Site visits to observe how others solve problems

All,

I was wondering... I have worked at many large UniVerse/UniData customers in my career. Some companies do a great job of certain facets of IT. I was thinking about contacting them to see if they would be open the a site visit. I realized that there could be proprietary secrets exposed during the site visit. After all I would not want to show someone around without some assurances that what they saw would be in essence 'What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas'.

Do you think there would be a way to display the best attributes of your IT shop without giving away the goods? What are the best practices that we can share with one another? 

But why site visits in particular?  Best practices could be displayed via a website as well

Will,

Good point. I'm a bit older and appreciate the conversations I can have and the intentioned coincidences that a site visit can provide.  I've seen some really amazing things in my career as a consultant. Automated factories, software development on a grand scale and many others. Hard to put into text and pictures that a website provides. Even videos (YouTube) don't answer back if questions are asked.

However, it is expensive and intrusive to the site being visited. Also, a good way to get way from work with fellow developers to see if the grass is greener on the other side.

Jon