How to Remove Silo Mentality from Your Business

October 24th 2023 11:00:00 AM

This post is the second part of our post on silo mentality, how organizational silos negatively impact business efficiency, and how automation improves company operations. You can read the first part here.

Disadvantages of Business Silos

Business silos can lead to several issues for your business, including the following:

• Duplication of Effort

In many companies, a particular task needs to be done and it ends up being assigned to two different people. Both work on the task at the same time. Productivity for the company is negatively affected, and the employees involved become very frustrated.

• Lack of Alignment in the Organization

It’s important to establish clear expectations within a company. They help employees make decisions based on the company’s mission statement and values.

The issue with employees following company guidelines is that some staff follow them, and others go out on their own to make their own policies. Once employees see others using the non-standard way of doing things, they may adopt this way of performing tasks too. The company may answer questions or solve problems in several ways depending on the department or employee involved.

When communication is this poor, employees are more likely to make mistakes. These mistakes will be more difficult to correct when a large number of employees are involved. Correcting them will result in lost productivity and resources.

Benefits of Removing Silo Mentality from your Business

Information is crucial to the processes in any business. Companies with information silos make it difficult to make the most of internal processes. When information is distributed throughout all company departments, people don’t feel as though they must continue hoarding information. Transparency in processes is the order of the day and employees understand the impact of their actions.

Employees feel as though they are part of the company and that their contributions matter. Workers are more likely to share ideas with their fellow team members and managers. They feel comfortable approaching other departments when they have ideas for improving processes and improving the company.

• Productivity Jumps

When a silo mentality is reduced or eliminated, productivity improves significantly. Employees know what is expected of them each day and where to find the information they need to complete their tasks.

The easier it is to save employees’ time, the more they can improve their daily performance. Eliminating silo mentality means employees don’t have to spend extra time tracking down information and resources to complete their tasks.

• Workers Get a Sense of Community

Employees who feel they are part of a community and that their opinions matter are more likely to stay with the company for the long term. This community is built by creating good relationships between coworkers and taking the time to celebrate employee milestones, such as birthdays, hiring anniversaries, and recognizing the contributions of retiring workers.

Team leaders recognize that every employee brings their own set of experiences and talents to the table and draws on them when sharing their ideas at work. All employees’ ideas are welcome, since relying on only one point of view may ignore certain customer groups the company may wish to attract.

Eliminate Silo Mentality with the Right Tech

To stay competitive in the modern business world, it’s critical to eliminate the inefficiencies that occur when business departments don’t communicate efficiently with each other. A silo mentality must be eliminated so that data can be shared in real-time.

Marketing, sales, finance, product development, manufacturing, and customer service must be integrated to ensure the company’s success. The company’s departments can’t be integrated unless the business software is compatible. Stand-alone systems create informational silos.

How Automating your Processes Improves Company Operations

• Manufacturing and Warehousing

Automation allows operations to be efficient and accurate. When companies are tracking their data using pen and paper, they must wait for it to be uploaded to be updated. Managers who access the system may not get a true number of available quantities. Inaccurate data leads to inaccurate levels, lost sales, and broken promises to customers.

When your warehouse management and manufacturing systems are integrated with your computer system, inventory and production data are accessible to other company departments. Any changes uploaded to the system are available in real-time to your management team.

• Sales

The sales team can benefit from shared, real-time data. Mobile access to the company computer system means your sales representatives can check available stock, complete orders on-site, enter customer data into the system, and take payments from customers directly. The data is uploaded directly into the company’s computer system.

• Delivery Tracker

Modern customers expect to receive their orders quickly and efficiently. To that end, they want to either track their orders personally or be advised when they can receive their delivery. In business, this data is essential to keeping operations moving. There simply isn’t room for information silos in this situation. Automated solutions keep track of deliveries in real-time so that customers can be advised when their delivery will arrive. The software can also send out a notice when weather or traffic conditions will delay deliveries.

Scanco Automated Solutions Help Eliminate Silo Mentality

Scanco works with small, medium-sized, and enterprise companies to implement and improve automation. If your company has an issue with silo mentality, we can help it become more efficient and productive.

Sage 100 Warehouse Automation gives your warehouse team the tools they need to pick, pack, and ship orders quickly and efficiently. We offer everything it needs from barcode scanning solutions to shipping labels. Scanco solutions are designed to fit your company’s unique needs and requirements.

Automate your cycle counting and year-end inventory counts. Scanco WMS Essentials integrates seamlessly with Sage 100. Throw the pen and paper away; there is no further need for manual data entry. Your team can scan barcodes, look up items, and send counts into Sage 100 in real-time.

Sage 100 Manufacturing Automation is a solution that gives you tracking functions for Labor, Materials, Status Updates, and Finished Goods. All the data is validated in real-time and uploaded into Sage 100.

Scanco Mobile Salesperson gives your outside sales representatives the ability to present an invoice when the customer agrees to buy your product. Your salesperson can easily enter discounts, contract prices, etc., and capture your customer’s signature electronically. Reduce the time it takes from presenting the invoice and getting paid and improve your company’s cash flow.

Scanco Mobile Delivery Tracker for Sage 300 keeps track of your deliveries in real-time. Your team can access real-time delivery information on a mobile device. Company representatives can get updates and find tracking information quickly and easily. The app’s strategic route planning feature means that drivers can make changes to make their deliveries more efficiently.

Are you interested in removing the silo mentality from your company? To discover more about Scanco’s automation solutions to increase efficiency and profitability, contact us online, or call (330) 645-9959 to make an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert today.