Data silos can cause much damage. A company needs to specify its workflow into different segments and departments, it is simply a natural process and can be incredibly useful for the business.
The problem is that many companies, especially growing ones, face a problem that runs deeper than department segmentation and generates data isolation.
In these cases, only some units have access to the data related to them, and data is stored in different software systems in different departments.
The problem arises because that data will eventually be shared with other units as well – after all, the company is a whole. And that will demand the employees more time to look for the data.
Luckily, system integration can be a game changer for managers to promote improvement and develop solutions for these challenges!
Looks can be deceiving
Even though team specialization and segmentation can seem and be beneficial, they can be favorable to the emergence of data and organizational silos, which are highly harmful to the corporation.
The core value is that, even with the natural division of departments, everyone still keeps in mind the company as a whole. But not only that, the client and work as a team are also priorities, and data silos can hinder that from happening.
What are data silos or information silos?
In our last webinar, we talked about data silos, which consist of the isolation of departments and their respective information. At the end of the day, fellow employees end up dedicating immense amount of time searching for the information they need, and may also face problems like:
. Difficulties accessing information
. Inconsistent data
. Outdated data
And unfortunately, many other issues as well.
How do silos develop in a company?
As we mentioned at the beginning, divisions and departments are indeed vital and helpful in any business, therefore silo formation is a natural tendency in growing companies.
In most cases, over-isolating data will eventually culminate in the formation of data silos, and not only that, each department may start focusing on its own goals and resources and, yes, different software and distinct data storage tools.
When employees from different departments need to share or look for certain information in those software systems, they may encounter difficulties in easily accessing that data. And that’s when trouble and silos often come up.
What are the consequences of having silos in your business?
I suppose we already pointed out many reasons to indicate how dangerous silos can be to your business, but here we have some more reasons why managers and CEOs should watch out for silos.
Enemy of Innovation
To have innovation as a constant part of the company, the team needs to see the company and the customers as a whole, even though each qualified department.
Silos often break the connection between each segment of the corporation, causing a lack of unity.
Department-oriented work
The company, or rather, each unit, starts to perceive itself as the end goal, becoming self-oriented.
They often miss the big picture (the client, the company itself), hindering growth and damaging the sense of joint work that managers often work so hard to nurture.
Alongside these negative consequences, corporate and data silos may also cause:
– Friction within the team and different departments
– More risks when it comes to data security
– Higher costs
– Lack of trust in data (due to contradicting or outdated information in different databases)
Which areas can be affected by data silos?
Any department can experience the isolation of data, and goals and be self-focused, and this can affect all the other units and areas of the business:
-Finances
– Sales
-Marketing
– Operations
Essentially all the fields in the company get affected from strategic to tactical and operational areas.
Why are silos bad for my company?
As you probably already noticed at this point of the reading, data silos can be quite harmful to any business.
As the gap in information among each department grows, the company’s innovation and productivity are hindered and some additional problems may arise:
. Lack of team interaction
. Delays
. Decreased productivity
. Waste of money and time (employees spend more time searching for information and data that could otherwise be more easily accessible)
. Incomplete data set
. Contradicting or inconsistent data in different departments
. Duplicated data
. Integrity issues
How to remove data silos?
If you identified that your business has isolated and disconnected departments, some attitudes can change that scenario and prevent new silo formation in the future.
– Promote more interaction among the different departments of the company
– Invest in effective data and information sharing (it will save the company time, and money and make the corporate environment lighter for the teams)
– Elaborate projects which emphasize that although it is great for a business to have divisions to expand productivity and enhance quality, the team can’t miss the big picture as the end goal
How to prevent them?
Most of the strategies for rescuing the corporation from silos can also be applied as a way to prevent them.
Additionally, you can also invest in solutions and prevention like:
– Data integration
– Culture change
– Data warehouse
– Enterprise data management
At the end of the day, directors and managers will want to manage data in the most effective way possible.
Closing remarks
Data silos are just like the farm ones, they isolate and store products – in this case, data. And even though they are good resources for farmers, they are very damaging for companies.
Connecting subdivisions, ideas, and, most importantly, data is essential for a company to grow and offer high-quality services and promote a healthy working environment for the team.
We are well-equipped with System Integration solutions for your business and eager to help you! Learn more: https://www.abrisuite.com/system-integration/