Coupa Announces the Coupa Business Spend Index, a Leading Indicator of Economic Growth

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Coupa Software (NASDAQ:COUP), a leader in business spend management (BSM), today announced the launch of the Coupa Business Spend Index (BSI), a leading indicator of economic growth based on current business spending decisions of hundreds of businesses. The inaugural report reveals that despite uncertainty in the markets, businesses appear to be growing increasingly optimistic about the growth of the economy over the next three-to-six months.

The Coupa BSI is a 100% behavior-based index based on three key spend factors at a business: (1) average spend per person, (2) average time to approve spend decisions, and (3) average rate of spend approval/rejection. It analyzes spend data in the Coupa BSM Platform, which has cumulatively processed more than $1 trillion of business spending, to measure confidence around economic growth at an aggregate level, as well as an industry level within financial services, health and life sciences, high tech, manufacturing, and retail. The Coupa BSI is a unique window into line managers' thinking, at scale, regarding economic growth prospects and the downstream implications on the economy.

"One of the most exciting values we are now able to deliver from our aggregate dataset of over $1 trillion of cumulative spend data is empowering business leaders with visibility into future economic conditions so that they can better position themselves for growth and profitability," said Rob Bernshteyn, chairman and chief executive officer at Coupa. "The Coupa BSI is grounded in the power of Community Intelligence and Coupa's focus on delivering meaningful insights that can help executives drive strategic business decisions."

Based on spend behavior in Q1 2019, the Coupa BSI revealed an overall index value of 105.3, an increase of 16.2% from Q4 2018 (90.6), indicating that businesses are collectively growing more optimistic about the growth of the economy over the next three-to-six months.

Additional industry-specific insights include:

• Retail (Significantly Above Trend): Business spend sentiment among retailers continues to be strong with the Coupa BSI for Retail increasing from Q4 2018 to Q1 2019, driven mainly by a nearly 44% increase in average spend per person. The Coupa BSI for Retail increased more significantly from Q3 2018 (+18.4%), reflecting a positive growth outlook over the next three-to-six months.
• Financial Services (Above Trend): Companies show more confidence about potential growth in the next three-to-six months vs. the prior quarter based on data in the Coupa BSI for Financial Services. This was mainly driven by a nearly 63% acceleration in time to approve spend decisions.
• Health and Life Sciences (Above Trend): In the Coupa BSI for Health and Life Sciences, business spend sentiment increased 4.1% from Q4 2018 to Q1 2019 (and 10% from Q3 2018). This was driven mainly by an 8% acceleration in time to approve spend decisions.
• Manufacturing (Significantly Below Trend, but Improving): Business spend sentiment among manufacturing companies continues to be significantly weaker in Q1 2019, as it had been in the second half of 2018, perhaps exacerbated by tariffs imposed on aluminum and steel imports. The Coupa BSI for Manufacturing indicates that business spend sentiment may have bottomed out in Q4 2018 (84.7) with a slight improvement of 5.1% in Q1 2019 (89.0).

Hundreds of companies around the world use the Coupa BSM Platform to gain the visibility and control they need to spend smarter, simpler, and safer. The Coupa BSM Platform offers a comprehensive and open approach that enables businesses to manage all their spend, including procurement, invoicing, expenses, payments, and more, in one place.

At the heart of the Coupa BSM Platform is Coupa Community Intelligence, an AI-powered engine that objectively analyzes the transactional spend data flowing through the Coupa BSM Platform and prescribes instant insights that help companies mitigate risk, remain compliant, identify smarter spending opportunities, and improve process efficiencies across all their business spend.

To view the Q1 2019 Coupa BSI in its entirety, visit https://www.coupa.com/BSI

The Coupa BSI Methodology
The Coupa BSI is a leading indicator of potential economic growth based on current business spending decisions of hundreds of businesses. It analyzes spend data from the Coupa BSM Platform, which has cumulatively processed more than $1 trillion of business spending, to measure confidence around economic growth at an aggregate level, as well as an industry level within financial services, health and life sciences, high tech, manufacturing, and retail. The index is based on three key spend factors at a business: (1) average spend per person, (2) average time to approve spend decisions, and (3) average rate of spend approval/rejection. The Coupa BSI is normalized to a baseline value of 100, which represents the composite value of the three components in the reference period (July 2016).

About Coupa Community Intelligence
Coupa Community Intelligence is an AI-powered engine that objectively analyzes transactional spend data flowing through the Coupa BSM Platform and prescribes instant insights that help companies spend smarter, simpler, and safer. Built in the cloud, Coupa uniquely has access to transactional business data, which enables its Community Intelligence engine to leverage the latest in machine learning and AI to provide more accurate benchmarks and high-value insights.

To learn more, go to https://www.coupa.com/community/community-intelligence/

About Coupa Software
Coupa Software is a leading provider of BSM solutions. We offer a comprehensive, cloud-based BSM platform that has connected hundreds of organizations with more than four million suppliers globally. Our platform provides greater visibility into and control over how companies spend money. Using our platform, businesses are able to achieve real, measurable value and savings that drive their profitability. Learn more at www.coupa.com. Read more on the Coupa Blog or follow @Coupa on Twitter.

SOURCE Coupa Software

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