Information Silo - Information Silo Technologies

Information Silo Technologies

In Information Technology, information silos are a type of disparate system most often associated with information building and reporting as opposed to transactional data systems. Many organizations employ middleware or Extract, Transform, Load (ETL), or data integration by design to integrate these information silos. While effective for addressing specific needs, middleware and ETL methods are considered stopgap measures because they must be applied on a case-by-case basis and cannot achieve business process interoperability among all disparate management systems worldwide. Data integration by design is currently the only methodology available that effectively converts existing disparate data systems into integrated data systems.

Silo technologies restrict the capabilities of the applications which manage much of the world's structured information. Databases are the time-tested way of storing, using and safeguarding vital enterprise business procedures and data. Most of every organization's computerized information is controlled by database applications, including all the "back end" data on the web. While many applications are very capable, even the most sophisticated are built with silos in mind, all but assuring that the business procedures and data in one maker's system will be unable to interact with similar—or even identical―business procedures and data in another maker's system. The vast number of incompatible database applications in use perpetuates the existence of silos, making it impossible for run-the-business software to take full advantage of the Internet.