of the Internet for communication among brokers and clients, and increased use of videoconferencing as investment banks continue their worldwide expansion. The sheer volume of transactions which are now generated in the investment banking industry means that companies are likely to continue to invest in technologies such as ComStock and Maxus in order to help their employees (and customers) sort through the available information in a meaningful way.
Maxus Systems uses a three-dimensional display to provide information; ComStock uses information from more than 50 financial markets in order to perform its calculations and present its information. Neural networks are also likely to see increased popularity as the investment banking industry is based on uncertainty and these expert systems can provide a competitive edge to those companies which implement them.
Current Operational Information Systems
Information technology has traditionally been the domain of a company's management information system (MIS) department. Companies based decisions to implement such applications on demonstrated cost savings or avoidances and the availability of MIS resources (both system resources and labor resources for development and support). The advent of personal computers has strengthened the argument for implementing a database application because it greatly relieves the burden on the MIS department (Royal, 1995, p. 67).
Using a PC, many individuals are now capable of creating a data maintenance screen and reports and developing a relatively sophisticated application. The PC revolution has given individuals access to immediate results, autonomy and ingenuity that come from direct interaction with computer applications. When database applications were created exclusively by the MIS department, integrity and access control were managed by people who were specifically trained to handle them. Today, companies are faced with the problem of ho...