Marty Parker

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…

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! On Monday, we started the week off with a special episode of our #SupplyChainCity series Supply Chain Now with Scott Luton and special host Ben Harris. These two chat with Stacey Key, President and CEO of the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council, and George Richter, SVP of Supply Chain Management at Cox. On This Week In Business History, Kelly covers the stories of three unsung heroes who have contributed their knowledge and talents to a few surprising industries. On Tuesday, we released a classic TEKTOK episode with host Karin Bursa, and featuring Craig Ablin, a supply chain management expert who has spent over 25 years in the industry. On Wednesday’s episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott welcomes back special guest host Ward Richmond and professional OTR driver and training engineer for Schneider, Kellylynn McLaughlin. On Thursday, Scott and guest host Tony Sciarotta welcomed Executive Chairman of G2 Reverse Logistics, Herb Shear, in another episode of our Reverse Logistics Series. On Friday, we published Monday’s Supply Chain Buzz livestream. Scott and Greg welcomed James Malley, the Co-Founder and CEO of…