Procurement management systems can play a vital role in helping many businesses control discretionary spending and overall expenses within the organization. However, many early e-procurement systems lacked the functionality and ease of use necessary to drive adoption and utilization within an organization. Researchers have identified that procurement systems that focus on easy-to-use interfaces and social aspects, similar to B2C e-commerce systems, will have the greatest impact within organizations because of the ease of adoption as well as compliance by employees (Traxpay 2015). The same report outlined the huge potential impact of B2B purchasing and overall procurement management in the US marketplace. It has found:
• 68% of B2B buyers now purchase goods online.
• 18% of B2B buyers spend more than 90% of their budget online (doubling from 9% in 2013).
• 30% of B2B buyers research at least 90% of products online before making a purchase.
• 44% of B2B buyers research company products on a smartphone or tablet.

Others have identified key features and philosophies behind next-generation e-procurement systems and the convergence of B2C models that will be adopted by forward-thinking businesses. This feature set includes social network integration, ease-of-use and configuration, ease of search, automatic replenishment, and robust desktop and mobile clients (Sourcing 2015)

The Problem
This type of spending issues can be particularly important in healthcare organizations, where expenses can be highly variable and organizations may be distributed geographically. An excellent example of this type of dilemma was faced by Avalon Health Care (avalonhealthcare.com). This company provides long-term care, skilled nursing rehabilitation, and memory care services in the Western United States. Their greatest issue was managing overall spend within the organization. They identified that over 60% of those expenses were not actively controlled within the system.

The Results
Avalon implemented the Coupa spend management system and has seen significant positive results. The software has been an excellent fit within the company, and its cloud-based deployment has made the process easier. By using a variety of the available tools, including the mobile apps, the company has been able to decrease uncontrolled spending and has much better visibility of spending and the categories in which it fits.

Questions
1. Why is spend management a critical factor for companies?
2. How can a procurement systems help address this concern?
3. What issues did Avalon Health Care bring to Coupa Software?
4. What were the solution and results?