My primary experience with system migrations has always been managing them, but in recent months, I experienced them as an outside customer working with the front-line customer representatives of two separate companies in two very different industries. What I faced was the frustration that your own customers might encounter during a system change.

In the first case, I was ordering a new supply of natural gas for a residence, and the company couldn’t even take an order! The customer service person told me that the company was changing out their systems, and he couldn’t really tell me when they would be able to get an order processed.

I…