If you’re not in the market for a new Customer Information System (CIS), you don’t need a CIS Strategy, right? Think again. As economic and regulatory pressures increase, utilities are looking for ways to increase revenues, reduce expenses and improve customer satisfaction. These are not easy challenges in any economic environment.

WHAT IS A CIS STRATEGY?

The CIS Strategy outlines, at an executive level, the utility’s business goals that are impacted by the CIS. This road map should focus on immediate and future objectives, with measurable results. The first step in developing the CIS strategy requires a thorough understanding of management goals. Typical business objectives include operating expense reduction; revenue growth from value-added services; improved collections as well as customer satisfaction. With goals in mind, identify the CIS initiatives that will lead to their achievement.

Typical items included as part of the CIS strategy are business goals; identification of CIS components impacted by the goals; CIS enablers for accomplishment of the business issue; accountability/authority; assumptions; constraints; cost implications;. Realistic feasibility of utilizing the CIS to enable the business change. The CIS strategy is an executive tool used to document desired business changes that can be effected through the CIS.

Many organizations determine their strategy for CIS replacement after making a list of general features and functions. This is a necessary task for developing a CIS request for proposal but not for the development of the CIS strategy. The CIS strategy should be the first step in any CIS replacement project. Prior to any strategy or feature function list development, utilities will already have a general understanding of their need to replace the CIS. The intention of developing the CIS strategy is to help the utility, focus its replacement efforts and later focus on development of the feature function list.

If you ask CIS users, what is a CIS? Many would respond that it is the billing system with some customer service capabilities. Since vendors are close in billing and collection functionality; how do you determine which vendor is the best fit? Many vendors offer add-on capabilities to the core CIS that can help differentiate each solution. Since each utility is different these capabilities may offer significant value.

Vendor add-ons include: interactive voice response; computer telephony integration; integrated web portal; data marts for reporting capabilities; business intelligence capabilities; high-end bill printing for laser printers; bill document archiving and retrieval; electronic bill presentment and payment; sales and marketing capabilities. If utilities spend their time creating a generic functional checklist they may overlook these other capabilities and then these capabilities are “not on the list.” With these optional components identified, the utility will have additional areas to evaluate that can meaningfully differentiate vendors.

ONGOING REVIEW PROCESS

The strategy should be evaluated on an ongoing basis. If goals were not met the evaluation team needs to determine why and update the CIS objectives for the next review period. For example, many new CIS implementations may initially go live without certain functionality being configured due to time and budget constraints. This component may not have been deemed critical at go-live but does offer significant payback if utilized properly. As management sets annual plans for the utility, the CIS strategy should be updated to ensure it is in line with business plans.

Most CIS operation units have team members with deep product knowledge who participated in the original CIS implementation. Even though business owners are driving the CIS strategy, the CIS operation team needs to be involved to assist with the development. The CIS is the center software application to any utility. The system can facilitate much more than simply answering customer questions, billing and collections. The primary purpose of the CIS strategy is to provide utility management with a business approach to aligning this critical system to business goals.