Systems and method for determining the cost of a securities research department to service a client of the department

A method of computing the estimated cost per unit of client touches for a securities research department, the method comprising:

• computing by a computerized client touch tracking system, a plurality of first values, where each first value is indicative of a number of units of one or a plurality of client touch types produced by analysis providers in the department over a period of time, wherein the computing comprises:
• receiving, by the computerized client touch tracking system from an e-mail meter interfaced to an e-mail system of the securities research department data indicating analysis provider e-mails sent to clients;
• receiving by the computerized client touch tracking system from a telephone tracking system, data indicating analysis provider telephone calls to clients;
• receiving by the computerized client touch tracking system from an electronic mailing label system, data indicating electronic mail labels generated for analysis providers;
• and
• computing, by the computerized client touch tracking system, the plurality of first values based at least in part on the data from the e-mail meter, the telephone tracking system and the electronic mailing label system;
• computing, by one or more computer devices, a first allocation for each client touch type, wherein each first allocation is an allocation of support resource costs of the department over the period of time to the corresponding client touch types;
• computing, by the one or more computer devices, a second allocation for each client touch type, wherein each second allocation is an allocation of analysis provider costs of the department over the period of time to the corresponding client touch types;
• determining, by the one or more computer devices, for each of the plurality of client touch types, a cost of per unit of the client touch type, wherein determining each cost per unit is based on an aggregation of the first allocation and the second allocation for the corresponding client touch type divided by the first value for the corresponding client touch type, whereby the one or more computer devices generate a standard cost per unit for the plurality of client touch types;
• and
• computing, by the one or more computer devices, for each of the plurality of clients, a cost of servicing the client over the time period based on the cost per unit for each client touch type associated with the client and the number of touches received over the time period by the client for each client touch type.

A system for determining the cost of an equity research department to service a plurality of clients of the department, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a network device coupled to the processor and adapted to communicate via a communications network;
• a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to:
• receive survey data of a plurality of analysts of the research department, wherein the survey data comprises:
• (i) first data indicative of an analyst's categorization of a plurality of clients listed in a survey into one of a plurality of pre-determined client use categories, wherein each client-use category reflects the client's level of consumption of the analyst's time over a time period;
• (ii) second data indicative of the analyst's estimation of how a percentage of the analyst's time spent providing services to the clients was divided among each of the client-use categories over the time period;
• (iii) third data indicative of the analyst's estimation of how a percentage of the analyst's time was spent with the clients listed in the survey versus non-listed clients over the time period;
• calculate for each analyst and for each client-use category a first value indicating an estimated portion of the analyst's time spent on clients in the client-use category, wherein the first value is calculated by allocating a total portion of the analyst's time spent servicing clients in the client-use category pro rata over each client in the client-use category, and wherein calculating the first value comprises calculating the estimated portion based on the first data, second data and third data;
• calculating, by one or more of the computer devices, for each analyst and for each client-use category, a second value indicating a compensation-weighted portion of the analyst's time spent on clients in the client-use category, wherein calculating the second value comprises considering the first value and data indicative of the compensation of the analyst;
• and
• calculating, by one or more of the computer devices, for each listed client, a compensation-weighted time spent by the analyst servicing each client over the time period, wherein calculating the compensation-weighted time comprises summing, for each client, the second values corresponding to each analyst that serviced the client over the time period, and wherein the one or more computer devices comprise a processor and an operatively associated electronic storage device.

A system for estimating the cost per unit of client touches for an equity research department, the system comprising a computerized client touch tracking system comprising:

• a processor;
• a network device coupled to the processor and adapted to communicate via a communications network;
• a storage device in communication with the processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to:
• compute a plurality of first values, where each first value is indicative of a number of units of one or a plurality of client touch types produced by analysis providers in the department over a period of time, wherein the computing comprises:
• receiving from an e-mail meter interfaced to an e-mail system of the securities research department data indicating analysis provider e-mails sent to clients;
• receiving by the computerized client touch tracking system from a telephone tracking system, data indicating analysis provider telephone calls to clients;
• receiving by the computerized client touch tracking system from an electronic mailing label system, data indicating electronic mail labels generated for analysis providers;
• and
• computing the plurality of first values based at least in part on the data from the e-mail meter, the telephone tracking system and the electronic mailing label system;
• compute a first allocation for each client touch type, wherein each first allocation is an allocation of support resource costs of the department over the period of time to the corresponding client touch types;
• compute a second allocation for each client touch type, wherein each second allocation is an allocation of analysis provider costs of the department over the period of time to the corresponding client touch types;
• determine for each of the plurality of client touch types, a cost of per unit of the client touch type, wherein determining each cost per unit is based on an aggregation of the first allocation and the second allocation for the corresponding client touch type divided by the first value for the corresponding client touch type, whereby the one or more computer devices generate a standard cost per unit for the plurality of client touch types;
• and
• compute for each of the plurality of clients, a cost of servicing the client over the time period based on the cost per unit for each client touch type associated with the client and the number of touches received over the time period by the client for each client touch type.