Summary

A connected enterprise is crucial to dodge inefficiencies and prevent revenue loss, ensuring survival in disruptions. Success stories show how embracing connectedness revolutionizes operations, enhancing decision-making and customer service. But how can we shatter our silos to achieve a truly connected enterprise?

Which department in your company plays the most important role? As business leaders, we know that every department, from sales to IT, plays a significant role in achieving our business objectives, and the essence of success lies in effective collaboration. Without it, customer issues become a game of hot potato, valuable information is often repeated, and unnecessary administrative tasks consume employee efforts. This issue becomes even more pronounced when dealing with multiple external partners.

An insightful Harvard study1 asked leaders about their primary focus in workplace relationships. Many pointed to vertical, hierarchical connections – the immediate up and down lines in their own departments. However, the narrative shifted when questioned about the relationships that deliver the most value to customers.

Modern business growth and innovation are found in collaborative efforts across different elements – involving people, processes, data, and technology. Essentially, customers are seeking comprehensive one-stop solutions that require a cohesive, horizontally integrated approach across the enterprise – a connected enterprise.

In this article, we will cut through the jargon and get straight into what this means for businesses, what’s holding them back, and outline practical steps to overcome these obstacles.

The Cost of Siloes

What does it look like when your company is not connected? In manufacturing, this might look like a production line churning out products without any clue about changing market demands. In supply chains, it’s like dominoes – one issue, like a customs delay, and suddenly everything’s falling apart.

Businesses pour time and money into tech to get ahead. They pick up point solutions and tools that are great for one task or department but don’t integrate well with other tools or systems. These tools offer quick wins but cannot scale as the company grows.

This piecemeal approach can backfire and water down the benefits when outdated processes are fixed with new technologies. Businesses end up feeling let down –.That’s it after all that work and money? Worse, every new point solution and piecemeal approach to digital transformation solves some problems but creates others in the larger scheme of things – Organizational siloes.

Companies lose up to 30% of their revenues2 just from the inefficiencies stemming from these siloes. Imagine employees spending nearly 12 hours a week3 just juggling and rekeying information from disparate systems. Shockingly, about 70% of businesses4 don’t fully achieve their digital dreams, capturing only 30% of what they hoped for.

So why aren’t we addressing these silos more directly? On the surface, it seems more straightforward, but underneath lies a whole tangle of point solutions and dated processes.

The existing legacy systems and targeted solutions work well independently. Overhauling these reliable systems is a daunting task, both financially and operationally – a significant risk. But, if we look closely, the systems themselves aren’t the main issue; the issue is their inability to communicate, integrate, scale, or pave the way for straight-through automation.

So, what we really need is a one-stop platform, a single source of truth where everything – from every role, function, and process within and beyond the company – ties together.

But can we really pull this off, or is it too much to aim for?

Bridging Old and New with a Unified Tech Platform

Take a look at giants like Amazon. From e-commerce to cloud services, they’re everywhere, excelling with a unified, connected way of working. They see the big picture, bringing varied aspects under one roof with a connected mindset. They use AI platforms that sit on top of old and new tech, helping these different functions collaborate with each other. This approach gathers scattered data and transforms it into clear, actionable insights. This way, everyone in the business can see the whole picture, make better decisions, and work from the same page. A connected enterprise brings a range of other benefits, too.

Unlocking Efficiencies at Scale

Consider the case of one of the world’s largest shipping companies, handling up to 10,000 bookings daily. Their system was messy – 40% of bookings came in with incomplete information, and their team had to jump between 10 different systems and offline inventories to keep the show going.

Connecting all these systems under one platform turned things around for them: their work got 53% faster, half of the bookings were straight-through processed and didn’t need any manual input, and they saved $2.4 million a year. That’s the power of unlocking efficiencies at scale in a connected business.

Augmenting Human Potential

But the story doesn’t end there. Think of the time and effort saved. With half the bookings now automated, employees can spend time on things that matter, like decision-making or customer engagement. Leslie Wilcocks, a professor specializing in technology, calls this “taking the robot out of the human.”

And it gets better. The AI platform, through rule-based automation, initially managed 50% straight-through processing. The other 50% – more complex cases – still needed human input. Over time, the system will learn and improve, steadily increasing its automation rate and confidence in handling bookings.

But, this idea of working smoothly together isn’t just for inside a company. It’s also about how companies work with others, like suppliers and partners. What does that look like?

Harnessing a Connected Ecosystem

Imagine a digital marketplace where companies work together seamlessly. It’s not just a dream; it’s been happening for years. Consider the ATM network: anyone can withdraw cash from any bank’s machine, not just their own bank. That’s a simple, shared system that works for everyone, and the customer focus is clear.

This concept is already reshaping industries. A Fortune 500 sportswear brand, during the pandemic, faced logistical challenges that prevented them from stocking retailers, hitting their revenues hard. Their breakthrough? Creating a connected network linking their operations, retail partners, and shipping providers. This shift meant direct-to-consumer shipping, avoiding out-of-stock scenarios and double handling, all through a touchless, fully automated system. Every participant had complete visibility and tracking. This is what a connected way of working can achieve.