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1、How Financial Firms Decide on Technology ,介紹國際大銀行在決定對信息技術(shù)投資時的考慮要點和他們具體的實施過程。How Financial Firms Decide on Technology(Abstract)The finan cial services in dustry is the major in vestor in in formatio n tech no logy(IT) in the U.S. economy; the typical bank spe nds as much as 15% of non-i ntereste expe

2、 nses on IT. A persiste nt finding of research into the performa nee of finan cial in stitutio ns is that performa nee and efficie ncy vary widely across institutions. Nowhere is this variability more visible than in the outcomes of the IT in vestme nt decisi ons in these in stituti ons. This paper

3、prese nts the results of an empiricalin vestigatio n of IT in vestme nt decisi on processes in the banking in dustry. 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 variabi

4、lity in performance along with poin ti ng toward man ageme nt practices that lead to better in vestme nt decisi ons. 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 in vestme nt practice

5、s in several leadi ng in stituti onsHow Financial Firms Decide on Technology(Part One)信息技術(shù)對金融服務(wù)業(yè)的影響正在增加，不僅僅表現(xiàn)在銀行的15%無息開支上，而且對金融服務(wù)業(yè)的運做和戰(zhàn)略也有很強的影響。一個對金融機構(gòu)的長期研究表明，不同的機構(gòu)的效率和表現(xiàn)也不同。其決定的因素有以下一些其中的一個因素就是對投資的決定和管理。SBS是一個失敗的例子，但是成功的公司也不少。本文注重解答以下的問題：1 .銀行對IT投資的評估和管理過程？2 .在對IT的管理過程中，理論和實際操作的結(jié)合如何？3 . IT投資的管理和銀行性

6、能的關(guān)系如何？1.0 In troductionIn formatio n tech no logy(IT) is in creas in gly critical to the operatio ns of finan cial services firms. Today banks spe nd as much as 15% of non-i nterest expe nse on in formatio n tech no logy. It is estimated that the in dustry will spe nd at least $21.1 billion on IT i

7、n 1998, and financial institutions collectively account for the majority ofIT inv estme nt in the U.S. economy. In addit on to being a large comp onent of the cost structure, i nformatio n tech no logy has a stro ng in flue nee on finan cial firms operat ons and strategy. Few financial products and

8、services exist that do not utilize computers at some point in the delivery process, and a firmsi nformatio n systems place stro ng con stra ints on the type of products offered, the degree of customizati on possible and the speed at which firms can resp ond to competitive opport un ities or threats.

9、A persistent finding of research into the performance of financial institutions is that performa nce and efficie ncy varies widely across in stituti ons, eve n after con trolli ng for factors such as size(scale), product breadth(scope), branching behavior and orga ni zati onal form(e.g. stock versus

10、 mutual for in surers; banks versus sav ing & loan s). Give n the cen tral role that tech no logy plays in these in stitutio ns, at least some of this variation is likely to be due to variations in the use and effectiveness of IT inv estme nts. While some authors have argued that the value of IT in

11、vestme nt has bee n in sig nifica nt, particularly in services, rece nt empirical work has suggested that IT investment, on average, is a productive investment. Perhaps more importantly, there appears to be substa ntial variati on across firms; some firms have very high inv estme nts but are poor pe

12、rformers, while otheres in vest less but appear to be much more successful. Brynjo lfss on and Hitt found that as much as half the retur ns to IT inv estme nt are due to firm specific factors.One potentially important driver of differences in IT value, and of firm performa nce more broadly, is likel

13、y to be the decisi on and man ageme nt peocessed for IT investments. Horror stories of bad IT investment decisions abound. Consider the example of the new strategic banking system(SBS) at Banc On e(America n Ban ker 1997). Banc One Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. agreed last year to end thei

14、r joint developme nt of this retail banking system after spe nding an estimated $175 million on it. As stated in the American Banker article, SBSwas just so overwhelming and so complete that by the time they were getting to market, it was going to take too long to in stall the whole thi ng, said Ala

15、 n Riegler, prin cipal in Ernst & Youngs financial services management consulting division. However, not all the stories are n egative. New IT systems are playi ng a vital role in reshap ing the delivery of finan cial services. For example, new computer-telepho ny in tegrati on (CTI) tech no logies

16、are tran sformi ng call cen ter operati ons in finan cial in stitutio ns. By inv esti ng in tech no logy, more and more in stituti ons are movi ng operati ons fromhigh-cost branch operati ons to the teleph one cha nn el,where the cost per tran sact ion is one-tenth the cost of a teller interaction.

