Coupa this year launched its anticipated unified travel
booking and expense system, built from its acquisitions over recent years, a
move that also ended the availability of those acquisitions as standalone
tools.
While acquisitions frequently continue to operate
independently within their acquirer, Coupa has taken a different route,
incorporating acquired assets Pana and Yapta alongside its own offerings for an
integrated T&E system. Pana, a startup focused largely on helping companies
book travel for guest and other non-employee travel, was the basis of the
booking system, and Yapta technology provides price-monitoring capabilities.
As it was developing the system, Coupa also was winding down
partnerships with travel management companies that were offering Pana and Yapta
as individual services. In fact, Coupa has no plans to sell its travel offering
as a standalone service, instead offering it as an integrated option for
expense customers, who also still have the option to integrate other booking
tools, Coupa's then-VP of product management Valerie Layman told BTN when the
travel module was launched in February.
"The power of what we're doing is in that deeply
unified experience and bringing all of that to the table," said Layman, a
former Yapta executive who joined Coupa upon the acquisition and bore
responsibility for the vision, strategy and execution of the travel solution.
While Coupa still plans to make guest-booking capabilities
as part of its larger travel offering, some new tools have appeared on the
market as Pana vanished as a standalone entity. Travel booking and management
provider AmTrav launched its Gather tool in February, and Adelman Travel in
August added an Elite Guest Travel Management Service to support such
travelers.
Layman left Coupa in October, but its travel offering
remains in the hands of those behind the technology that helped build it. Devon
Tivona, who cofounded Pana and already was head of travel prior to Layman's
departure, subsequently became Coupa's head of travel and expense.