Been busy...tale of two clients

Where have I been?

For the last 3 months I've been heads down on a project while still holding down a 25% commitment to other duties.  Meanwhile, the usual family and household duties kept me busy, too.

I had thought about trying to write during my few hours of relax time, but couldn't concentrate on Excel/VBA or any other topic for this blog.  Instead, I "wasted" my time talking politics on-line.

Client/Projects

I mentioned I had been heads down on a project.  It was one of those gap analysis projects, comparing current processes and systems with a future state, in preparation for migration.  I am now ramping up for a similar project for another company. 

Both companies are in the same industry, although one is small than the other.  In short, the second company is a direct competitor in one segment of the first, like a truck manufacturer versus General Motors.

Another difference is the smaller company is focused on the household/individual market whereas the larger one has products and services for households/individuals as well as companies from the smallest to the largest, government, and even through re-sellers and wholesalers.

The final difference is the age of the companies.  The next project is with a company that has been in business only 25 years, the larger for 100 years longer.

Resulting Difference: Venice v the NWO

I learned in college about Venetian government of the medieval and renaissance periods.  In short, it was based on the Roman's governmental structure and if something was not working right, they would add a bureau/department rather than change one that was already defined.  Likewise, as the older company added new products over the years they added new systems to support those products.  The result, in both cases, was highly specialized people with special terminology ingrained into their culture and a myriad tiny  bureaus (systems) solving small problems.  

During the past 20-30 years there has been a move to standard models for Information Technology and Systems, e.g. ITIL and CMM.  These are based on best practices and engineered at a high level to lead companies to defining technology infrastructure that is internally integrated and more compatible in the marketplace, i.e. communicating with suppliers and customers as well as using commercial software where appropriate.