But the payoff is clear when productivity climbs as a result. Even if you're running an electronic sweatshop with a revolving-door work force, you've got to understand what enables workers at any skill level to master their computers. Companies that have transformed their work forces with technology have distilled a set of principles that apply equally to workers on an assembly line, clerks in a store, an office full of number crunchers, or salespeople scattered across the globe. That's what companies have been doing for 15 years, but it's also one reason we've had relatively small productivity gains from computing. Stockbrokers are the kind of knowledge workers who demand attentive care and feeding.
Good ones switch firms at the drop of an option.
The new machines replace dumb Quotron terminals connected to a mainframe, but Quotron remains the primary supplier of financial software and data. The system offers them not only power but also control. Brokers are encouraged to pick any financial software they like to analyze data for customers and do their own record keeping. They can store any data they want on a floppy disk. Many securities firms don't give brokers a floppy or even a hard disk, fearing they will record precious client data and spirit it away to another firm.