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• Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:06 AM

  A case study

  About 4 years ago I had breakfast with the brother-in-law of one of my best friends—both Dutch. Let’s call him Peter was the Chief Technology Officer for one of the largest privately owned enterprises in the Netherlands, a company whose name almost every American over 21 would recognize. And he was having a hell of time getting the company up and running with the basic applications that a modern company demands. Of course all the financial information was digitized, that was a requirement of the EU, but internal communication was hopelessly slow and cumbersome; each of the companies far flung enterprises maintained their own internal IT departments; important decisions delayed; the competition was gaining market share. “Why?” I asked. “The Mr. X, the president, won’t even do his own email,” Peter answered. “It is impossible for him to grasp the importance of the technology.”

  I just did some quick internet research. I could not find the name of the Chief Executive in question in the annual report. Sales which had been flat until 2004 are now up 12.6%. According to the new CEO’s statement, this increase was due to a decision to centralize the company’s IT functions. Want to lay bets that the new CEO answers his own email? Case closed.

  Oh, I hear that McCain's wife's family enterprises do make money, and she helps John with the internet. No surprise there. But isn't that so cute?

  —kireland Read kireland's other letters
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