How to Build a Self-Driving Global Trade Network

Watch more: Building the Autonomous Global Trade Network: The Future of Connected Procurement

Global supply chains are more volatile than ever, forcing enterprise leaders to rethink procurement from the ground up.

At the center of this rethink is automation and artificial intelligence (AI), which together signal a shift for how B2B trade, procurement and supply chains operate globally.

“What we envision at Coupa is a future where we believe this entire set of processes — from supply chain design to payments — will be autonomous,” Coupa Product Strategy and Management Senior Vice President Rajiv Ramachandran told PYMNTS during a conversation for the “Summer School” series. “They would be driven by AI agents who are smart and who have learned based on a tremendous amount of real-world business data.”

Ramachandran explained the current dysfunction: “Even today, our customers talk about how many different systems they have. They have a system silo, a team silo and a process silo problem.”

From fragmented requisition tools to disconnected payment engines, inefficiency is deeply embedded in the DNA of global commerce.

The antidote, according to Coupa, is radical connectivity.

“Imagine a digital trail that leads from your sourcing event to your contract, to your requisition, to your purchase order, to your goods receipt, to your invoice, to its digital payment,” Ramachandran said. “A single platform that gives you end-to-end visibility. … That’s the first and most important thing customers are looking for.”

This unbroken chain not only improves transparency but also unleashes AI’s potential to make smarter, real-time decisions across the trade life cycle.

AI and Procurement’s Next Act

With over $8 trillion in transaction data flowing through Coupa’s systems — and more than 10 million businesses across its network — the company believes it has the critical mass needed to train autonomous agents. These agents can make sourcing recommendations, reroute supply chains in response to geopolitical disruptions, or even prefill supplier questionnaires using document intelligence.

“Building patterns and learning from data is what we’ve been doing for 15-plus years. That’s not a generative AI two-year thing,” Ramachandran said. “Take supplier onboarding. Today, AI agents can read documents, understand them and provide responses on behalf of each entity. It takes away 80% of your time.”

Traditionally seen as cost cutters, procurement teams are now being recast as strategic relationship builders.

“Procurement is much more value-driven than just discount- or savings-driven,” Ramachandran said. “It’s about bringing an ecosystem of suppliers to become business partners in the overall strategic value of an organization.”

Read more: Coupa Pushes AI to Transform Spend Management for CFOs

It’s a dramatic departure from the transactional, lowest-cost-vendor model of the past. And it’s one that positions procurement as a force multiplier for innovation, agility and even environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

The real-time collaboration Coupa envisions is deeply participatory. Buyers and suppliers will jointly forecast demand, adjust to inventory needs and manage supply shocks — together.

“We’re talking about people sharing demand forecasts and managing supply in real time. That’s the kind of relationship we are talking about,” Ramachandran said.

Reimagining Payments

One of the most intriguing parts of Coupa’s strategy is how it ties trade into payments and working capital. Ramachandran envisions a future where every business on Coupa has a network wallet, eliminating the friction of legacy payment systems.

“There’s no more need to collect [account numbers, IBANs] or wire instructions. Every transaction can be routed within the network into this wallet,” he said. “We’ve completely broken down an old process that people spend so much time on.”

This isn’t just about speed; it’s about financial intelligence. Buyers get real-time visibility into cash and capital allocation. Suppliers access faster, cheaper financing. Both sides can act on a shared understanding — one contract, one invoice, one payment status, visible and verifiable by both parties.

Ultimately, Coupa’s bet is on the network itself. The more participants, the more valuable the platform becomes — for everyone.

“More buyers mean more suppliers, and more suppliers mean more buyers,” Ramachandran said. “You start seeing that network effect come into play.”

With Coupa Pay, Coupa Advantage and its expanding AI infrastructure, the company is laying the groundwork for a future where trade is more collaborative, adaptive and resilient.

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