The Microcomputer in Administration and the Information Revolution

Abstract

Our world is increasingly a place which relies on information of all kinds. Compared to 10 or 20 years ago the volume of information which is generated, stored and retrieved has grown immensely. Even taking one simple example — our banking system — it is easy to appreciate the changes in practice that have been brought about by the facilities of computer-held banking records, automated funds transfer to deal with standing orders and direct debits, electronic funds transfer from cash dispensers and point-of-sale terminals, automation of compiling, printing and distributing statements of account, electronically readable cards and cheques which minimise the amount of human handling of the data involved, and so on. If one removed from the banking industry all the electronic aids which have enabled it to grow and develop its facilities then the system would collapse, since the type of business that is now conducted is in fact impossible without computers.