Expert System Usage, Hardware, Access and Features Available to Purchase

Examines the relationships between the frequency of expert system use and the system′s hardware, access location, and features. Also examines the relationship between the expert system′s hardware and access location. The study is empirical, using a survey of marketing executives who work within marketing organizations employing expert systems. The findings include that the hardware type appears to influence the frequency of expert systems use. Daily use is dominated by mainframe computers, while weekly and monthly use is dominated by the microcomputers. Further, the frequency of expert system use increases with access availability and decreases as the expert system becomes less available. The dominant feature of these expert systems is the ability to perform what‐if‐analysis. When access location and hardware type are examined, the dominant hardware is the microcomputer. Further,particular hardware types tend to dominate specific access locations.