Information - Process Silos - The Bane of the Enterprise

"body">o Profit Centric Motives Beget the Need for				Silos. The more products there are - more Silos. The
New or Changed Process...o Process is created or				more segmented the customer base - more Silos. Silo
changed through Project(s)...o Project(s) view				proliferation, without doubt, causes the enterprise to be
Information from the perspective of the Process				data rich and information poor.
Need...o Project(s) cause Information to be defined and				Simply put; businesses cannot quickly, efficiently and
structured to satisfy Process...o The result... MORE				cost effectively access, gather, layer, filter, consolidate
INFORMATION/PROCESS SILOS				and analyze information in varying formats from
Information/Process Silos are outcomes of defining				multiple Silos.
and structuring Information as a Necessity for Process				Beyond the inability of the enterprise to find and use
rather than as a Value Enabler for the Enterprise.				information lies the danger that any failure to deliver
In any business, there are literally thousands of				information when required by external stakeholders
Information/Process Silos. The bigger the business, the				(customers (current and prospective), suppliers,
more Information/Process Silos there will be. Today,				investors, etc.) is seen by these important parties as
finding the linkages, relationships and implications within				the enterprise having serious internal operational issues.
and between Information Silos, thereby enabling				In today's virtual world, stakeholders outside of the
informed decision making, is extremely time consuming,				enterprise expect, request and require that the right
prone to error and full of real as well as implied risk.				information, in the right context be provided to them
Each and every Silo is a barrier that prevents				when they ask and provided to them immediately.
seamless, cohesive use of information across the				Anything less is a black mark against the enterprise.
enterprise. As the number of Silos increases, so do the				The Process side of the Silo effect brings another
problems of being able to gather information from				serious risk dimension into view. Silos are built-in
multiple, disparate silos.				impediments that limit what the enterprise can do to
Silos might contain highly structured data accessible				quickly and simply improve the business.
only through Process specific pre-defined screens and				Information/Process Silos are designed and built to
reports; therefore absent enterprise context and value.				serve a Process Need; when one looks to combine,
Silos might be template driven files and folders				streamline, consolidate or reengineer more than one
scattered across the enterprise - mobile sales forces,				Process, innumerable obstacles bubble to the surface.
branch offices and similar distributed business functions				These obstacles take the form of gaps and
rely heavily on non-corporate wide information to				disconnects that are only apparent when the Silo is to
manage their responsibilities, every instance of such				be changed. Filling the gaps and fixing disconnects
distributed files might a unique Silo (depending in the				quickly renders what looked to be a quick, relatively
information inside) or part of a scattered, virtual Silo				inexpensive improvement to the business into a
held together (just!) by virtue of organizational structure				Pandora's Box of costly surprises.
rather than seamless, cohesive information linkages.				Given the vast number of Information/Process Silos
Silos might be totally unstructured. This means that				that are in operation today and the likelihood of many
there is no standard by which information is captured				more being created in the future - you could end up
and stored. The only standard might be the software				spending a fortune redesigning current systems,
that facilitates information capture. E.g. How I set up				processes and data repositories to make information
my excel spreadsheet rows and columns and sheets				readily and cost effectively available across lines of
is not like yours, or his or hers...				business, between product families and spanning
Microsoft Office has a neat piece of Software called				customer segments.
OneNote, it provides users with a quick way to				You could spend even more removing the barriers
capture information but the information goes nowhere				that currently impede quick and efficient streamlining of
else and, perhaps it shouldn't. Then again, perhaps, it				the business.
should. Mobile computing again provides a useful				In both cases, whatever you spend, the value would
example; how often does useful to the enterprise				quickly diminish as new Silos are deployed into the
information make an appearance on Blackberry				enterprise to address future needs for new or
screens? Which then begs the question - does that				improved processes.
information percolate 'upward' into an enterprise				Addressing these issues requires a different approach;
information repository that is accessible by more than				one that adroitly constrains future Information/Process
the Blackberry user who received the information? A				Silo proliferation while enabling the enterprise to deftly
whole series of troubling questions emanate from both				cut through current Information/Process Silo barriers...
Yes and No answers, too detailed to list here but I am				You do not need to spend a fortune; you just need to
sure you start to understand the implications and				explore with us how we could help you bring clarity
linkages between mobile devices and Silos.				and cohesion to the convoluted world of unconstrained
To recap; the more lines of business there are - more				Information/Process Silos.

ITIL

Information - Process Silos - The Bane of the Enterprise