In the business world silos are a nuisance and a massive drain on resources. They’re where information, relationships, collaboration, and communication go to die. Sadly, unlike silos used for bulk storage, organizational silos occur organically as a by-product of an expanding business, where new product lines and new departments are bolted onto the structure set up at the birth of the company and communication becomes fragmented.

This massively impacts the customer experience.

Siloed communication leads to fragmented customer data, with each department holding pieces of information that aren’t shared effectively. When contact center agents lack a complete view of the customer’s history or previous interactions, they struggle to provide personalized and efficient service, resulting in delays, repeated questions, and a disjointed experience that frustrates customers.

Beyond delayed responses, silos impact the overall consistency and quality of customer service. Departments that don’t share insights and feedback miss opportunities to improve processes, anticipate customer needs, and adapt to trends. This lack of alignment can lead to contradictory information, such as inconsistent policies or recommendations, which erodes trust. Documentation is important here, as it ensures that all teams have access to the same information, preventing miscommunication and enabling better alignment across the organization. Addressing silos is therefore critical for businesses aiming to improve customer satisfaction, build loyalty, and deliver a cohesive, high-quality experience.

Ultimately what is needed is a unified data ecosystem that creates greater data transparency so that all teams, no matter where can use the same data.

Breaking down the silos

When a business understands the root cause of its silo problem, it can take action to eradicate it.

1. Inspire a shared vision

Whether it's a mission statement or a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), you can get people to prioritize that rallying cry above their departmental objectives—you just need to help them see how they can contribute to it. For example, everyone who worked at NASA in the 1960’s knew the vision was ‘land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth.’

2. Set joint goals

Once you have inspired a shared vision, you can put it into action through joint goals. Set company objectives and KPIs that transcend individual or departmental roles. Make sure the joint goals include accountability partners—other people who are equally invested in delivering successful outcomes aligned with company goals.

Shared targets benefit from the power of different individuals’ and teams’ expertise and experience to create a clear path towards making a measurable difference.

3. Define shared responsibility and accountability

By sharing responsibility across teams, you ensure everyone is working towards the same goal. This speeds up decision-making, as there is less ‘weighing up’ of who the decision benefits. At the same time, you can make teams or individuals accountable for their part of the goal or decision depending on their strengths, experience, or skill set. Make sure this is clearly articulated, so responsibilities don’t fall through the cracks and people can support each other to achieve the common goal.

4. Create cross-functional teams

The benefits of cross-functional teams go way beyond breaking the silo mentality. It goes without saying that cross-functional collaboration brings people from across the business together, But beyond that, they foster innovation and solve problems by creating lateral links between functions. A call center agent who understands why a service engineer needs certain information will naturally deliver a better customer experience (CX), for example.

5. Encourage an ‘internal customers’ culture

Changing mindsets to view other teams and departments as internal customers can transform how teams work together. Instead of working independently, they focus on offering value and assistance to other areas of the organization. Consider creating informal service level agreements, holding town hall meetings to learn about other teams' needs and priorities, and consistently consulting with them to change how departments interact with each other.

6. Nurture cooperation and social contact

Good internal communication is essential to ensure everyone understands their role, and help teams and departments voice their needs and collaborate more effectively. It also removes overly over-competitiveness and a blame culture that feeds and thrives in a siloed environment. Another thing worth noting is that increased cooperation and social contact with colleagues from across an organization lowers stress, anxiety, and burnout.

7. Use collaboration tools

Finally, you have to make it happen. Technology has made collaboration a lot simpler—digital tools like messaging applications, cloud-based productivity services, video-conferencing software, survey platforms, and more enable employees to work together.

Using the right collaboration platforms breaks down silos by ensuring everyone has access to unified communications tools. As businesses grow and careers develop, people can move across departments using familiar tools. They improve productivity, communication, and workflow. This gives your teams an advantage when collaborating.

The bottom line: build trust, not walls

So, there you have it. A growing business can eradicate silos or even head them off before they form by:

  • revising its top-down management structure
  • inspiring regular meetings and collaboration
  • setting company objectives and KPIs
  • encouraging social contact
  • deploying a UCaaS system to underpin all comms

Ultimately, it all comes down to people and culture. Creating a cultural shift can help break down siloed working. It also encourages a more integrated and cooperative environment. Strong, effective unified communications tools like UCaaS break down the silos between departments. They improve employee experience and, ultimately, the experience your customers enjoy. Equally, tools like 8x8 Engage take contact centre tools outwith the contact centre, again, allowing for a reduction in silo behaviour.