Your organization is unique for a variety of reasons, but you face many of the same issues as your competitors. One major problem many manufacturing companies face is dealing with organizational silos built up over time and with inefficient processes. Breaking down the silos can be an integral part of your companies digital transformation.
Breaking down these silos can help your company grow by not only making your teams lives easier but also by accelerating sales and enhancing the customer experience. How is it possible to tear down the old silos and build something new? Discover how these tips can lead to an efficient process, enhanced customer experience and happier employees:
Change starts at the top- When the issues are realized and it’s time to start correcting the problem, it’s important to get everyone going in the same direction. This starts with senior leadership accounting for the needs of every employee from oldest to newest. How will a shift affect everyone? Questions like this are hard to answer at the beginning of a process but are important ones to ask.
Hold everyone accountable-This also includes leaders getting on board with the changes by keeping each other accountable when communication silos begin. For example, if your engineering leader and sales leader aren’t in constant communications how can you expect their employees to break the trend and talk freely on needs and wants? This is the most important part of breaking down silos that may have existed for years, recognizing the potential business impacts to break the silos.
Focus on cross-team collaboration- Finding time for your teams to interact and collaborate is a great way to bring everyone together for the collective goal. Joint meetings and lunch-and-learns are just two examples of activities that can help teams achieve operational excellence by teaming up instead of isolating into their specific teams.
Implementing tools for collaboration such as messaging systems like Microsoft Teams or Slack in addition to emails can offer an informal way to get files and engagement with one another. The more different teams interact with each other the more collaboration will happen while also building trust amongst one another.
Use the right tools- Being able to collaborate quickly and easily is a great way to put everyone on the same page at all times. Using the right cloud-based collaborations can make it easier than ever to not only eliminate issues within your team but also offers a great way to enhance your customer experience, which makes it a win-win for your company’s goals. Data can also be easily managed across CRM, ERP and PLM platforms. Tools such as a CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) allow for your sales team to have a centralized area for data instead of scattered across programs and excel sheets. This tool enables your teams to be nimbler in communication with one another and also when they are in sales or engineering meetings.
Connecting your teams through the data can allow for real-time insights into what is working and what isn’t working. Allowing the data to shape how your teams work together and make smarter decisions. Having the right tools can be half the battle when it comes to creating a collaborative and innovative company culture.
Set and measure the goal– Whether it’s accelerating sales, improving operational efficiency or enhancing the customer experience- setting goals is key to successful digital transformations. Measuring goals are just as important, seeing what worked and what didn’t work will help grow your company and smash the silo walls that have been built up over the years.
If your company is facing these unique issues and want to knock down the silos discover how Tacton enables your company to ditch the inefficiencies and focus on what you do best. Check out how we help our longtime partner Swisslog enhance their customer experience daily.