Coupa Software Incorporated
Customer-supplier linking in a software-as-a-service system based on community supplier information

Abstract:

Techniques are disclosed for improved linking of customers with suppliers in a software-as-a-service system based on community supplier information. The techniques include the system suggesting to customers holding customer accounts with the system that the customers establish customer-supplier links between private supplier records of the customers and supplier accounts of suppliers. Unconventionally, the system makes the suggestions based on matching private supplier records of the customers with community master supplier records of the suppliers. The system stores the community master supplier records based on private supplier records in the community of customers that are associated together by the system according to their similarity. Once a private supplier record of a record is matched to a community master supplier record for a supplier, the system suggests to the customer that the customer link the matched private supplier record to a supplier account of the supplier.