Tech spending amid remote work holding up well, according to Coupa
Technology spending from businesses has held up as enterprises reopened and employees continue to work remotely at many companies, according to the Coupa Business Spend Index.
The index (BSI) is an early indicator of business confidence and the third quarter outlook has it at 82.8, a slight increase from the previous quarter. The BSI has been volatile amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coupa BSI is based on anonymized spend data on the company's platform. Coupa found that business spent on financial services with a BSI of 96.1 and health and life sciences fell to 98. High-tech spend sentiment increased slightly to 91.2 as spending per person jumped 5%. Manufacturing declined and retail saw some improvement but is well below trendlines at 69.1.
Overall, tech spending was helped by the "need to facilitate increased work from home," said Coupa. Not surprisingly, business travel spending has tanked.
According to Coupa, hospitality, office supplies, telecommunications, maintenance and consulting are all seeing declines in spend. Technology is showing slight gains with contingent workforce and shipping and freight spending surging.