This time I passed through while driving South on I-75 towards Atlanta with nothing in particular to keep me busy other than watching the beautiful Kentucky countryside roll by.  These can be dangerous moments for me since my mind tends to wander.

I was thinking of a comment I overheard while at the UConnect conference.  There was a fair amount of confusion among participants and speakers when referring to the new company... the combination of UCCnet and Transora, or GS1 US.  The transition is so new that employees and constituents of the individual companies were still referring to their respective company names.  Fortunately everyone understood and it was generally an occasion for a chuckle.

But one employee of UCCnet put it in perspective when he said, "All those years of branding and name recognition... up in smoke.  And to a name that means nothing."  I agree that there's probably more lost than gained by the loss of name recognition.  Organizations spend significant time and money building reputations and recognition around a name, even if the name itself isn't the best or most appropriate.  I don't agree that the new moniker is any less descriptive than the previous.  Neither Transora nor UCCnet really had any obvious relationship to business functions identifiable by anyone outside the industry.  So to that I say, "who cares?"  But under any name, the combined organization has my full support and best wishes, (to which I'm sure they will say "who cares?")