Follett acquires small businesses that have been neglected by their former parent organization. IT compliance has to near impossible across the many networks and organizations that need to be traversed. The application process described by current and former IT professionals is designed to fail. Without clear leadership and budget authority how is IT supposed to create applications that emphasized automation when the needs of the different business are so diverse?
The follett model is collapsing under its own weight. If you think about it, the model is a pyramid scheme. The company MUST bring in new stores to pay for pre-existing stores because the pre-existing stores can't yield higher fees and profits back to corp. Without the bookkeeping profit shown by charging labor to acquisition, (capital budget as opposed to ops budget), there is no more profit to be divided up amongst the few execs.
Return the stores to their institutions!