Barkers and Coupa Announce Collaboration

Barkers are pleased to announce a collaboration with Coupa which will support mid-market businesses to cut costs and drive efficiencies through the successful implementation of cutting-edge technology and strategic procurement insight.

Coupa is the leading cloud platform for Business Spend Management (BSM) helping companies around the world to gain visibility and control over all spend to increase efficiency, track and manage supplier risks and improve the bottom line. Barkers will be offering a Digital Implementation Service, combined with expert analytical assessments and a team of seasoned procurement practitioners, ensuring that our clients receive first-class implementation and delivery that is pragmatic and based on real-world and practical experience.

Programme Manager at Barkers, Matt Hardaker said ‘We’re thrilled to be working with Coupa and are excited to showcase the technology available to support organisations to see, understand and control their spend. Clients will be able to leverage a single, intuitive interface for all their spend activities across Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Invoicing, Risk and Expense Management. Furthermore, the interfaces’ end-user design facilitates industry-leading adoption rates and encourages users to feel empowered to make a greater impact on their organisation’s bottom line, striking a perfect balance between self-service, strategy and control.”

But it’s not only the exceptional interface and smarter decision-making opportunities that will encourage strong adoption amongst users. Barkers excels in delivering change effectively. The team consists of behavioural science specialists who understand how best to encourage users to feel motivated, enthused and enabled. It is this focus upon both the human element of digital change, as well as the technological element, that sets Barkers apart from other providers.

Matt explains; “Often when we speak to clients we find that procurement functions are using clunky, out-dated systems which offer little or no analytical insight. Processes inherently take longer and smarter decision making is impaired. More often than not, teams recognise they need change but there can be a reticence about shifting working practices and a fear of the unknown. When we introduce digital technology which will revolutionise working practices, we are cognisant of the factors that drive change and those which cause friction. Using our knowledge of behavioural science, such as cognitive biases and personality traits, we can support our clients to implement the technology in the most effective way which encourages both high adoption and satisfaction rates.”

The collaboration between Coupa and Barkers is strengthened by the companies mutual commitment to sustainable solutions. Recognised in the procurement sector for their dedication to delivering social value and for their ethical principles, Barkers are culturally aligned with Coupa who aim to help businesses to leverage their spend to drive responsible and measurable impact. Supplier diversity insights enable businesses using the Coupa BSM platform to evaluate supply chain diversity and digitising processes supports a company’s pledge to lessen their environmental footprint.

Director at Barkers, Warren Kozera said ‘Coupa and Barkers share the same unerring outlook to driving sustainable solutions for our clients. We are excited to help more businesses to make smarter decisions, improve their financial performance and strengthen their ESG focus through the use of this exceptional spend management technology.’