I had the great pleasure of a trip last week over to the UK, to meet with customer folk at Norwich Union, and with co-workers out at Norwich and in the London office. My thanks to Graham and team for their hospitality in hosting Craig Miller and me on the trip.
I am always struck by the small things that are different: between our two English-speaking cultures, and between businesses. "Mind the Gap" is one of my favorites; an idiom that would roughly translate in American English to "watch your step." MtG signs, and the helpful painted notes on streets to "Look Right" (do avoid getting squashed by left-side drivers) are all good things, and a sign to the traveler that we're not in Kansas anymore.
I was very impressed by our UK team. In my experience, it's really hard to run a technology business when the "mother ship" is ~4500 miles away. The UK team has done a remarkable job of building sales, technology and delivery strength, and have done a remarkable job of building NUI and others into positive, referenceable customers.
I took a bunch of snapshots of the UK team, which I hope will end up in our Company Directory soon. We are one company. Things are different over there. I learned a lot on the trip, and I'll reflect a bit on what I saw in subsequent posts.