A global Big 4 professional services firm, previously with nearly 190,000 employees performing complex business consulting, audit and tax preparation services. Learn more at www.KPMG.com.
In 1997 I made a career change (well...sort of). I switched from flying computers (avionics) over to ground-based computers (servers, LAN networks, etc). Though mechanically and electronically very similar, business IT systems run on completely different operating systems, known in the aerospace industry as COTS - or Commercial off the Shelf. Things like Windows 95 weren’t used in any aircraft systems due to reliability concerns. As we liked to say - there is nowhere to park at 40,000 feet - should anything go wrong!chemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Initially going from McDonnell Douglas to KPMG seemed like a straight-forward move. Consider their various similarities:
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Status: both respected leaders in the top tiers of their respective professions,
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Size: each having about 190,000 world-wide employees at various times during the 1990's,
- Money: each earned staggering amounts of money - $5B revenue for KPMG & $5B profit for McD,
- Age: DAC was the young upstart at 75+years old, while KPMG was celebrating their 100th anniversary when I joined.
However they were night and day apart in the culture.
DAC employs large numbers of military veterans who spent many years working in aviation or space technologies, traditionally in adverse situations and climates. KPMG hired highly educated undergrad, graduate and doctorial students directly out of college and placed them into performing consulting, audit or tax services. One was a shop floor environment, with all the things you'd expect to hear (ie shop floor talk), while the other was 100% boardroom - all business, all the time. But I never had to worry about taking a toxic bath and ruining another shirt because someone hadn't de-pressurized the number one engine's integrated drive generator. No more foul language because we were going to "squawk" someone's poor installation work.
KPMG was like something out of the movies....getting off the elevator, seeing the elaborate & fresh floral arrangements. Everyone so polite, articulate and eager to help out. Bagel Fridays and later on, Wacky Office Wednesdays (WOW events). It was like night and day. Uncle Peat, as we affectionately called the firm, was known for nearly the last 100 years as Peat Marwick Michell LLP (or some variations of that name).
Hired to be the Pacific Southwest area Tax LAN administrator, I watched over the half-dozen servers supporting 5,000 tax users from Hawaii, the six Southern California offices, and over to Las Vegas and Phoenix. I learned from very two intelligent (perhaps even witty ladies) named Carmelita Looney and Judy Koga. Within a year - I was helping to conduct portions of a week-long course, teaching new LAN administrators about our various tax software packages.
By 1998 - I was asked to join a new, internal consulting team, called Business Services. We'd essentially work with local office, regional and area leadership on tax technology issues. Someone needs a new software program to meet a certain client's needs? We'd make sure to have something created. Someone found a commercial product, which performed more accurate tax predictions? We'd investigate - and if feasible - press for the implementation of the desired solution. We were involved with many intriguing project requests over the next nearly 12 months.
But by late 1998 - I was being courted to return to the Technology Administration team. They needed a new Team Leader, as a number of critical projects needed to be addressed. First - the pending LAX office move. Depending on how you sliced the pie - LA was the 2nd or 3rd most important office in the country (technically speaking). We hosted back-up Internet, Application Hosting and Email services for the 20,000 Western US users. Secondly - the Y2K initiative was gearing up, and of the 600+ applications used by the firm - most were Tax applications. They really needed to have a firm grasp on each of these projects to ensure success.
So over the next 24 months, I worked many hours on these projects, not to mention repairing the team morale from a number of distracting prior issues. During this time, I authored a Y2K White Paper, and conceived and had created two new applications and associated business processes for use by national IT teams. In the end - our team completed the most successful large office move in the firm's 104 year history, and were lauded by management and staff alike for smooth weekend transition. Due to the enormous amounts of work, my college studies were placed on hold since late 1998, and I didn't really resume until 2003.
During the end of my tenure as the Acting Manager, and at the urging of my former director, I decided to return back to Business Services in 2001. Here I was involved with the global planning of the Windows 2000 desktop deployment. Some parts of this initiative were identified during our Y2K efforts, but due to limitations within Windows 98, the move made the most sense. I worked with my director, Julie Rubin, and several others including the firm's #2 man in Technology.
After about nine months back on the team, the firm shuffled resources to evenly load staff between the Tax, Assurance, Consulting and Firmwide IT servicing teams. I moved to the Firmwide team, and picked up the National Automated Records Management System, or ARMS / Oracle deployment and upgrades. I worked on this project until 2003, when I transferred back to into Technology Administration.
By this time, the Firm was undergoing significant changes - similar to McD's slow demise. The SEC required KPMG to spin off their profitable (and large) consulting practice, which became BearingPoint Inc. After the Enron & Arthur Anderson debacle - the SOX act required KPMG to pick what remaining specialty it was going to focus on for clients. Say in 2001 we'd do 100% consulting, audit and taxes for a client. Well - by 2003 consulting was gone, and we could effectively perform 70% audit and 30% tax, or some variation thereof. But 100% audit and 100% tax was out of the question.
Desiring to climb the ladder, and sensing the environment wasn't conducive to this goal, I began looking for a new opportunity. At the urging of a friend, I found a $80M regional steel company that desperately needed help with their IT infrastructure. After giving my 2-week notice, the team assembled for what I thought was to be a light-hearted going away party, replete with a PowerPoint slide show. Oh....perhaps they were going to tease me for my various costumes at the Wacky Office Wednesday events. But a few seconds after the slideshow started, I saw the acronym that haunted me from those old aerospace days - RIF - or Reduction in Force (layoffs). Some suspected that I knew the layoffs were coming, but I didn't know anything about this development. In fact - my director commented that my resignation saved someone's job since I was resigning effective January 2004.
And before you think that everything was accountant grade "A" dull, remember that any technology group in the 90's was a fun and wacky place to work. Foam KPMG globe fights would break out at any moment, sometimes despite the presence of customers at our counter. Partners would swing by in thinly veiled disguises to gauge our overall effectiveness. And there was some ad-hoc application bandwidth testing that occurred at various hours of the day or night, especially during those long nights whilst performing upgrades via 3.5 inch floppy disks (yeah - I know I'm dating myself). Quake or Unreal Tournament LAN parties helped pass those long hours required, and thank God for the nearby eateries (The Pantry and McDonalds) just down the street!
So long Uncle PEAT!
