What Are Data Silos And How Do Companies Handle It?

Today, there are myriad applications that allow an interdepartmental exchange of data. This helps bring everyone on the same page. CIOs gain insights that help them formulate a comprehensive data strategy, customer care agents can pull off a conversation with the client across any channel, marketers know exactly what resources they require from data scientists, and developers can see which APIs already exist so that they don’t have to work from scratch. This article talks discusses about what are data silos, why are they harmful, and how do companies handle them?

About Data Silos?

Data Silos are disconnected information units. These units are inaccessible to other departments and hamper the smooth functioning of the company as a whole. Following are the reasons why they exist:

• Earlier, a central IT server was used to manage data exchange among all the departments within a business. This enabled CIOs to keep control over data. But today, non-IT units have individual systems to manage their data. This has led to a disconnect between IT and non-IT units.
• One thing that’s common across businesses worldwide is that departments that provide greater output receive incentives. Thus, they tend to guard their data and don’t allow it to percolate to other departments.
• It has also been found that when businesses receive data from all directions, they fail to make sense of it.

Also Read: Dark Data: Why you should bring it forth?

How do companies handle Data silos?

Data silos create a mess. They don’t allow easy flow of data from one department to another that stalls the growth of the company. Hence, it’s imperative to disintegrate data silos quickly. The following are 3 ways that companies employ to handle them.

1. Swivel Chair Interface

Since data isn’t freely shared between different departments, it has often been seen that each of them enter the same data mechanically into their systems. This leads to a waste of time and labor. Swivel chair interface involves feeding data into one system and then copying it to others.

2. Move from data lakes to data warehouses 

Data lakes are repositories of raw data that are hard to interpret. They are time-consuming to maintain and become stale if not updated regularly. Thus, companies are readily adopting data warehouses that are archives of structured data and can be implemented with relative ease.

Application Programmable Interfaces

APIs are collections of system interfaces that use the same language to communicate with each other. They track data across departments and share them in real-time.

Companies must break information silos for their proper functioning. They need to revise and restate their business transformation strategy in such a way that different units work in tandem with each other. At Sage Software, we are home to world-class business management software – CRM, ERP, and HRMS – that will demolish information silos, make remote working a piece of cake, boost employee productivity, synchronize inter-departmental activities, and generate more profits. To know more about it, SMS SAGE to 56767. You can also write to us at sales@sagesoftware.co.in.

Disclaimer: All the information, views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and their respective web sources and in no way reflect the principles, views or objectives of Sage Software Solutions (P) Ltd.