September 17, 2015

Mr. Cody Kaser

North Dakota State University
Minard 318
Fargo, ND 58102
Subject: Compare and Contrast Letter
Dear Instructor Kaser:
As I spent many hours researching ITD and Towers Watson to create complete
company profiles for each, I noticed that the two companies, even though having a similar
business, have some obvious differences. The largest difference between the two can be found
in their websites. The ITD website is very much more functional than cosmetic, with the largest
portions being dedicated to career opportunities and news about the department. Towers
Watson has a minimalist website, almost the entire focus on selling the companys image,
everything looking as nice as possible. In addition the ITD website and persona is more casual
and has a local feel to it, whereas the Towers Watson website is completely professional with
images that make the website feel more inviting.
These two companies also have a few similarities, as you would expect as they both
provide similar services. Both have very professional communication within their companies,
which is to be expected. The most similar attribute between the two was how each one stressed
the importance that they will work closely with and for their clients, and how happy past clients
have been. Lastly, they both place some importance on having an enjoyable working
environment, although it is a minor theme.
What Ive learned from doing all of this research on both companies is that each one
requires a slightly different approach to creating an effective application and the materials that
come with it. ITD has a slightly friendlier persona and can be even jovial at times on their
website, so having a similar personality in an application might give me an edge. In contrast with
that, everywhere I looked Towers Watson was professional, so I would tailor my application to
reflect that attitude and keep everything straightforward and formal.
Sincerely,

Jaden Wirrenga
Enclosures (2)

North Dakota Information Technology Department

Company Profiled: North Dakota
Information Technology Department (ITD)
Company website: http://www.nd.gov/itd/
Position applying for: Web/User Interface
Designer
Type of Business: Providing all facets of IT
help required by the state government,
which covers a broad spectrum of things.
Business objective: Providing leadership
and knowledge to assist their customers in
achieving their mission through the
innovative use of information technology.
Company History: ITD was established as
a department in 1999, but dates back to
1969 with the creation of the Central Data
Processing Division. This function grew and
remained the primary focus until it was
renamed to the Information Services
Division in 1989. At this time the division
shifted direction towards supporting the
states information technology needs,
constantly expanding ever since.

Who does the company do business with:

ITD being a state department, does business
mainly with other state departments. Some
examples would be the District of Human
Services (DHS) and the education system. In
general they work with any department that is
in need of information technology support.
Demographics:
Location: Headquartered in Bismarck, ND, with
a Main ITD Campus and some offices in the
State Capitol.
Size :
ITD has a large amount of staff because of the
continually growing field of information
technology. On the main campus alone there
are a few hundred employees, a small portion
of which are contractors from foreign countries.
When ITD was working on the new Health
Care system for DHS, nearly 40 contractors
were hired for the project. It is important to
know this because the probability of working
with a contractor from another country is very
high, which would change the dynamic of the
work environment considerably.

Brief Description of Position: A Web/User Interface Designer would mainly be focused on

creating websites and web applications to meet project requirements given by the customer.
The designer would have to be able to work closely with a team to accomplish their given task
and a varying amount of communication with the customer is expected. In addition ITD requires
a large amount of documentation with the work process so written proficiency is important.
Introductory Narrative: The Computer Science classes I have completed at North Dakota
State University, along with the personal tinkering I have done myself have prepared me with
the knowledge base required by this job position. Ive also had the opportunity for working with
ITD in the past and the IT division at the Attorney Generals Office, which has given me the
opportunity to exercise this knowledge. Most importantly, these two previous positions have
given me fantastic experience and prepared me with all the tools necessary to be a successful
web designer.

