Customer integrated system

A Customer integrated system (CIS) is an extension or hybrid of the transaction processing system (TPS) that places technology in the hands of the customer and allows them to process their own transactions. CIS represents a way of doing business at substantial savings; customers save time and organizations can lower their human resource costs.

Origin
In 1992, Bergen Brunswig, a distributor of diversified drug and health care products, unintentionally created a CIS. According to the story, Bergen Brunswig decided to equip its sales representatives with a portable computer which included a multimedia product encyclopedia and customers' account information. The clients became increasingly interested in this system and in some cases even requested to borrow it from the sales representatives for their own use. As a result, the head of Research and Development at Bergen Brunswig, Jim McLaughlin, came up with the idea of modifying the system so that it included order-entry software and to provide this new system to the pharmacist free of charge.

Characteristics
Characteristics include:


 * Streamline organization's business processes
 * Are at the very heart of every organization
 * Are the new primary interface to customers
 * Further decentralization of computing power in an organization by placing that power in the hands of the customers
 * Empower the customers to process their own transactions anywhere at any time
 * Can reduce waiting line time and therefore improve overall customer satisfaction
 * Allow for an organization to cut costs by reducing human resources expenditures

Functions
Functions include:


 * Capturing information
 * Creating information
 * Cradling or storing information
 * Communicating information
 * Conveying information (secondary)

Examples
A range of applications exist:


 * Online shopping – browse or purchase a broad array of products anywhere any time
 * ATMs and online banking – permits banking anywhere any time
 * University and college online services – register for classes, make tuition payments and purchase books anywhere any time
 * Vending machines – purchase anything from assorted snack foods to iPods