17、This IT investment not only reduces the cost of serving existing customers, but also extends the reach of the institution beyond its traditi onal geographic boun daries.In this paper, we utilize detailed case studies of six retail banks to investigate several in terrelated questi ons:1 .What process

18、es do banks utilize to evaluate and man age IT in vestme nts?2 .How well do actual practices align with theoretical arguments about how IT investmentsshouldbe managed?3 .What impact does that management of IT investments have on performanee?How Financial Firms Decide on Technology(Part Two)For the f

19、irst questi on, we develop a structured framework for catalogi ng IT in vestme nt practices and the n populate this framework using a comb in atio n of surveys and semi-structured in terviews. We then compare the results of this exercise with a synthesis of the literature on IT decision making to un

20、 dersta nding how practices vary across firms and the exte nt to which this is con siste nt with best practices as described in previous literature. Fin ally, we will compare these processes to internal and exter nal performa nee metrics to better un dersta nd which sets of practices appear to be mo

21、st effective.To make these comparis ons con crete, we exam ine both the gen eral decisi on process as wellas the specific processes used for two recent IT in vestme nt decisi ons :the adoptio n of computer-based home banking (PC bankin g), and the developme nt of the corporate web site. These decisi

22、 ons were chose n because they were recent and are related but provide some con trast; in particular, PC banking is a fairly well defined product innovation, while the corporate web prese nee is more of an in frastructure in vestme nt which is less well-defi ned in terms of objectives and bus in ess

23、 own ership.Overall, we find that while some aspects of the decision process are fairly similar acrossin stituti ons and ofte n conform to best practice as defi ned by previous literature, there are several areas where there is large variation in practice among the banks and between actual and theor

24、etical best practice. Most banks have a strong and sta ndardized project man ageme nt for ongoing systems projects, and formal structures for in suri ng that lin e-ma nagers and systems people are in con tact at the in itiati on of tech no logy projects. At the same time, many banks have relatively

25、weak processes(both formal and in formal) for ide ntify ing new IT in vestme nt opport un ities, allocat ing resources across orga ni zati on al li nes, and funding exploratory or in frastructure projects with long term or un certa in payoffs.The reminder of this paper is organized as follows. Secti

26、on 2 describes the previous literature on performa nee of finan cial in stituti ons and the effects of IT on performa nee. Secti on 3 describes the methods and data. Section 4 describes the current academic thinking on various components of the decisi on process and compares that to actual practices

27、 at the banks we visited. Secti on 5 describes the results of our in-depth study of PC banking projects and the summary, Section 6 contains a similar an alysis for the Corporate Web Site and discussi on and con clusi on appear in Secti on 7.How Financial Firms Decide on Technology(Part Three)2.0 Pre

28、vious Literature2.1 Performa nee of Finan cial In stituti onsThere have bee n a nu mber of studies that have exam ined the efficie ncy of the banking in dustry andthe role of various factors such as corporate con trol structure (type of board,direct ors, in sider stock holdi ngs, etc.), econo mies o

29、f scale (size), econo mies of scope (product breadth), and branching strategy; see Berger, Kashyup and Scalise (1995) and Harker and Zenios (forthco ming) for a review of the banking efficie ncy literature. While there is substa ntial debate as to the role of these various factors, there is one un a

30、mbiguous result: that most of the (in) efficie ncy of banks is not expla ined by the factors that have bee n con sidered in prior work. For example, Berger and Mester (1997) estimate that as much as 65-90% of the x-i nefficie ncy rema ins un expla ined after con troll ing for known drivers of perfor

