After a brief hiatus over the last year and half, working with Dave Duffield to build the strategy for Workday’s new HCM application, I’m proud to announce the re-launch of Jeitosa–a transnational consultancy focused on making global business possible. The team we’ve assembled has a wealth of experience in global business and systems strategy, business case development, benchmarking, analytics, international regulatory compliance, data privacy, sourcing approaches, cultural and change management, global systems deployment, project management, and much more.

The world of global enterprise systems is currently experiencing a fundamental paradigm shift, one that will be as pervasive as the shift from mainframes to client/server 15+ years ago. I’ve likened what’s currently happening in our industry to the Perfect Storm: the convergence of three compelling forces, coming together simultaneously to create a whole new way of thinking about global business processes and underlying systems infrastructures.

• First, we are experiencing maturing of Web technologies and the development of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) that can support robust, enterprise-level, native Web applications. Imagine running your entire HR, payroll, and financial operations on an Amazon-like, Google-like infrastructure and user-interface! Check out Workday–they’re doing just that!

• Second, we must deal with the maturing of the workforce, the aging baby boomer generation heading into retirement, the movement of Gen X’ers into key leadership positions, and the entry of the New Millenniums into the workforce. Employers now need to meet the needs of three very different work styles simultaneously in the workplace.

• Third, applications are moving out of the back-office to the front-office to support the line workers in their day-to-day jobs, and, as we know, the needs of the front line are very different from those of the back-office. To do this, self-service, compliance, metrics, and reporting must become inherent components in the application, rather than bolt-ons that must be integrated after the fact.

As more and more organizations look to drive down costs, to take advantage of the new technologies, to better meet the needs of their workforce, to more fully integrate disparate systems across the globe, and to put in place a global strategy and infrastructure to tie it all together, the global experts we’ve brought together with Jeitosa will be there to help. I’m really proud to be associated with the prestigious members of our transnational network. Our core values of Integrity, Knowledge, Experience, Motivation, Partnership, and Excellence form the foundation and common thread in all we do.

Working globally is hard. My vision for Jeitosa is that we provide a source of global knowledge sharing and networking that will help make global business easy for practitioners, consultants, analysts, and vendors alike. Through this blog, let us know what global challenges you’re facing or solutions you’ve found or thoughts/visions you have about our industry, and let’s make this an open forum for sharing best practices in global enterprise business.

Again, Happy New Year! I wish you all a wonderful, safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007!