Adoption and implementation of digital-imaging technology in the banking and insurance industries

This paper investigates the adoption patterns and implementation issues associated with the use of digital-imaging technology within the banking and insurance industries. Several research hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a survey of the 250 largest banks and 250 largest insurance companies in the United States. The results clearly indicate that the diffusion of imaging can be modeled by an S-curve, and that firm size is a good predictor of the adoption decision. Two well-known models of innovative behavior, the internal influence and Bass models, were not supported by this study. Positive, measurable benefits were associated with imaging adoption. Reengineering the work processes and piloting the technology were both found to be strongly related to the degree of implementation success. Based on the findings from this study, similarities and differences in innovative behavior between manufacturing and the banking and insurance industries are discussed.