Using Commercial Share of Wallet to Manage Vendors

• US 20080195445A1
• Filed: 04/15/2008
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Turner, Geraldine A., Lyon, Charles Christopher, Haggerty, Kathleen, Yuan, Chao M., Biswas, Arnab, Ruterman, Jon Kevin, Phelan, Robert E., Okoh, Benedict O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Commercial size of spending wallet (“CSoSW”) is the total business spend of a business including cash but excluding bartered items. Commercial share of wallet (“CSoW”) is the portion of the spending wallet that is captured by a particular financial company. A modeling approach utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a company'"'"'s spend capacity. Government agencies, procurement departments, and others that patronize small businesses can use CSoW/CSoSW to determine businesses that should be awarded contracts and businesses that should be denied. CSoW/CSoSW may also be used to manage approved vendor lists.

Claims

1. A method of managing vendors, comprising:

(a) modeling industry spending patterns using individual and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data;

(b) estimating a commercial size of spending wallet of a company based on financial statement data of the company, total business spend of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns; and

(c) managing inclusion of the company on a vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

managing inclusion of the company on an approved vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) managing retention and removal of the company on the vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

determining whether to include the company on the approved vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

awarding a contract to the company based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

determining whether to require a performance bond from the company based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (c) further comprises:

determining the amount of the performance bond based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises:

outputting the commercial size of spending wallet as a score.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) estimating a share of wallet for the company.

10. A system for managing vendors, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions for directing the processor to;

model industry spending patterns using individual and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data;

estimate a commercial size of spending wallet of the company based on financial statement data of the company, total business spend of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns; and

manage inclusion of the company on a vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to manage inclusion of the company on a vendor list further comprise processing instructions for directing the processor to:

manage inclusion of the company on an approved vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising instructions for directing the processor to:

manage retention and removal of the company on the vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing instructions for managing inclusion comprise instructions for directing the processor to:

determine whether to include the company on the approved vendor list based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing instructions for managing inclusion comprise instructions for directing the processor to:

award a contract to the company based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processing instructions for managing inclusion comprise instructions for directing the processor to:

determine whether to require a performance bond from the company based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processing instructions for managing inclusion further comprise instructions for directing the processor to:

determine the amount of the performance bond based on the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions for directing the processor to estimate comprise instructions for directing the processor to:

output the commercial size of spending wallet as a score.

18. The system of claim 10, further comprising instructions for directing the processor to:

estimate a share of wallet for the company.