Oisin Lunny, Chief Evangelist – July 1, 2014
A few months ago I shared the following Wikipedia definition at a conference in London… “an information silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related information systems”. A rumble of agreement grew from the assembled audience of marketing and technology experts. Many winced in recognition, others glared and fumed, some nodded regretfully and blushed. The atmosphere fizzled with quiet rage. Jaws were clenched and pencils were snapped. The conference had degenerated into a powder keg of pent-up silo-related angst, just waiting to explode…
The issue of business units and processes not functioning harmoniously within a company can be frustrating. We all know that operating in silos is the opposite of an optimised process, but operational silos continue to exist in some very unlikely places.
Enterprises can grow at phenomenal speeds and can find themselves managing a cornucopia of wildly disparate and disconnected single point solutions, each with separate contacts, contracts, security risks and SLAs, and no economies of function or scale.
Meanwhile, today’s consumers are using their mobile devices as the preferred method of interacting with their favourite tech and their favourite brands. They don’t expect functional silos to exist between browsing, messaging, payments, vouchers, alerts, emails, social media, search etc. It all happens synchronously on their mobile device, whenever and wherever they need. These consumers have zero tolerance for a sub-optimal user experience, and they expect brands to keep up with them at the very least.
So how does a business move from clunky, inefficient operational silos to a smoothly integrated solution? The key is in adopting a holistic platform approach, rather than an individual solution approach. Choosing the right technology partner enables an enterprise to meet all of their business needs through one complete platform, and to future-proof their mobile strategy.
To help illustrate this, we put together a short video about the pitfalls of silos, and the benefits of silo-smashing.
OpenMarket’s Mobile Engagement Platform can help eliminate inefficient operational silos from a business immediately, with market leading performance, flexibility, reliability, and global reach. Our multi award-winning customer service will ensure a painless migration process, while our account management team is always on hand to help you make the most of the immense power of our mobile engagement solutions.
Our Mobile Engagement Platform is the super scalable solution for any silo-smashing mobile business needs, today and in the future.
To join the silo-smashing movement, contact us today!
(silo photograph “Ralls Texas Grain Silos 2010” by Leaflet remixed by Oisin Lunny and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)