31、ma nee. A similar story also appears in in sura nee where x-efficie ncy varies substa ntially across firms whe n size, scope, product mix, distribution strategy and other strategic variables are considered. It has been argued that one must get i nside the black box of the bank ot con sider the role

32、of orga ni zatio nal, strategic and tech no logical factors that may be missed in studies that rely heavily on public finan cial data.2.2In formati on Tech no logy and Busin ess ValueEarly studies of the relati on ship betwee n IT and productivity or other measures of performa nee were gen erally un

33、 able to determ ine the value of IT con clusively. Lovema n (1994) and Strassma nn (1990) ,us ing differe nt data and an alytical methods both found that the performa nee effects of computers were not statistically sig ni fica nt. Barus, Kriebel and Mukadopadhyay (1995), using the same data as Lovem

34、a n, found evide nee that IT improved some internal performa nee metrics such as inven tory trunover, but could not tie these ben efits to improveme nts in bottom line productivity. Although these studies had a nu mber of disadva ntages (small samples, no isy data ) which yielded imprecise measures

35、of IT effects, this lack of evide nee comb ined with equally equivocal macroec ono mic ananl yses by Steve n Roach (1987) implicitly formed the basis for the productivity paradox. As Robert Solow (1987) once remarked, you can see teh computer age everywhere except in the productivity statistics.More

36、 rece nt work has found that IT in vestme nt is a substa ntial con tributor to firm productivity, productivity growth and stock market valuati on in a sample that contains a wide range of in dustries. Brynjolfsso n and Hitt (1994,1996) and Lichte nberg (1995) fou nd that IT investment had a positive

37、 and statistically significant contribution to firm output . Brynjolfsson and Yang (1997) found that the market valuation of IT capital was several times that of ordinary capital. Brynjolfss on and Hitt also found a strong relati on ship betwee n IT and productivity growth and taht this relati on sh

38、ip grows stron ger as Ion ger time periods are con sidered. Collectively ,these studies suggest that there is no productivity paradox, at least whe n the an alysis is performed across industries using firm-level data. The differences between these results and earlier studies is probably due to the u

39、se of data taht was recent , more comprehe nsice ,and more disaggregated (firm level rather tha n in dustry or economy level).Most previous sutdies have con sidered the effects of tech no logy across firms in multiple in dustries, although a few studies have con sidered the role of tech no logy in s

40、pecifically in the banking in dustry. Steiner and Teixiera surveyed the banking in dustry and argued that while large in vestme nts in tech no logy clearly had value,little of this value was being captured by the banks themselves; most of the ben efits were being passed on to customers as a result o

41、f intense competiti on. Alpar and Kim exam ined the cost efficie ncy of banks overall and found that IT in vestme nt was associatied with greater cost efficie ncy although the effects were less evide nt whe n finan cial ratios were used as the outcome measure. Prasad and Harkere exam ined the relati

42、 on ship betwee n tech no logy in vestme nt and performa nee for 47 retail banks and found positive benefits of investments in IT staff.While these studies show a strong positive con tributi on of IT in vestme nt on average, they do not con sider how this con tributi on (or level of in vestme nt )va

43、ries across firms. Brynjolfss on and Hitt found that firm effects can acco unt for as much as half the con tributi on of IT found in these earlier studies. Recent results suggest that at least part of these differe nces can be expla ined by differe nces in orga ni zati onal and strategic factors. Br

44、ynjolfss on and Hitt found that firms that use greater overall IT ben efits. Bresn eha n, Brynjolfss on and Hitt found a similar result for firms that have greater levels of skills and those that make greater investments in training and pre-employme nt scree ning for huma n capital .In additi on, st

45、rategic factors also appear to affect the value of IT. Firms that in vest i n IT to create customer value (e.g. improve service, timeli ness, convenience, variety) have greater performa nee tha n firms that in vest in IT to reduce costs.While these studies are begi ning to explore how the performa n

