Consider the frustration and inefficiencies when teams in an organization sharing a common objective find themselves in a situation where they are not only blocked by a lack of access to crucial information but also unaware of potentially valuable data that exists within their own company.

A whole set of challenges comes up as an organization's complexity grows, and as it expands and creates more departments, the task of bringing together all the company's data into one clear, useful picture becomes increasingly daunting. This disconnect is one of the main reasons why departments operate below their potential.

Our focus in this article will be on data silos and how to break down these invisible walls within a company to really streamline the collaboration of different teams and improve decision-making across the board. Our goal at Akooda is to help companies get the most out of their data, especially when it can offer insights into how to optimize all aspects of the business.

What are Data Silos?

Data silos are essentially isolated pockets of data held within an organization. These silos occur when different departments or groups within a company maintain their own data sets, tools, and systems independently of each other. This isolation means that the data stored in one silo is typically inaccessible to other parts of the organization.

Data silos can be both physical and technological. Physically, they exist when data is stored on local servers or systems that are not connected to a broader network. Technologically, they occur when different software or database systems are incompatible or when access permissions restrict data sharing across departments.

Why Do Data Silos Occur?

Data silos occur when different parts of an organization independently store and manage their own data without sharing it with other departments. 

This happens for several reasons. Firstly, each department might use different technology or systems, which aren't compatible with each other, making it hard to share data. 

Secondly, organizational structures can encourage departments to keep data to themselves, generally  to maintain control. Without a unified approach to data management, these silos form naturally, creating barriers to information flow and collaboration within the organization.

Also, valid concerns about data security and privacy might exist within the department.

With this in mind, let's break down a few of the most typical reasons for data silos to occur:

• Technological barriers: Different departments may use different systems and technologies that are not integrated. This lack of integration leads to compatibility issues, making it difficult to share or consolidate data across the organization.
• Organizational structure: In many cases, the organizational structure itself promotes the creation of data silos. Departments or teams are often incentivized to guard their data as a means of maintaining control or power within the organization.
• Security and privacy concerns: Sometimes, data silos are created intentionally to protect sensitive information. While this can be beneficial for security, it can also hinder the overall flow of information.
• Lack of a unified strategy: Without a cohesive data management strategy, different parts of the organization may adopt divergent practices, leading to the unintentional creation of silos.

At their core, data silos are born from a disconnect between the parts of an organization — a manifestation of misaligned objectives, diverse technologies, and compartmentalized thinking. 

Data silos are almost always a reflection of deeper issues within your organization, and as such, they should be viewed as red flags that call for structural changes within company data and knowledge management.

Why Are Data Siloes Problematic?

Now that we understand what data silos are and how they occur, the question arises: Can they be left ignored? Well, according to an American Management Association survey, 83% of executives believe their companies have silos, and 97% of them say siloed data has had negative consequences on business. 

When it comes to hard data, it paints a clear picture: The revenue loss attributed to issues pertaining to data silos is estimated to reach about 1.8 trillion dollars annually. 

And it's really not that hard to see why; Siloed data prevents team members from accessing important information, slowing down collaboration. Employees waste an average of 5.3 hours per week waiting for data from colleagues or recreating information that already exists, which inevitably leads to a loss in productivity.

So, the answer to this question is clear: No, data silos problematic cannot be ignored. Let's see how it may interrupt your business workflow in ways that you might not even be aware of.

Siloed Data Integrity is Compromised

Another important impact of siloed data on business is the effect it has on data integrity. Organizations with siloed data often struggle with data integrity, which includes accuracy, completeness, and reliability of data throughout its lifecycle. 

When data is scattered across different tools, software, and spreadsheets, securing information, enforcing version control, and generating an accurate, holistic view of the data becomes challenging. Inconsistent and inaccurate data are common in such scenarios, leading to limited insights and operational decisions based on inaccurate data​​.

Data Siloes Lead to Communication Challenges

Data silos often result from and contribute to a lack of collaboration and communication within an organization. This can lead to inefficiencies, redundancies, and errors resulting from isolated data storage and management. When employees lack access to shared information, it becomes challenging to collaborate effectively and set common goals​​.

Silos Can Create Operational Inefficiencies

In a data-siloed environment, teams often work in isolation, leading to a lack of awareness about what other parts of the organization are doing. This can result in repetitive tasks. For instance, two departments might independently conduct the same or similar market research, using up valuable time and resources that could have been allocated more effectively.

Siloed Information is Inconsistent Information

Inconsistencies due to data silos are a common yet complex issue. Imagine different departments as individual islands, each with its own way of collecting, storing, and interpreting data. This independence, while sometimes beneficial for department-specific needs, often leads to significant discrepancies in how the organization as a whole understands and utilizes its data.

Take, for example, how different departments might handle customer data. The sales team might focus on purchase history to categorize customers, while the marketing team might look at engagement metrics. This leads to two very different interpretations of the same customer data, potentially skewing the overall strategy for customer engagement.

Then there's the issue of outdated information. If one department updates its data but doesn't share these updates organization-wide, other departments might continue working with old, inaccurate data. For instance, if the customer service team updates contact details in their system but this information isn't shared with the sales team, the sales team could end up using outdated contacts, leading to ineffective communication and potential lost opportunities.

Breaking Down Data Siloes

Now that we are sure that something has to be done about siloed data, how do we go about it?

First and foremost, dismantling data siloes begins with the centralization of data. Picture this as gathering scattered pieces of a vast puzzle and placing them all on a single canvas. Moving all corporate data into a cloud-based data warehouse or data lake opens up your business to the possibility of creating a unified platform.

The next step in breaking down these data silos is what we call standardization and integration. This is like making sure everyone in a class uses the same format for their assignments. It's about getting all departments to format their data in a way that makes it possible to integrate different data sets. 

This makes it much easier to bring all this data together and analyze it as a whole. It's like everyone singing from the same song sheet, ensuring that all the information, no matter where it comes from, can be effectively combined and put to good use.

How Can You Deal with Data Silos in 2024?

Addressing data silos is one of the most challenging undertakings for an organization, as it is deeply rooted in the nuances of knowledge management and organizational structure. But, with the recent advancement of AI-powered technologies, this task has become considerably more manageable. 

Even if you made all of the company data centralized and available to everyone, this is only the first step towards really breaking down data silos. The idea is not to simply make the data available. It's about making data effectively utilized, contributing to your success.

This calls for the question, even if all of the data is easily available, what do you do with the vast amounts of data that don't even share a framework that brings it together? How do you go about searching for what is important to you and your project at the moment?

This is where we can talk about applying the latest tech advancements to breaking down data silos.

AI-powered data management systems, like enterprise search engines, are revolutionizing how we handle and extract value from organizational data. It's like a sophisticated search engine tailored for business needs, capable of understanding natural language and the searcher's intent. 

It's not just about data retrieval; it's about making meaningful connections between different data sets and offering insights that were previously hidden in silos, and that is exactly what is made possible by the latest tech. Organizing data in a way that is accessible, understandable, and easily retrieved is a true end goal of breaking data silos.

This is what enterprise search engines do. They are making data usage much easier and immensely more resourceful.

How Can Akooda Help?

At Akooda, we tackle the challenge of data silos head-on. By integrating all the  SaaS tools your company is already using, we create a cohesive network in which information flows freely. 

The goal of our platform is to make it easy for different departments to share and access data, breaking down those frustrating barriers that keep valuable insights hidden. It's all about bringing your data together, making it easier to manage and utilize effectively. 

With technology of the present, we can make data silos a thing of the past.