What are data silos and how can you effectively counter it?

Overcoming Data Silos

A data silo is a collection of data kept by one group that is not easily or completely accessible by other organizations within the same company. Finance, administration, human resources, marketing, and other departments all require different types of information to complete their tasks. Data or information silos are places where various departments store their data separately. Most organizations and enterprises struggle with their data silo. While a few experts state that Silos aren’t ‘a bad thing’, there could be far-reaching consequences should these Silos prevail in companies.

Although data silos appear to be innocent, they obstruct information sharing and collaboration between departments. Data quality is frequently harmed because of inconsistencies in data that may overlap across silos. It’s also difficult for management to acquire a comprehensive perspective of company data when data is segregated.

Here are few ways Data Silos are causing major hindrances for businesses :

• They provide an inadequate overview of the business: It’s like attempting to put together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box when it comes to running a business with isolated data. You won’t be able to get a 360-degree view of your firm if you have data silos.
• They result in a poor client experience: When data is isolated, it’s easy to lose track of your client’s journey with your organization – and nothing irritates a customer more than having to tell their narrative to multiple individuals.
• They take up valuable storage space: If every employee who need the same information saves it to their company’s storage folder, valuable storage space is wasted. As a result, you’re wasting money on data storage that you don’t need or desire. If the data was simplified into a single platform that was accessible by all personnel inside the firm, it would take up a lot less space.
• They put your data’s accuracy in jeopardy: Because these fragmented pieces of information are difficult to integrate, working with data silos results in poor data quality. When you try to cross-check information from several sources if your data isn’t integrated or in sync, you’ll almost certainly see conflicting facts.
• They impede your company’s progress: Having data silos is a waste of time. Data is confined within teams rather than being able to seamlessly streamline data between teams. This means that teams must wait until they discover they require data that they do not currently own, then locate the data inside the business, manually get access to it, and analyses it for their own objectives. It’s possible that the information you collect will be outdated by the time you collect it.

heading: "Where does data silos come from?

• Technologies used by different departments: Software applications, often known as “legacy systems,” are created for a certain group inside a corporation at a specific time. Applications are optimized for their primary function due to the restricted resources available. Individual team incentives are unlikely to promote data sharing as a core requirement.
• Impact of organization’s growth: The company’s culture and leadership style change throughout time. Multiple incompatible systems are common in a corporation that has expanded through multiple generations of leaders, philosophies, and acquisitions. Data duplication is a common occurrence. Even if there are no political difficulties with data integration, reconciling and integrating sets of data that represent various approaches to key business ideas is costly.
• Too many access restrictions: It’s a people problem if a problem hasn’t been solved with technology yet. It’s the same way with knowledge sharing. Because knowledge is power, groups within an organization become suspicious of those who wish to use their hard-won data. Permissions and limitations are frequently set by default to prevent misuse, even if it is unintentional. Data isn’t a neutral entity; it must be interpreted in the context of its past and present. This sense of proprietorship might work against the organization’s best interests.
• Application vendor lock-ins: Access to data is power, and software makers are among the first to recognise this. There are no technological barriers to allowing quick data export, but if a provider isn’t required to do so, they are unlikely to do so. This is especially risky with software-as-a-service apps, because the vendor wants you to stay on their cloud platform.

How you can crack and overcome these silos ?

Silos can be solved in two ways: technologically and organizationally. In the cloud, centralizing data for analysis has become much faster and easier. Cloud-based solutions make it easier to collect data and organize it into a common pool and format for analysis. What used to take weeks, months, or years to complete can now be done in days or hours.

• Develop a way to centralize data: In terms of data management solutions, the ideal strategy to break down silos is to consolidate all company data into a cloud-based data warehouse or data lake – a central data repository designed for quick analysis. Data from many sources will be homogenized and consolidated, and access to people or groups will be easily allowed to strike a balance between business needs and privacy and security concerns.
• Integrate data: Integrating data in a timely and accurate manner is a proven way to avoid future data silos. Scripting, on-premises ETL solutions, cloud-based ETL, and other ways are used by organisations to integrate data.
• Create self-service access that is governed: When data is centralized and integrated, a data governance framework provides the possibility to centralize data access and control. Business users with permission can readily access the data they need thanks to robust data access policies, which eliminate the frustrations and delays that come with having IT people function as gatekeepers.

Infoveave provides a full suite of tools that allow users across the enterprise to collaborate – a single solution for permanently breaking down silos. Experience Infoveave for free to see how it can help to eliminate silos, enhance operations, and increase revenues across a number of use cases. We’ll work with you to break down data silos and guarantee that all decision-makers in your firm have a complete understanding of company data. Looking for a way to overcome data silos? Feel free to request demo today, we will get in touch soon.