IS2, or Individual Sales Systems – the year-old Texas Instruments Inc spin-off that provides point-of-sale computer systems to the financial services industry – has set up a marketing division in Bristol in an attempt to crack the UK market. IS2 was formed in January 1990, following a management buyout by senior managers in the hand-held computers division of Texas Instruments in Germany and France. As part of Texas Instruments, the financial point-of-sale systems division grew to a turnover of UKP7m in 1989 from UKP1m in 1986. As IS2, the company turned over revenues of UKP14m in 1990, and is projecting UKP12m for the current year. In the UK, 1991 will be spent establishing the company, but by 1995, IS2 Ltd is expected to yield UKP2.5m in turnover – a tenth of total projected revenues. The company, which is headquartered in Nice, France, and has a customer-base of 80 banks, building societies and insurance companies, is also present in Germany and Italy, with agencies in Denmark and Austria. And IS2 plans to open a sales division in Spain later this year. In Germany, where IS2 claims to have 67% of the market for hand-held financial point-of-sale systems, the company offers Compaq hand-held computers alongside Texas Instruments’ TI-74S calculator-based systems; in France, the company markets Apple systems, and in Italy it sells Toshiba and Olivetti computers. Says UK marketing director Brian Steward, competitors such as Casio provide these handheld systems for financial point-of-sale applications, but leave the programming up to the customer – IS2, on the other hand, will program the computer chip for the client. The company offers customisable software modules, for premium calculation, financial planning, and for storing customer files, and prides itself on its 24-hour maintenance service. IS2 has installed 100,000 point-of-sale computer systems to date, and in an attempt to loosen its dependence on Texas Instruments, is expanding into financial software tools for personal computers.
