Knowledge-Based Systems in Retail Banking: A Survey of Current Practice

This paper examines the adoption of knowledge based systems (KBS) among UK banks and similar organizations. Its findings are based upon a survey of 20 large banks and building societies in which data on KBS applications were collected by questionnaire and interview. Data were obtained on application types, development costs, systems users and future intentions. The findings are presented below in the form of an analysis and a number of short case studies. The study found that while fourteen of the twenty organizations had some experience with KBS the technology was very marginal to the banks’ information technology (IT) strategies, with no bank committing more than 2% of their IT budgets to KBS and most spending much less. The study concludes by examining some possible explanations for the low level of KBS usage and considers the case of KBS in the context of an innovation diffusion model. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.