46、ee of IT in vestme nt varies across firm, particularly due to organizational and strategic factors, little attention has been paid to the tech no logy decisi on making process.How Financial Firms Decide on Technology(Part Four)2.3IT In vestme nt Decisi onsWhile there is no con cise defi niti on of b

47、est practice in IT in vestme nt decisi ons, there are a nu mber of con siste nt argume nts adva need in the IT man ageme nt literature that can be syn thesized into an un dersta nding of the conven ti onal wisdom.For the pruposes of discussi on it is useful to subdivide the process of IT man ageme n

48、t into seve n discrete, but in terrelated processes. The first six processes are orie nted around the proposal, developme nt and man ageme nt of IT projects, while the last process is about maintaining the capabilities of the IT function and its in terrelati on ships with the rest of the bus in ess:

49、I.Identification of IT opportunities2. Evaluati ng opport un ities3. Approvi ng IT projects4. The make-buy decisi on5. Ma nagi ng IT projects6. Evaluati ng IT projects7. Ma nage and Develop the IT FunctionThis subdivisi on loosely corresp onds to many of the major issues in IT man ageme nt such as o

50、utsourc in g, li ne man ageme nt-IT alig nment, software project man ageme nt, and evaluat ing IT in vestme nts.In additi on, this list loosely corresp onds to frameworks for the man ageme nt of IT. The primary difference is that this list views the IT management process as managing a stream of proj

51、ects rather than focusing on the function of the IT department overall or the role of the CIO, the typical perspective in the previous literature. For example, a com mon framework used to alig n IT to bus in ess starategy, the critical success factors(CSF) method, in clude three workshops: the first

52、 to ide ntify and focus objectives, the sec ond to decide and prioritize on systems in vestme nt, and the third to develop, deploy and reevaluate prototype systems. Boynton, Jacobs and Zmud(1992) ide ntify five critical IT man ageme nt processes: sett ing strategic direct ion, establish ing in frast

53、ructure systems, sca nning tech no logy, tran sferri ng tech no logy and develop ing systems. Rockart, Earl and Ross(1996) propose eight imperatives for the IT orga ni zati on which can be grouped into man agi ng the IT-bus in ess relati on ship, build ing and man agi ng systems and in frastructure,

54、 managing ven dors, and creat ing a high performa nce IT orga ni zati on. Thus, while previous work has subdivided the process in differe nt ways, collectively the studies cover all the seve n processes we exam ine.We will discuss each of the in dividual points in detail below.2.3.1 Ide ntifica nt o

55、f Opportu nitiesHistorically, the IT function was primarily reactive, resp onding to requests by bus in ess un its.A bus in ess un it. A bus in ess un it man ager would ide ntify a n eed for a new system or a repair/e nhan ceme nt to an exist ing system and com muni cate this n eed to the IT functio

56、n. The IT pers onnel would the n evaluate the idea for tech ni cal feasibility and develop a project proposal in clude an in itial determ in ati on of resource n eeds, cost, and delivery time. While this makes effective use of IT personnel in evaluating particular ideas, it provides only a limited r

57、ole for IT pers onnel to aid in the ide ntificati on of tech no logy-based bus in ess opport un ities.For that reas on, some authors have suggested that the IT function should play a larger role in the ide ntificati on of tech no logical opport un ities. For example, Davenport and Short (1990) empha

58、size that IT capabilities should inform bus in ess n eeds as well as the bus in ess un its plac ing dema ndson the IT function. Fockart, Earl and Ross and Boynton, Jacobs and Zmud ide ntify the role of tech no logy sca nning and tech no logy educati on as an importa nt comp onent of a cen tralized I

59、T departme nt; they argue that in formati on systems specialists should be repon sible for evalust ing new tech no logies for bus in ess applicability since bus in ess un its will gen erally lack the resources or the tech no logical capability to perform these evaluati ons themselves. Moreover, cen tral IT is best positi oned to educate the end uses to make them good custmers of the cen tral IT group.In the banking in dustry, IT may b