CPO Rising’s Technology Round-Up series continues this week with fresh supply management technology news and updates covering a few recent major announcements. If you are a sourcing, procurement, or spend management solution provider and you are continually innovating the way that procurement and supply chain leaders and practitioners drive value, we’d love to hear from you. Please drop us a note at info at cporising dot com. Thanks, and enjoy!
Basware Announces Major Global Expansion Drive
North Carolina and London — Basware, a global leader in AP automation and invoice processing, announced major global expansion plans as bookings rose 52% and recurring revenue growth accelerated year-over-year in 2023.
The company stated that in 2023, Basware acquired Glantus alongside expanding its footprint globally, including markets such as APAC and Southern Europe. Basware has ambitious plans to expand across the U.S., Europe, and APAC with further investment in customer growth, AI innovation, compliance, and fraud prevention expected this year.
Over 2023, following a rebrand and focus on accounts payable (AP) automation, Basware expanded with more than 100 high-profile brands, adding to its global portfolio of 900+ AP customers. It maintained a customer retention rate of 97.4% for brands that saw value to remain a Basware customer. In 2023, Basware handled over 220 million invoices and $900 billion in invoice spend through its platform.
According to Jason Kurtz, CEO at Basware, “Our commitment to supporting the office of the CFO continues to be a driving force behind Basware’s expansion. Last year, we had one of the most successful financial years in Basware’s 40-year history, and what’s most satisfying about our accomplishments is the positive feedback we’ve received from our customers. Whether it’s Gartner’s Peer Insights or the direct comments we receive about our enhanced customer experience, we are thrilled that the changes we’ve made are positively impacting our customers and we know that the best is yet to come,” Kurtz said.
“Basware’s focus for 2024 centers on supporting enterprise businesses to elevate their finance processes to best practice levels and create value by meeting the ever-changing regulatory needs of financial teams. With our partner-first strategy, we are fully aligned to showcase the quantifiable business value of Basware’s solutions, and our strategy continues to enable all of our customers to be 100% touchless in their AP departments.”
Read the full announcement here.
Numeral Automates Cross-Border Payments with Swift Support
SAN FRANCISCO — Numeral, a payment technology provider, announced the support of Swift payments, enabling companies and financial institutions to automate cross-border payments with their partner banks to more than 200 countries, in addition to local European SEPA as well as UK Bacs, FPS, and CHAPS payments, from a single platform.
The company stated that with the addition of Swift payments, Numeral customers can now benefit from Swift’s global reach combined with the speed, lower cost, and high local reach of local payment schemes. With Numeral, companies can programmatically manage payments through the banks and schemes that best fit their needs without building multiple integrations.
According to Édouard Mandon, co-founder and CEO for Numeral, “At Numeral, we enable any company processing large volumes of payments to build the perfect payment infrastructure for its specific needs on top of the partner banks of its choice,” he said.
“Enabling our customers to leverage the Swift payment capabilities of the banks connected to Numeral dramatically expands their payments reach while keeping the benefits of managing all their payments from a single platform.”
Read the full announcement here.
Coupa Unlocks $175 Billion in Bottom-Line Impact for Global Customers
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Coupa, a leading AI-driven platform that helps clients operate smarter and grow faster, announced it delivered over $1 billion in billings for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024.
The company stated that the Coupa platform manages more than $5 trillion in overall business spend. The company has helped global businesses achieve more than $175 billion in savings and working capital improvements over the past decade.
According to Leagh Turner, Coupa CEO, “In 2023 alone, we helped our customer community unlock more than $30 billion in bottom-line savings. That’s real value that gets reinvested in innovation, customer service, and profitability,” she said.
“And it wouldn’t be possible without the greatest competitive edge that’s driving this company forward — our agile, passionate, and committed global team,” Turner added.
The company cited the following business highlights for the fiscal year:
- 300+ companies joined Coupa’s global community of 3,000+ customers.
- 200+ customer speakers are confirmed to speak at Coupa’s flagship global community event, Inspire (happening in Las Vegas on April 22-24 and in Vienna on June 4-6).
- Hundreds of new innovations launched, with a focus on AI and Gen AI. Surpassed 150+ issued and pending patents.
On the horizon, the company said new generative AI co-pilot features will make Coupa even easier to use, with smarter self-guided experiences, contract writing assistance, and recommendations to reduce supply chain risk.
Read the full announcement here.
LTIMindtree Launches GenAI Powered Autonomous Sourcing Platform
WARREN, N.J. and MUMBAI, India — LTIMindtree, a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, announced the launch of Navisource.AI, a GenAI-powered autonomous sourcing platform. Using the power of an AI-driven pricing and negotiation engine, the platform aims to reduce overall procurement costs by 10%-15%.
The company stated that Navisource.AI revolutionizes procurement with AI, streamlining processes from requisition to risk management. It integrates with LLM and Model Catalogs via Canvas.AI, enhancing enterprise workflows. Compatible with Ariba and SAP S/4HANA, it provides comprehensive navigational and decision-making support.
According to Vineet Moroney, senior vice president and global head of enterprise apps for LTIMindtree, “We believe that GenAI will drive transformation in three dimensions: functional reimagination, paving new ways of working, and intelligent automation. Enabling business transformation using GenAI is core to our strategy,” he said.
“With the reliability and trust in AI increasing, we foresee more autonomous AI-driven business processes being orchestrated. Navisource.AI will simplify indirect procurement processes, bring predictability, and free up a lot of time spent on manual activities so that procurement functions can focus more on strategic initiatives,” Moroney added.
Procurement teams can use Navisource.AI for market research, pricing intelligence, and recommendations with cost efficiencies at its core. The analysis engine powered by GenAI understands the requirements and arrives at the best fit sourcing strategy. It also eliminates manual touchpoints and enhances collaboration across supplier, procurement function, and requestor.
Read the full announcement here.
Workday Announces Intent to Acquire HiredScore
PLEASANTON, Calif. — Workday, Inc., a leading provider of solutions to help organizations manage their people and money, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HiredScore, a leading provider of AI-powered talent orchestration solutions, which enable companies to use data-driven insights to improve recruiting and talent mobility processes.
The company stated that the combination of Workday Talent Management, Workday Skills Cloud, and HiredScore’s Talent Orchestration solutions, will provide customers with a comprehensive, transparent, and intelligent talent acquisition and internal mobility offering, helping them better address their ever-evolving people needs, such as:
- Leverage Responsible AI to Solve Recruiting Challenges
- Better Manage the Talent Lifecycle
- Elevate the Recruiter and Hiring Manager Experience
According to Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday, “People are at the heart of every organization, and investing in new and innovative ways to unlock the potential of talent is more important than ever,” he said.
“HiredScore is the perfect complement to our product portfolio as we look to provide AI solutions that deliver real business value for our customers. The combination of our AI technologies that keep humans at the center, along with a deep understanding of the workforce landscape, will help organizations thrive and move forever forward.”
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of Workday’s fiscal year 2025, ending April 30, 2024, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals.
Read the full announcement here.
