Apologies to the Apostle Matthew, but “The poor you will always have with you…” (Matt. 26:11), sprang to mind when I read the interview with Mayur Gupta, Chief Digital Officer of Healthgrades, in Digital Transformation in Healthcare with Mayur Gupta, Chief Digital Officer, Healthgrades.
Or at least my rendering of that passage as:
Silos You Will Always Have With You
when I read:
…
I think two things and this is again this is something that I’ve learned through my career and continue to learn. First and foremost, is break down those silos. Connect the dots, drive convergence in every single aspect of your business. Whether that is how you organized, how you’re structured, the kind of talent to bring in. How you look at data, how you look at technology. It doesn’t matter what vertical it is, but just drive convergence.We living in a world that is all about ecosystems and platforms not about silo products, silo technologies, silo experiences. And I think the best way to think about it is from a consumer standpoint she does not see the silos you know. She does not see a channel. All she expects is the best experience, the best service, the best product, at the best price. You know at a location in touchpoint at a time of her own choice. And the only way we as brands and technologists and marketers can make that happen is when we break down those silos and we drive conversions in our own world and we stopped looking at digital as the thing, because we now live, operate and breathe in an intrinsically digital world.
…
Silos have been a recognized issue since organized record keeping began.
The universal solution: Let’s build another, bigger silo!
Think about it. There is never going to be a time when new and different information systems and data will not be appearing.
Rather than flailing against silos, along with all the political costs of the same, why not keep your current silos and use topic maps to map across those silos?
Those interested in preserving “silos” (you know who you are), will be happy because their systems and sovereignty over them is preserved, yet other stakeholders can combine that data with new data, for other purposes.
Do you have the political capital to defeat current silos while trying to erect your own?
As I said, “silos you will always have with you….”
You can accept that and use topic maps to create your new “silo” or fight against existing silos.
Your call.