CREATING FEDERATED CUSTOMER IDENTIFIERS TO POSITIVELY IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS INTERFACING WITH A BUSINESS ACROSS ACCESS PLATFORMS

• US 20130304661A1
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Umamaheswaran, Rangarajan, Englar, Bruce Wyatt, Nielson, Brett A., Halas, Miroslav
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,603 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/325
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/316 by observing the pattern of computer usage, e.g. typical user behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products described and claimed that provide for automatically and positively determining that a customer interfacing with one business platform application using a platform-specific customer identifier is the same customer that is interfacing with another business platform application using another platform-specific customer identifier. Once the positive determination of same customer is made, a federated identifier key is generated and applied to all of the platforms, so as to globally identify the customer across multiple enterprise-wide platforms. As such, the present invention eliminates the labor-intensive need to manually analyze customer data to determine if a customer interfacing with one platform is the same customer interfacing with another platform.

Claims

1. A method for positively identifying customers accessing a business through multiple business platform applications using different customer identifiers, the method comprising:

determining, via a computing device processor, that a customer interfacing with a first business platform application using a first platform-specific customer identifier is a same customer as a customer interfacing with a second business platform application when using a second different platform-specific customer identifier; and

generating, via a computing device processor, a different and unique federated identifier for the customer based on the determination that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application; and

storing, in computing device memory, the federated identifier for the customer in a plurality of systems of record, wherein each system of record is associated with the customer and with a business platform application provided by the business.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting, at a computing device, customer activity data from a plurality of business interface platforms, wherein each customer activity datum indicates that a customer has conducted an activity with one of a plurality of business platform applications and includes a platform-specific customer identifier associated with the customer and used to conduct the activity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the platform-specific customer identifiers in the customer activity data is an impetus for determining that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises:

identifying, via a computing device processor, linking data that links the first platform-specific customer identifier and the second platform-specific customer identifier; and

accessing, via a computing device processor, one or more systems of record associated with business platform applications based on the linking data to determine that that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises:

accessing, via computing device processor, a first system of record associated with the first business platform application based on the first platform-specific identifier, wherein the first system of record includes first data items associated with the customer;

accessing, via a computing device processor, a second system of record associated with the second business platform application based on the second platform-specific identifier, wherein the second system of record includes second data items associated with the customer; and

identifying, via a computing device processor, one or more data item matches between the first data items in the first system of record and the second data items in the second system of record, wherein data item matches include same or similar data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising applying, via a computing device processor, a weighting factor to each of the one or more data item matches, wherein the weighting factor is based on similarity of the data and a significance that that the data item match may indicate that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising calculating, via a computing device processor, the weighted one or more data item matches and comparing, via a computing device processor, a calculated total for the weighted one or more data item matches to a predetermined threshold to determine if the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising implementing, via a computing device processor, the federated identifier to access the plurality of systems of record to determine a plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers associated with the customer.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising identifying, via a computing device processor, business associates that have previously interfaced with the customer or accounts associated with the customer based on the determined plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers.

10. An apparatus for positively identifying customers accessing a business through multiple business platform applications using different customer identifiers, the apparatus comprising:

a computing platform including one or more processors and a memory in communication with the processor;

a customer federation module stored in the memory, executable by at least one of the processors and configured to determine that a customer interfacing with a first business platform application using a first platform-specific customer identifier is a same customer as a customer interfacing with a second business platform application when using a second different platform-specific customer identifier and, based on the determination, generate a different and unique federated identifier for the customer; and

a plurality of systems of record stored in the memory, each system of record is associated with the customer and with a business platform application provided by the business and configured to receive and store the federated identifier.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising an activity monitoring module stored in the memory, executable by the processor and configured to monitor and collect customer activity data from a plurality of business interface platforms, wherein each customer activity datum indicates that a customer has conducted an activity with one of a plurality of business platform applications and includes a platform-specific customer identifier associated with the customer and used to conduct the activity.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the customer activity data collected by the activity monitoring module is an impetus for determining that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the customer federation module is further configured to identify linking data that links the first platform-specific customer identifier and the second platform-specific customer identifier and access one or more systems of record associated with business platform applications based on the linking data to determine that that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the customer federation module is further configured to access a first and second system of record associated, respectively, with the first and second business platform applications based on the first and second platform-specific identifiers, wherein the first system of record includes first data items associated with the customer and the second system of record includes second data items associated with the customer and identify one or more data item matches between the first data items in the first system of record and the second data items in the second system of record, wherein data item matches include same or similar data.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the customer federation module is further configured to apply a weighting factor to each of the one or more data item matches, wherein the weighting factor is based on similarity of the data and a significance that that the data item match may indicate that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the customer federation module is further configured to calculate the weighted one or more data item matches and compare a calculated total for the weighted one or more data item matches to a predetermined threshold to determine if the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising an associate-customer connection module stored in the memory, executable by the processor and configured to implement the federated identifier to access the plurality of systems of record to determine a plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers associated with the customer.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the associate-customer connection module is further configured to identify business associates that have previously interfaced with the customer or accounts associated with the customer based on the determined plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers.

19. A computer program product including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the medium comprising:

a first set of codes for causing a computer to determine that a customer interfacing with a first business platform application using a first platform-specific customer identifier is a same customer as a customer interfacing with a second business platform application when using a second different platform-specific customer identifier; and

a second set of codes for causing a computer to generate a different and unique federated identifier for the customer based on the determination that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application; and

a third set of codes for causing a computer to store the federated identifier for the customer in a plurality of systems of record, wherein each system of record is associated with the customer and with a business platform application provided by the business.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising a fourth set of instructions for causing a computer to collect customer activity data from a plurality of business interface platforms, wherein each customer activity datum indicates that a customer has conducted an activity with one of a plurality of business platform applications and includes a platform-specific customer identifier associated with the customer and used to conduct the activity.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the platform-specific customer identifiers in the customer activity data collected by the fourth set of instructions in an impetus for the first set of instructions to determine that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the first set of codes are further configured to cause the computer to identify linking data that links the first platform-specific customer identifier and the second platform-specific customer identifier and access one or more systems of record associated with business platform applications based on the linking data to determine that that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the first set of codes are further configured to cause the computer to access a first and second system of record associated with the first and second business platform application based on the first and second platform-specific identifier, wherein the first system of record includes first data items associated with the customer and the second system of record includes second data items associated with the customer and identify one or more data item matches between the first data items in the first system of record and the second data items in the second system of record, wherein data item matches include same or similar data.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the first set of codes is further configured to cause the computer to apply a weighting factor to each of the one or more data item matches, wherein the weighting factor is based on similarity of the data and a significance that that the data item match may indicate that the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the first set of codes is further configured to cause the computer to calculate the weighted one or more data item matches and compare a calculated total for the weighted one or more data item matches to a predetermined threshold to determine if the customer interfacing with the first business platform application is the same customer interfacing with the second business platform application.

26. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising a fourth set of codes for causing a computer to implement the federated identifier to access the plurality of systems of record to determine a plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers associated with the customer.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising a fifth set of codes for causing a computer to identify business associates that have previously interfaced with the customer or accounts associated with the customer based on the determined plurality of platform-specific customer identifiers.