Citizens Energy Group employees are gaining clearer vision of how we can better serve customers in the future with the launch of CIS2020.
After just the first few weeks of the official project kick-off in October, employees are excited about the capabilities of the new Customer Information System (CIS) that will allow them to enhance service to our customers.
Since 2015, numerous Citizens employees have been developing a plan to upgrade our CIS. This process involved identifying current and future CIS needs, issuing a request for proposal, evaluating proposals, licensing the Oracle C2M software, and selecting Infosys as the system integrator. The current system, originally deployed in 1999, has become obsolete, making support and upgrades difficult and expensive.
Thousands of tasks related to data migration, testing, and training of nearly 400 end-users, are necessary from the time of launch to full implementation, which is targeted for August 2020 – hence the project name, CIS2020.
“A project of this type is very complex,” said Jeff Ford, Director Billing and Customer Service. “Appropriate staffing with sufficient qualifications and experience is necessary to deliver the quality and accuracy required to mitigate the significant financial, regulatory, operational and customer satisfaction risks inherent in such a project. I am very grateful to the more than 140 Citizens and Infosys employees who are assisting with the implementation effort.”
The CIS2020 Executive Team kicked off the implementation phase at an employee meeting on October 24.
Benefits of the new system include additional billing and payment options, enhanced reporting and data analysis, the ability to manage complex rates and regulatory requirements, and automation of processes that currently have to be completed manually.
The CIS replacement project is one of Citizens’ strategic initiatives and is expected to positively impact all four long-term strategic goals or pillars. Producing timely and accurate bills and providing a variety of options for customers to manage their accounts contributes to Customer Satisfaction. Employee Engagement is enhanced by providing employees with contemporary tools to perform their jobs effectively. The project supports Financial Integrity as the new system is flexible and can be configured for timely and accurate billing for a variety of customer types and utility services. Performance Excellence is achieved by eliminating manual workarounds that are currently required due to system inefficiencies and by reducing training time given more intuitive and easy-to-use software.