34 THE POWER OF POSSIBILITY NISC | 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION AND MEMBER SERVICE faster and more powerful than the early versions of personal computers — in Members’ offices, giving them greater capabil- ities, and moved forward with additional offerings: an outage management system, mapping software and a redesigned CAPS. Some Members embraced the changes, but others felt overwhelmed. “There always has been, and probably always will be, Members who want us to slow down and those who want us to deliver more and faster,” Hobson said. The computer revolution swept through North Dakota with just as much force as in St. Louis. NCDC upgraded its equipment numeroustimes,finallysettlingontwomorepowerfulBurroughs 6800 mainframes. By 1991, the NCDC Board decided to launch the development of Horizon, a new software offering that could be run in-house at a Member site or online and used by both electric and telecom sites. Denise Barth, Customer Service Supervisor at Consolidated Telephone Cooperative in Dickinson, North Dakota, remembers thelonghoursthatledtoclosefriendshipswithNCDCemployees as they converted the co-op’s account data to the new program. In addition to telephone services, Consolidated had just begun offering internet and television — each through a different company — and NCDC set up the separate billing systems. For a month, the co-op ran Horizon along with the older software to make sure the billing worked properly. Even as technology changed, one thing did not: Consoli- dated consistently volunteered to be among the first to use new products. They worked through some glitches but appreciated the payoff: the chance to shape the software. At an NRECA convention, CADP proudly displays the use of PCs and the advent of graphics on screens.