Communities Will Shape the Next Revolution in Business, Says Coupa CEO

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The power of community will fuel a revolution in the way we do business. This is the premise of Coupa Chairman and CEO Rob Bernshteyn's new book, Smarter Together: How Communities are Shaping the Next Revolution in Business, which published today (Greenleaf Book Group, September 2020).

The book's core idea is that none of us is as smart as all of us, and that leveraging anonymous, aggregate data from all members of the community will be the answer to the question of where we can find additional information to drive value in today's increasingly competitive marketplace. Bernshteyn refers to this concept as Community Intelligence, and views it as a game-changer that will enable businesses to operate with more efficiency and agility in the future.

"The confluence of community and technology in the enterprise software industry is showing signs of incredible potential. Finally, we are amassing enough data, generating the computing speed required, and thus starting to gain the benefits that are coming with instant information sharing and collaboration," said Bernshteyn. "I couldn't be more convinced that now is the time for businesses to adopt Community Intelligence, which is in part, why I wrote the book. It's very much a call-to-action to join this revolution, and in doing so, we will all become smarter together."

"In the past two decades, the most powerful consumer companies building the best products and business models have leveraged Community Intelligence in new ways to deliver tremendous value to users, to partners, and to investors. In the near future, most enterprise companies will either adopt this weapon or be destroyed by new entrants to their fields who do," said Noam Bardin, CEO at Waze. "Rob Bernshteyn's book is a great analysis of this weapon and a practical guide to how to use it in the business, rather than consumer, market. Your current or future competitor is reading it and applying it to your industry. Ignore it at your own peril."

In the book, Bernshteyn describes the impact that Community Intelligence will have on industries, companies, and individuals.

• Industries: Exposing objective, real-time patterns and forward-looking insights that serve as leading indicators for what is going to happen in the future.
• Companies: Providing fully anonymized cross-company data that enables each company to see around corners, make both strategic and instant hairpin turns in its decisions, and increase its operating efficiencies.
• Individuals: Empowering employees to do their jobs better, identify new ways to create value for their companies, and become a decision-making force in their organizations.

Additionally, Bernshteyn points to many examples of Community Intelligence today. "There are green shoots that can be seen all around us that shape our daily decisions, whether it's where to go and how to get there, where to eat, what to buy, or how to stay fit," he said. 

He also shares insights on how companies can use Community Intelligence across their business functions ranging from business spend management (BSM), and customer relationship management (CRM) to human capital management (HCM), and supply chain management.

Smarter Together is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, among other leading bookstores. For more information please visit  www.robideas.com.

To hear more from Rob on how sharing across the global business community will enable us all to be Smarter Together, register to attend the Smarter Together Global Virtual Event.

About Rob Bernshteyn
Rob Bernshteyn is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Coupa where he oversees the company's strategy and execution. Under his leadership over the past decade, Coupa has grown from a small start-up company to a multi-billion dollar public organization driving measurable value for enterprises around the world. 

Rob has over two decades of experience in the business software industry. Before Coupa, he led Global Product Marketing & Management at SuccessFactors. Prior to that, he directed Product Management at Siebel Systems. Rob started his career in management and information systems consulting, working for both Accenture and McKinsey & Company.

Rob holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

About Coupa Software
Coupa empowers companies around the world with the visibility and control they need to spend smarter and safer. To learn more about how Coupa can help you spend smarter, visit www.coupa.com. Read more on the Coupa Blog or follow @Coupa on Twitter.

Additional Smart Together Endorsements

"In my entire career, I've never met a more innovative, creative, and integrous thought leader than Rob. This book brings his iconic teachings to life, so the reader emerges being able to live up to their happiest and highest potential." —SUZE ORMAN, The World's Personal Finance Expert.

"What Smarter Together proves is just how valuable sharing data can be when the terms of the exchange are clear, and the entire community's best interests are placed front and center. We need to use technology like Community Intelligence to make our world a better place, and Rob, as well as his company, Coupa, shows just how we can do so." —GEOFFREY MOORE, Author of Crossing the Chasm

"What if software could share the brilliance of human endeavors, not automate us into oblivion? Smarter Together is a pioneering book about the power of human intelligence when we work together. A critical read for business leaders, and for the next generation as they grow their careers." —GORDON RITTER, Emergence Capital

"Rob and I share a deep belief, that 'none of us is as smart as all of us.' A diverse, transparent community that inspires one another is the modern foundation of building a successful business. In Smarter Together, Rob brilliantly showcases how Community Intelligence can revolutionize every industry and bring benefits to every individual looking to make a meaningful impact." —JOHN FOLEY, Founder and CEO, Peloton

"Most books about the future are largely speculative. Rob Bernshteyn prefers to ask, 'What does the data say?' In a lucid, empirical account of how digital connection is changing the ground rules for business success, he explores the power of community in the digital era to make all of us smarter together on an industrial scale." —PHIL WAINEWRIGHT, Co-Founder, diginomica

"The impact digital transformation has had over the past decade can't be overstated; from redefining the way we travel, communicate, and do business, to drastically improving our ability to solve complex problems, data and digital are reshaping our world. In Smarter Together, Rob Bernshteyn anticipates the next evolution of this trend, where data from communities of users can provide collective intelligence, insights, and collaboration at a scale that's unprecedented. Digitally unlocking the long-standing power of communities has the potential to help solve some of the most long-standing and complex challenges we face in business and society today." —MICKEY NORTH RIZZA, VP, Enterprise Applications and  Digital Commerce Research, IDC

"At its core, business is a team sport. No one can win at business alone. It's important to keep that in mind as we face new challenges and disruptions in the marketplace. In Smarter Together, Rob Bernshteyn makes a fantastic case for how new technologies are helping individuals, companies, and even entire industries work together as a genuine community, for everyone's benefit.  Building thriving communities around our organizations is the only way we can keep them healthy and growing for the long term. The community revolution that Rob describes and advocates for in Smarter Together is nothing short of a home run." —JASON E. PEARL, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Business Development, San Francisco Giants

"Big data is no longer enough. The new battleground for business is agility and automation. Right now, there's a major shift happening—business applications are trying to solve more impactful challenges and it turns out those problems are incredibly difficult. Rob Bernshteyn, in Smarter Together, correctly calls out the need for innovative ways to use data to benefit not just a few savvy superusers, but everyone who touches and contributes to data sets. The idea of harnessing community data to offer greater intelligence, insight, and cooperative capabilities is a smart one, and something that many businesses should consider for themselves." –MATTHEW BAIRD, Co-Founder and CTO, AtScale

"Smarter Together explores the benefits that business software promoting Community Intelligence is able to provide, including a worldwide collection of digital information that allows for increased agility for individual businesses, effective benchmarks for growth, and actionable insights into specific business practices. The combined experiences of individuals, once gathered into one shared collective, will give humanity an edge over machines in this rapidly evolving technological world. This is how humans will continue to thrive: together." —CARLOS MOREIRA, Founder and CEO, WISekey, Co-Author of The transHuman Code

"Succinct and timely, Rob Bernshteyn's book Smarter Together underscores the need for collaborative thinking, evidence-based choices, and the right interplay between efficiency and respect for individuals. In a word, he's talking about balance, and why the best businesses know how to find it. A valuable read for seasoned decision-makers and first-time entrepreneurs alike." –JAMES J. WARD, Privacy Lawyer and Data Strategist, Co-Author of Data Leverage: Unlocking the Surprising Growth Potential of Data Partnerships

SOURCE Coupa Software

Related Links

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