful. All are aligned and focused on our core values – Ensure Customer Success, Focus on Results, and Strive for Excellence.

Give us a succinct apropos initial product launch

We started with our foundational application of procurement that was born 100 percent in the cloud. The refreshing aspect of our product roll out was that we had no legacy code or baggage to deal with. We were able to fix the broken aspect of our industry by leveraging the cloud to build comprehensive spend management solutions.

As with any first product releases, we are incredibly grateful for the customers that helped shape our vision and execution, particularly those customers who have been with use from the beginning. All of us at Coupa understand the commitment our customers make when they partner with us in the planning and the execution of successful cloud spend management solutions.

In the initial years encountering misfortunes is prevalent, how did you tackle the tussles that came your way?

As with any startups, those initial years are very tough and will either make or break you. What we have learned is that you must have a very strong foundation of people who will focus on execution and value. Everyone needs to row in the same direction. And the key is to really never stop rowing. You can complain that you don’t have enough resources or money to get the job done. But the truth is, you may never have everything you would ideally want. So the goal is to prioritize and focus on what you can do with what you have. Often times, the outcome is more than what was anticipated.

How does Coupa ameliorate global It platform?

What Salesforce has done for CRM and what Workday has done for HCM, Coupa is doing the same for spend management. These types of cloud platforms are the definition of post-modern ERP and is defining what IT platforms will look like in the future. Our goal is to mainstream even more cloud-based spend management.

Are there any new products to be rolled out?

Always. We execute very quickly and this year is no different. We are currently running early access programs in production for Services Maestro (Services Procurement) and Coupa Accelerate (Early Payment Discounts and Coupa Risk Aware (real time operational risk). Suggest these get re-ordered to place risk aware first in the list “Coupa Risk Aware (operational risk leveraging real-time platform B2B intelligence).”

Shake hands with the sumptuous personality: Rob Bernshteyn, CEO

Rob is the CEO of Coupa, drives the company’s strategy and execution. Rob has over two decades experience in the business software industry. He came to Coupa from Success Factors, where he ran Global Product Marketing & Management, as a member of the executive management team, as the company scaled from an early start up to a successful public company. Prior to that, Rob directed Product Management at Siebel Systems, where he helped build Siebel ERM into one of the company’s fastest growing product lines. Rob also did a stint in management consulting at McKinsey & Company, and spent four years at Accenture, where he focused on global SAP systems implementations. 

Rob earned  a BS in Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“We are much more proactively involved in a customer’s success over customer service, which has historically functioned more as an ad-hoc troubleshooting service driven by upsell opportunities.”