Joshua Lebarre

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Nari Viswanathan, a veteran innovator in the planning and procurement technology space and a key leader at Coupa. The two reconnected after several recent collaborations—including webinars, industry sessions, and conversations in Dallas—and discussed the new realities of supply chain planning and how organizations are embracing technology like never before.   Coupa and Autonomous Spend Management For those less familiar with Coupa, Viswanathan explained the company as the global leader in autonomous spend management—a framework that brings together direct and indirect spending to help organizations manage total spend more intelligently. Direct spend, of course, is where supply chain operations come into focus, making planning, design, and cost optimization central to the value Coupa delivers. Viswanathan leads Coupa’s global supply chain strategy, shaping how the company positions and scales its solutions across the market. After years spent in supply chain planning technology, he now sits at the intersection of procurement, supply chain, and advanced analytics—an area he believes has never been more exciting or more critical.   Old Problems, New Pressures—and a Greater Willingness to Innovate When asked about the biggest challenges facing planners today, Viswanathan emphasized a…

Another great week here at Supply Chain Now! Have you listened to all the episodes? If not, you can check them all out here:   We introduced a new series on Monday, with This Week in Business History, where Scott looks back at some of the biggest historical events in business history for the week ahead.   Supply Chain Now · “June 15th- This Week in Business History: Goodyear, IBM, & More”   Then on Tuesday, we continued in the Logistics with Purpose series and welcomed Melenie York with Whitehouse & Schapiro.   Supply Chain Now · “Logistics with Purpose: Melenie York with Whitehouse & Schapiro”   On Wednesday, Scott and Greg tackled the top news in supply chain on the Supply Chain Buzz.   Supply Chain Now · “Supply Chain Buzz for June 15th: Grocery, Bots, Retail Challenges, & More”   Scott and Greg were joined by Radu Palamariu with Alcott Global on Thursday, as they discussed the current supply chain talent market.   Supply Chain Now · “Key Observations in the Current Supply Chain Talent Market: Radu Palamariu with Alcott Global”   And we wrapped up the week with a world-class supply chain leader as Scott and Greg…