Customer profitability and value analysis system

A method implemented in a business systems environment comprising:

• interfacing a customer profitability data mart with business operating systems executed by a computer in communication with an internet through a data interface, wherein the data interface is implemented when the computer executes a data feeding module, including:
• a customer billing system,
• a customer relationship management system, and
• accounting systems;
• forcing the business operating systems to supply the customer, revenue and cost data in formats consistent with the storage and indexing requirements of the data mart;
• receiving customer, revenue and cost data from the business operating systems, using the graphical user interface, in formats consistent with storage and indexing requirements of the data mart;
• retrieving an interface specification for each of the business operating systems from a UDDI registry;
• altering the interfacing of the customer profitability data mart to the business operating systems according to the interface specification for the respective business operating systems;
• accessing data in the data mart using a graphical user interface in communication with the computer and the internet;
• generating reports, using a report module comprising instructions executed by the computer, based on data stored in the data mart, wherein the reports include a report analyzing customer profitability on a per customer basis and illustrates a key performance indicator for the customer profitability based on a customer profitability value for individual customers;
• including the key performance indicator in the report analyzing profitability on a per customer basis, wherein the report analyzing profitability on a per customer basis comprises pairings of two or more key performance indicators to demonstrate a correlation or lack thereof between the selected key performance indicators;
• incorporating, in the report, customer data that distinguishes between various segments of the customer population such that the report includes the key performance indicators for a plurality of different customer segments;
• analyzing, using the computer, a business's profitability on a per customer basis;
• receiving customer, revenue and cost data from the business operating systems, using the graphical user interface, in formats consistent with storage and indexing requirements of the data mart;
• identifying, using the computer and the graphical user interface, the revenue data by a revenue source including revenue from an interaction between at least two customers and the cost data by a cost source, an activity type and a cost driver, wherein the interaction between the at least two customers represents revenue from an interconnection fee, wherein altering the interfacing is based on the interaction between the at least two customers and interconnection traffic related to the interaction between the at least two customers;
• storing, through the data interface, the received data in the data mart;
• allocating, using the computer, revenue and cost data to individual customers according to allocation rules;
• calculating, using the computer, customer profitability for individual customers from the revenue and cost data allocated to said individual customers;
• interfacing the customer profitability data mart with one or more web service clients executed by the computer through a web services interface;
• retrieving, using the web services interface, an interface specification for each of the one or more web service clients from a UDDI registry;
• altering the interfacing of the profitability data mart with the one or more web service clients according to the interface specification to enable each of the one or more web service clients to exchange information with the profitability data mart;
• retrieving, through the web services interface, profitability data from the profitability data mart;
• distributing, through the web services interface, the profitability data to each of the one or more web service clients;
• and
• modifying relationship management efforts, using the computer, based on the customer profitability by adjusting customer priority, wherein the customer relationship management system defines the relationship management efforts.

A method comprising:

• identifying, through a graphical user interface accessing a computer and internet, sources of revenue and sources of costs, an activity type and a cost driver;
• establishing rules, using the computer, for allocating revenue and costs to individual customers;
• receiving customer, revenue and cost data;
• retrieving an interface specification for one or more business operating systems from a UDDI registry;
• altering the interface according to the interface specification for each of the one or more business operating systems;
• receiving, through a data interface, customer data, revenue data that identifies revenue from an interaction between at least two customers and cost data in a specified format forced by the data interface to be consistent with storage and indexing requirements of a database, wherein the data interface is implemented when the computer executes a data feeding module, wherein the interaction between the at least two customers represents revenue from an interconnection fee, wherein altering the data interface is adapted based on the interaction between the at least two customers and interconnection traffic related to the interaction between the at least two customers;
• storing, through the data interface, the customer data, the revenue data and the cost data in the database;
• allocating, using the computer, revenue and costs to individual customers according to said rules;
• calculating, using the computer, a customer profitability value for each of the individual customers and a key performance indicator value derived from at least one of the cost data, the revenue data, and the customer profitability values;
• and
• retrieving an interface specification for one or more web service clients from a UDDI registry;
• altering a web services interface according to the interface specification for each of the one or more web service clients;
• retrieving, through the web services interface, profitability data from the database;
• distributing, through the web services interface, the profitability data to the web service clients;
• generating, using the computer, a report displaying one of the customer profitability values and the key performance indicator value in the graphical user interface, wherein the report analyzes profitability on a per customer basis, wherein the report comprises pairings of two or more key performance indicators to demonstrate a correlation or lack thereof between the selected key performance indicators;
• incorporating, in the report, customer data that distinguishes between various segments of the customer population such that the report includes the key performance indicators for a plurality of different customer segments;
• and
• modifying relationship management efforts, using the computer, based on assigned customer priority according to the customer profitability values, wherein a customer relationship management system defines the relationship management efforts.