Coupa’s 3 Special Forces Teams (Part 3: Value Engineering + Customer Success)

In the final installment in our series covering Coupa’s 3 Special Forces teams (see Part 1: Corporate Development and Part 2: Alliances + Business Development), we cheat a bit from a series title perspective. And that’s because Coupa’s final special forces team essentially represent two functions in one (although they are in fact different groups): value engineering (sometimes called “value optimization”) and customer success.

Our analysis today begins by defining what value engineering and customer success functions do (and not do) for enterprise software/Saas/cloud companies. Then we provide the details behind Coupa’s programs. And finally we explore how Coupa leverages these two areas in ways that disproportionately benefit its broader operations in business spend management (BSM).

Jason Busch serves as Managing Director of Spend Matters Nexus, a membership, research and advisory organization serving technology acquirers (private equity, corporate development, etc.) and CEOs. The views expressed in this research brief are his and do not necessarily reflect that of the Spend Matters analyst team. But he would like to thank his colleague Pierre Mitchell for his review and input on this piece, given his deep experience in this area.

Research note: This brief is based on extensive primary research. Beyond already available public information, no data or insights were provided by Coupa. However, a fact-check was provided to Coupa for informational purposes to ensure accuracy.