Inside Business: NISC | Video

Jim Christianson | 4/3/2012

When it comes to working with cutting edge software and designing easy-to-use apps for a smartphone, you don`t need to head to California to find work. A Mandan company, National Informations Solutions Cooperative, will train you.

Vern Dosch is pretty handy with an iPad. Then again, he has to be. As his company has changed in 48 years, he`s had to grow and adjust to rapidly changing technology.

"It was started thinking we`d serve a few utilities in this area. And it`s grown to an organization that on the electrical side of our business, has about 50 percent of the market in the US."

NISC formed in 1964 to serve electric companies by reading household meters and sending out bills.

"Back in the 60s, they needed to automate. Back then, most of the accounting and billing was being done by hand."

A tedious job that NISC revolutionized with its own software. In nearly five decades, the company has gone from serving three utility companies to around 600 in 2012.

"Today, the customer can actually see what their electricity consumption is in hourly increments. It used to be you`d get a bill, it`d show you how many kilowatt hours you used in the last 30 days, that`s all you knew."

NISC has more than 900 employees. Over 400 of those work right here on the Mandan campus.

"Our competition is Atlanta. Our competition is Boston. And we`re able to compete on a national basis with talent that we`ve grown by ourselves."

Dosch says the company has room to grow as well. While the technology is getting smaller, Dosch says NISC has space for up to five more modules on site.

NISC also has offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Lake St. Louis, Missouri and Shawano, Wisconsin.

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