Todayâs organizations can finally use advanced technologies to unlock the true value of all of their data. This enables them to make better decisions, serve up better customer experiences, accelerate innovation and respond to crises fasterâeven preventing them from occurring in the first place.
Even so, many organizations are unable to do this because their systems are too isolated from each other. Getting the most value out of your data starts with shattering data silos, or isolated âislandsâ of data that the majority of folks in your organization arenât aware even exist.
Created by the increasing use of multiple systems to store and analyze data, data silos are have become all too common in todayâs organizations. Data silos create disjointed customer views that result in sub-par data analytics, which worsens the customer experience.
Without the ability to access and analyze all of your data in a fluid manner, it becomes very difficult to deliver exemplary customer experiences and uncover what your customers truly want.
Ridding the Data Silos
Getting rid of data silos isnât as hard as a lot of organizations thinkâin fact, there are many ways for organizations to break down data silos to make the most of their data. Here are the five best ways to break them down:
Make it a Top Priority
Data silos wonât get rid of themselves. If you want to eliminate data silos at your organization, make it a top priority. Develop a comprehensive plan as to how exactly youâll get rid of them and make sure all involved employees are aware of your intentions. If necessary, put together a cross-functional team to oversee the consolidation process to ensure smoother sailing and quicker results.
Encourage Communication and Collaboration
Many data silos are created due to a lack of communication between teams in different departments. A marketing team, for example, might maintain a repository of content in a random Google Drive folder while sales might have a ton of assets stashed on Dropbox. Both groups might be unaware of where the other is storing their files.
Get rid of data silos by encouraging your employees to communicate with one another regularly. Itâs also important to embrace a company culture that celebrates collaboration. Youâll get better results, and the increased chatter will reduce the chances data silos go unnoticed.
Simplify and Consolidate Tech Infrastructure
The number of technologies requires by modern organizations to capture revenue these days is staggering. Many major organizations use more than five databases at once, with countless applications spread across them, forming an endless tangle of data silos.
Thereâs an easy fix: Simplify and consolidate your tech infrastructure as much as you can. As a result, you donât have to rely on several different databases to store, process and analyze all of your dataâhelping you avoid data silos.
Avoid Costly Vendor Lock-in
By 2020, 75 percent of organizations managing their data in a public cloud will be subject to vendor lock-inâmaking it costly and time-consuming to migrate data from one platform to another. Break down data silosâor avoid them in the first placeâby using platforms that give you the ability to transfer this data easily.
Develop New Processes and Procedures for Storing Data
If your employees arenât sure where to store data or what systems to use, can you really blame them for storing files in various locations and inadvertently creating data silos? Make sure your employees understand, very explicitly, how they are supposed to handle data and which platforms are approved. That way, youâll reduce the chances data silos are createdâwhile reducing or eliminating shadow IT.
Data silos are common in businesses across all industries. The good news is that if your organization has data silos, all hope is not lost.
By developing a plan on how to store data, encouraging employees to communicate with each other frequently and using the right tools, you can avoid data silosâmaking it that much easier to tap into the full power of your data.
