We’ve all heard stories of procurement managers turning their hard-earned negotiation tactics on the Sears salesman to shave a few bucks off that new stainless fridge or flat panel LCD. But a new Web 2.0 service called Mint aims to bring spend management to the common man. (Hat-tip to Fast Company for turning me onto Mint.)
Yes, Jason, you did hear me use the term Spend Management; but in this case it’s apropos. Aimed at helping the under 35 set, Mint positions itself as a remedy to the personal credit crunch by delivering an idiot-proof solution for gaining visibility into and managing your finances.

Now I have made it a policy of not specifically referencing or evaluating technology solutions on Supply Excellence, but when I saw the chance to explain to my wife what it is we do, I had to jump at it.

Mint’s magic is a patent-pending auto-classification engine that matches your monthly credit card and banking transactions to a database of 14 million U.S. merchants. Apparently there are a host of other personal spend management services — with names like Geezeo and Wesabe – but they require users to classify their own data. And we supply types all know the pains and challenges in that task as well as keeping it frewsh over time.

The free service auto extracts data feeds from your bank and credit-card accounts. And displays your classified data in easy-to-use analysis tools that allow you to drill into further spend detail (see graphic). It’s basically spend analysis for the home.
(Click to enlarge image.)

I haven’t been bold enough to upload my own data just yet. (Still convincing the CFO of the house that it’s prudent.) However, Mint offers a host of other services, including online budgeting and controls, targeted content and in-context special offers from sponsors that should help even the average Joe or Jane keep their finances in order. (Or at least alert them to how big a debt hole they’re in.)

This post is by no means an official endorsement for Mint. If nothing else, it should help you better explain — or in this case demonstrate — a portion of what it is you do at your next holiday party. (”Okay, this is sort of like what I do, except I’m responsible for millions — or billions — of dollars, thousands or suppliers from all reaches of the world, and this spend data is tied up in dozens of disparate systems.”)

Yet, the self-service start up and ease-of-use of the service, coupled with the in-context expert intelligence should be a wakeup call to supply/spend management solution providers everywhere. There’s a new generation of smart, MySpace-toting-text-messaging-blog-reading finance and supply managers coming into leadership positions. They won’t accept old school, rigid application interfaces, churning out static data. They want easy-to-use, graphically oriented solutions with embedded analytics and expert intelligence. And they want to access this information and collaborate with their co-workers, trading partners, and information from anywhere and on any device.

Supply and spend management solution providers take heed. The future is coming fast.