How Financial Firms Decide on Technology
(Abstract)
The financial services industry is the major investor in information technology(IT) in the U.S. economy; the typical bank spends as much as 15% of non-intereste expenses on IT. A persistent finding of research into the performance of financial institutions is that performance and efficiency vary widely across institutions. Nowhere is this variability more visible than in the outcomes of the IT investment decisions in these institutions. This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of IT investment decision processes in the banking industry. The purpose of this investigation is to uncover what, if anything, can be learned from the IT investment practices of banks that would help in understanding the cause of this variability in performance along with pointing toward management practices that lead to better investment decisions. Using PC banking and the development of corporate Internet sites as the case studies for this investigation, the paper reports on detailed field-based surveys of investment practices in several leading institutions
1.0 Introduction
　　Information technology(IT) is increasingly critical to the operations of financial services firms. Today banks spend as much as 15% of non-interest expense on information technology. It is estimated that the industry will spend at least $21.1 billion on IT in 1998, and financial institutions collectively account for the majority of IT investment in the U.S. economy. In additon to being a large component of the cost structure, information technology has a strong influence on financial firms operatons and strategy. Few financial products and services exist that do not utilize computers at some point in the delivery process, and a firms'information systems place strong constraints on the type of products offered, the degree of customization possible and the speed at which firms can respond to competitive opportunities or threats.
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