My reading habits are often too sluggish for the real-time mass of information of the day. One such older column I came across was Robert X. Cringely’s Amazon.com isn’t killing Best Buy: blame Best Buy IT. I do find that, after all these years, Cringely is a good source for insights.

Since I don’t have first-hand knowledge of IT inside of Best Buy, I’m not going to prove Cringley right or wrong on his assessment of IT inside of Best Buy. But, if what he says is true, Best Buy is certainly facing some grievous struggles.

Case in point: My recent problems with Synnex. The growing evil of compartmentalization in companies seems to hit the parts that rely most on communication and organization. Namely, IT. At Calwell, we’re often tasked with shepherding projects that have manufacturers and vendors dislocated from the real-world implementation of products. Here at Calwell, we welcome these kinds of challenges.