Whos Who:
Chief Information Officer (CIO): Mike Ressler. Mike has been with ITD since 1984, making him
one of the most senior ITD employees. He was appointed CIO in 2013 by the Governor of North
Dakota Jack Dalrymple. According to the website he has a large amount of education and is a
family man who likes recreational activities, including sports with his boys around my age.
Director of Software Development Division: Doran Eberle. Doran attained his current position in
2011 and oversees software development, a large amount of business analysis, and quality
assurance, which together make up the largest portion of ITD.
Director of Human Resources Division: Shelly Miller. Shelly has had a vast amount of education
in psychology, more specifically that which occurs in the workplace, and has a very positive
mission statement. Her profile also says that she loves to spend time with her family and doing
things outdoors, including her son who I know through a mutual friend.
Core Values: ITD has six guiding principles they use to provide the foundation for their
organization. The first principle is Respect; they stress the importance of respect for yourself
and others to provide a trusting and friendly work environment. The second principle is
Teamwork; the department feels it is important that the combination of ideas and talents of
employees provides a better final result than that of an individual. The next principle is
Achievement; here they place importance on creating quality products and strive to exceed
expectations. The next principle is Integrity; it is of high importance that they always do the right
thing and hold themselves to the highest of standards. The fifth principle is Leadership; the
company feels it is important to emphasis the merits of responsibility and initiative and the other
qualities that come with leadership. The final principle is Service; maintaining that at the end of
the day they are here to provide a quality service to whatever client is in need of their service.
To summarize, they have goals to convey an enjoyable and efficient workplace, with an
overlaying feeling of a sales pitch.
Public vs. Actual Persona: ITDs public persona is mainly guided by the website, with most of
it being described in the core values. In addition to that there are pictures of friendly faces and
positive customer reviews as a small pop-up on most pages. After having an internship there in
the past I can confirm that their public persona matches their private persona exactly.
Teamwork is an everyday occurrence and almost everyone has a positive attitude there.
Supporting the public persona the HR division of ITD is extremely friendly, and I suspect, made
the public persona directly based off actual experiences, including what youll find on Facebook.
Communication Styles: After looking at all of the various pages on the departments website,
looking at the various social media outlets they are using, and my personal experience, there is
a little bit of a discussion to be had about what their true communication style is. From my time
spent there as an intern and their website you get a sense of a very professional but friendly
environment. However, when you look through the social media they participate in it seems
much more laid back. I believe this to be the due to the fact that the social media sites have a
different target audience than the website, and overall it is safe to say the communication style
is, like most government departments, formal, efficient, and professional.

Towers Watson Profile

Company Profiled: Towers Watson
Company website:
https://www.towerswatson.com/
Position applying for: Junior .NET
Developer
Type of Business: Towers Watson is a
professional services company that helps
other organizations improve performance in
various ways. They offer help with
consulting, technology solutions, and many
different facets of running a sound
company. In general, they are a company
that is consulted on to help other companies
make better decisions.

Business objective: Based on the companys

website, Towers Watson has an objective of
taking an eye-level perspective of a
customers organization and helping it achieve
better results through innovation and better
management.
Who does the company do business with:
Towers Watson is an outsourcing company
that has associates around the world.
Geographically they can do business with
anyone, and their services are something any
company might need.
Demographics:
Location: They have offices in almost 40
countries with their main location located in
New York City.
Size: Based on the information given in the job
description and what is said on the website
Towers Watson has somewhere between
14,000 and 16,000 employees worldwide.

Brief Description of Position: A .NET Developer is a kind of specific type of programmer that
is proficient at using the .NET framework. Although that would be majority of the position, overall
it would mainly just be an average software developer position. As a software developer for
Towers Watson I would be creating whatever software deemed necessary for the client at the
time.
Introductory Narrative: This last summer working as a temporary programmer at the Attorney
Generals Office was spent working entirely with the .NET framework, using the languages that
this job would require, and granting experience in several places that are bound to crop up over
time. Ive also been using the same software in the job listing this past summer, preparing me
wonderfully for this position.
Whos Who:
CEO: John Haley. Haley has no public persona I can find on social media websites, but a fairly
encompassing persona on the companys website. That persona is completely professional and
only talks about his career and educational achievements thus far.

Chief Human Resources Officer: Gail McKee. There is also very little about Gails personal
persona to be found on social media sources. Similarly with the CEO of Towers Watson the only
information on the website about her is professional and about her career achievements.
Core Values: Everywhere you look on the Towers Watson website, or anywhere else that has
information about the company, the most stressed values are focused on clients. To be more
exact, Towers Watson boasts a personal and unbiased service for their clients. In addition to
their focus on clients is a minor focus of the values that create an enjoyable workplace that
breeds excellence.
Public vs. Actual Persona: Towers Watsons Facebook page sends exactly the same picture
to the public as their website does. If anything the Facebook shows so little information it almost
makes you think they dont find the social media audience important to their company. Their
website however has smiling employees everywhere, and is more or less one giant reason why
a client should hire Towers Watson. The whole thing looks very sleek and professional, which is
exactly the type of persona they wish a potential client to see.
Communication Styles: It can be assumed that as Towers Watson works so closely with their
clients that the communication style is largely influenced by each individual client. However, the
website is very professional, very modern, and shows no sign of their being any difference if you
actually worked there.
Sources of Revenue: Almost all of Towers Watsons revenue can be contributed to the clients
they attain each year around the world. As of June 2014, the revenue was recorded at 3,481.9
million dollars, a number that has always been increasing.