Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

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! We kicked this week off with a special episode of Supply Chain Now featuring Mike Griswold. Scott, Kelly, and Mike discuss the key takeaways from the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2021. For Monday’s This Week In Business History, Kelly gives insight on two notable figures who have made some amazing strides in theoretical economic science research. On Tuesday, we released an episode of Supply Chain Now with host Scott Luton. Scott had the opportunity to chat with Theodora Lau the Founder of Unconventional Ventures and Bradley Leimer the Co-Founder of Unconventional Ventures. They discuss some of the amazing points in their book titled “Beyond Good: How Technology Is Leading a Purpose-Driven Business Revolution.” We also released an episode of Logistics With Purpose this week. Host Enrique and Monica talk with Dave Schweidenback the Founder and CEO of Pedals for Progress. Dave shares the story behind the logistics of shipping 4,800 bikes across 45 different countries. For Thursday’s Supply Chain Now episode Scott interviews communications expert Monique Russell from Clear Communications, LLC. This conversation is all about effective communication and…