So, you’ve got a business and you’re looking for the best way to optimize the processes that you undergo on a daily or near-daily basis. In our opinion, one of the best ways to go about this is to hire a Coupa consultant to help you figure out the path of least resistance.
That can be difficult or it can be easy, it really depends on your company and the structures that are already in place as far as the way that you do your dealings are concerned. There are a lot of ways to get to the same place. It’s just like they say, all roads lead to Rome.
That being said, even if all roads do lead to Rome, you can still get sidetracked and do things that are counterproductive. So, what can a business owner do to try and optimize all of the processes in their business so they can make more money and spend less time worrying about details?
Today we’re going to be looking at Coupa, consultants, and more so you can decide for yourself if these things are going to help your business in the long run. We have a lot of information to cover in a limited amount of time so, without further ado, let’s get to unpacking.
Coupa: What it Does and How it Helps
If you haven’t been living under a metaphorical rock, there’s a good chance that you’ve already heard about Coupa at least in passing. It’s considered to be a leader in its industry, and is constantly ahead of the curve when it comes to groundbreaking innovations.
Coupa is the name of a very powerful business spend management platform. It can help with all parts of your S2P process in many different ways, including:
- Making it easier to find suppliers.
- All sorts of industries use Coupa, which makes it a lot easier for suppliers to connect with the companies that need their goods.
- Proving an easier way to make payments.
- Coupa has a payment system built in, making payments on both ends
- Optimize spending
- A lot of companies overspend on their supplies, and using Coupa can help reduce that.
- Help implement the best possible procurement strategies.
- Because Coupa is a SaaS, software as a service, it has a lot of different strategies that can be used on the software.
- Save your employees time.
- Procurement can be a time-consuming task, but Coupa can make that a lot easier.
Now, it is only fair to mention that Coupa is only a piece of software. It might happen to be a very powerful piece of software, but it is still nothing more than a piece of software. That means that it can only function in the way that you set it up to function.
On its own, Coupa doesn’t have the ability to look over your processes and make recommendations for them to be better. There’s no AI involved, it just is what it is. That means that if you already have a solid strategy, Coupa will work wonders and make things run even more smoothly.
On the other hand, if your strategy is rife with inefficiencies, Coupa will only be able to execute those strategies and thus will only make the inefficiencies even more noticeable. It’s not a miracle fix, but it is a very powerful tool that, if used correctly, can make a huge difference in your company’s efficiency.
It is unfortunate that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for these kinds of things, but there are some other things that you can do to help with making those inefficiencies a thing of the past.
Why Should a Company Hire a Consultant
There is one thing that most people are really bad at, and that’s asking for help. Humans are a prideful bunch so it only makes sense that it would be more than a little difficult to ask for help no matter how much we need it. That being said, sometimes it’s better to just swallow that pill and move on.
When it comes to business this is especially true. It’s doubly true if you want to make sure that you’re getting rid of as many inefficiencies as possible throughout your entire company. So, when should you bring on a consultant? Let’s look:
- If you feel like some optimization in your company needs an outsider’s perspective.
- When you need help setting up your Coupa software.
- Any time you need someone to audit your practices.
- At times when you’re out of ideas for how to make your company run more smoothly.
- If you feel like you need to hire a consultant.
These are just several reasons, there are virtually thousands of reasons why someone might contract a consultant. These people are really good at looking at companies and figuring out ways to make them run more smoothly.
In fact, most consultants have experience with companies in all industries and sectors. The average experienced consultant has likely had clients in:
- Education
- Manufacturing
- Retail
- Foodservice
- Hospitality
- Medical
- Transportation
Especially experienced consultants have likely dealt with companies in even more industries than just those. That is to say, odds are any consultant that you hire will have experience in your field and will already have an idea for fixes before they even meet up with you.
Now, there are consultants that can also help you with Coupa. Those consultants typically have pretty similar processes, even if they do differ a bit. Most of these consultants will typically:
- Take a look at your current procurement processes.
- Pinpoint any inefficiencies within said processes.
- This can be any part of the process from finding suppliers to making the payment.
- Brainstorm with you to help fix the issues with your process.
- Help you get Coupa set up. This includes:
- Design
- Implementation
- Teaching how to use the software.
- Building of the programming.
- Comprehensive testing
- Help with software support after they’re done working with your company.
All of these things can help your company increase efficiencies while saving you money and thus helping your company get a higher return on investment on average. That can make a world of difference
How Coupa Can Help Your Company get a Higher Return on Investment
Every company in the world wants to make sure that they’re getting a good return on investment when they’re doing business. There are a lot of ways to do this, depending on your industry, but have you ever considered that optimizing your procurement process can help increase your return on investment?
Let’s just look at a few examples of how it could do this for your company. It might seem a little obvious, but there are plenty of people that might not have considered how optimization can make your company more money in the long run.
For example, let’s say that you have a supplier that charges you $0.50 per unit. You then sell them to your customers for $1.50 a unit. $0.50 per unit needs to go to overhead like rent, utilities, and payroll. That means that you’re getting $0.50 of pure profit per unit.
Now, let’s say there’s another supplier that sells the same exact thing for $0.25 a unit. If you buy from them, you can keep the price at $1.50 a unit and still need $0.50 per unit for overhead. That leaves an extra $0.25 per unit for pure profit, and all you did was change suppliers.
That means that you could keep the price exactly the same and still make more profit. That’s always good news, and it’s such a simple and quick change to make that can really increase pure profit per unit by 50%. That’s impressive no matter what angle you look at it from.
On top of that, Coupa can help save your employees time throughout the procurement process. The less time an employee spends on a task, the less that task costs your company. It’s exactly as they say, time is money.
Even just cutting 5 minutes off of the process can translate to hundreds if not thousands of dollars in savings per year. The more your company is saving on payroll, the more profits you’re able to make. That’s never a bad thing and that can help keep your company profitable for longer.
Really, at the end of the day, isn’t all anyone wants is for their company to be as profitable for as long as possible? Owning a company is a great way to create generational wealth and most people would like to have something to give to their children and potentially their children’s children.
Getting the Edge on Your Competition
When you’re looking at ways to optimize your company, it’s always good to know that you have more than a couple of options available to you. Having options means that you can feasibly take your time and do all of the research you need to do to make sure that you’re making the best possible choice for your company.