As computers became more prominent at the end of the 1970s, Wille and Snyder thought that the industry was changing. When Shearson purchased Faulkner, Dawkins and Sullivan and the company started to expand, Wille and Snyder decided to set out on their own and test their idea for a company that could deliver computer-based financial information. At the time, companies had to purchase raw data directly from a vendor such as Compustat, then hire programmers to make the data user-friendly. Wille and Snyder's vision would offer usable data directly to the client.