Using commercial share of wallet to manage vendors

• US 8,121,918 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2008
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• 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: Haggerty, Kathleen, Lyon, Charles Christopher, Okoh, Benedict O., Phelan, Robert E., Ruterman, Jon Kevin, Turner, Geraldine A., Yuan, Chao M., Biswas, Arnab
• Primary Examiner(s): Hammond, III, Thomas M
• Application Number:
  US12/103,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195445A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,407 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 40
• US Class Current: 705/35
• 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:

modeling, by a computer-based system for managing vendors comprising a computer processor and a tangible, non-transitory memory, industry spending patterns using individual corporate data and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data, wherein the modeling comprises;

identifying the cost of goods sold and operating expenses from at least one of the individual corporate data and the aggregate corporate data;

at least one of identifying the cardable operating expenses from the operating expenses and identifying a cardable operating expenses ratio from aggregate corporate data;

at least one of summing the cardable operating expenses with the cost of goods sold and summing the cost of goods sold with the product of operating expenses and the cardable operating expenses ratio;

estimating, by the computer-based system, a commercial size of spending wallet of a company based on, at least, known financial statement data of the company, total known business spending of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns, wherein the commercial size of spending wallet is the total cardable business spending of the company, and wherein the model of industry spending patterns is used to infer financial statement data and spending data that is not known; and

managing inclusion of the company on a vendor list based on, at least, the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises:

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

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing retention and removal of the company on the vendor list based on, at least, the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises:

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

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises:

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

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing comprises:

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

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the managing further comprises:

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

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating comprises:

outputting the commercial size of spending wallet as a score.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating a share of wallet for the company.

10. A system for managing vendors, comprising:

a computer network communicating with a tangible memory;

the tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with a computer processor; and

the computer processor, when executing a computer program, is configured to;

model industry spending patterns using individual corporate data and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data, wherein the model is produced by a process comprising;

identifying the cost of goods sold and operating expenses from at least one of the individual corporate data and the aggregate corporate data;

at least one of identifying the cardable operating expenses from the operating expenses and identifying a cardable operating expenses ratio from aggregate corporate data;

at least one of summing the cardable operating expenses with the cost of goods sold and summing the cost of goods sold with the product of operating expenses and the cardable operating expenses ratio;

estimate a commercial size of spending wallet of the company based on, at least, known financial statement data of the company, total known business spending of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns, wherein the commercial size of spending wallet is the total cardable business spending of the company, and wherein the model of industry spending patterns is used to infer financial statement data and spending data that is not known; and

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

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to manage, is further configured to:

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

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program, is further configured to:

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

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to manage, is further configured to:

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

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to manage, is further configured to:

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

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to manage, is further configured to:

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

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to manage, is further configured to:

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

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program configured to estimate, is further configured to:

output the commercial size of spending wallet as a score.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, when executing the computer program, is further configured to:

estimate a share of wallet for the company.