As part of the consolidation, the NISC Board of Directors would be comprised of 14 Directors who had served on the CADP and NCDC Boards. There would also be an initial Advisory Board consisting of nine Directors who had also served on the Boards of both cooperatives. Directors on the Advisory Board served a term of up to four years, after which time the Advisory Board would be phased out.

Historically, NCDC’s and CADP’s Boards had been involved with guiding the operational aspects of the predecessor organizations. But with the end of NISC’s Advisory Board, the NISC Board of Directors adopted the role to chart the strategic direction and to provide guidance to the management staff regarding the running of the organization and the operational aspects. By focusing on policies and initiatives that would set the foundation to sustain the long-term growth of NISC, the Board gave a vote of confidence to NISC’s management to concentrate on developing the next generation of software and the best practice procedures for the implementation and support of those solutions.

In 2001, the NISC Board of Directors approved NISC’s technology strategy and the iVUE business plan, establishing a 10-year roadmap for the organization and paving the way for Project Discovery, a $13 million software reengineering project. The first phase of the iVUE development initiative – to design, develop and deploy the consumer Information System and Subscriber Information System in a Java-based open architecture environment – was completed in 2003. NISC released its iVUE Engineering and Operations solutions in 2007, further expanding on the iVUE solution, and in 2008, NISC achieved the goal of delivering to market a complete iVUE Enterprise System on a single technical platform, a path no other vendor (up to that point) had ventured down.

Today, NISC is a leading provider of information technology solutions in the small and mid-sized electric and telecommunications market and provides billing solutions for Fortune 100 and 500 businesses. The NISC Community has grown to more than 780 employees between the Mandan, N.D. and the Lake Saint Louis, Mo. facilities as well as 520 Members and Customers in 47 U.S. states, American Samoa and Canada. NISC has been ranked among the ‘Best Places to Work in Information Technology’ by IDG’s ComuterWorld magazine for seven consecutive years.

NISC went from spending $1 million in Research and Development investment 10 years ago to $20 million in 2009. Since approving that initial technology strategy in 2001, NISC has ventured into other aspects of the business, providing value added solutions to Members and customers, including automated mailroom services, Meter Data Management System, iVUE Green, Utility Bill Pay and more. NISC also expanded on its learning initiative by establishing the Brian Wolf IT Learning Center and providing educational opportunities for Members and Customers on NISC software products and providing professional development opportunities for employees.

NISC has grown and matured over the past 45 plus years because of the dedicated efforts and collaboration of the NISC Community—a partnership comprised of our Members and Customers, the NISC Board of Directors, our Advisory Committees, our employees and our vendor partners. As the NISC Community continues to grow, the foundation of tried and true cooperative principles will keep this organization rooted in who we originally set out to be. NISC is committed to supporting the NISC Community so we can continue to carry on this legacy. Our role is to look toward the future and develop strategies that will sustain and strengthen the NISC Community, because we know through experience that a strong community yields a strong organization.