Downloadable - About University

446 Alternative decision-support systems
family details, pension arrangements and retirement aims), the institution
producing the plan will almost certainly have obtained more useful
information on that individual than the other financial institutions with
which the individual has dealings.
In addition, the need to train staff (perhaps in the high street branch of
a building society) to a high level and regularly update their knowledge
and expertise is greatly reduced. Expert system technology helps to
facilitate placing more people in the front office where sales are made.
Brown et al. 36 provide a further discussion of the issues in personal
financial planning and document eight systems in use in the USA. Several
of the systems provide 40–50 page reports which give recommendations
for asset management, investment strategies, tax saving strategies and
life insurance needs, etc. These researchers note that the pace of new
financial product introductions and the frequency of modifications to
the Internal Revenue code underpin the need for periodic updates to an
expert system’s knowledge base. However, such updates are easily and
reliably achieved.
Overall, such expert systems:
(1) Improve company image through more efficient service;
(2) Improve the quality and consistency of decision making;
(3) Provide better communication of knowledge across an organization;
(4) Provide an accessible reference source for crucial knowledge.
Further, an indirect benefit is that the sales staff themselves also broaden
their skill and knowledge by observing and studying the relationship
between the expert system’s advice and the customer’s characteristics. In
addition, less time is spent on the process of preparing a client’s report,
leaving more time for direct client contact.
In this section we have documented what we see as successful and less
successful expert system applications in marketing and financial services.
We have argued that formalization and completeness of the knowledge
base are key benchmarks for subsequent operationalization of that
knowledge as an expert system. In addition, systems that automate a part
of the business process which was previously judgmental are beneficial.
Interestingly, a recent article 37 argues that, in future, insurance companies
will place less emphasis on underwriting speed and more emphasis
on (i) detecting those customers who are a low risk and (ii) those who
are worth retaining in a longer-term relationship such that new, tailored,
products can be cross-sold to an existing client base. The focus in the
future is likely to be on differentiated products provided to a segmented