This blog post is part of a 4-part series on the future of digital innovation inspired by the 4th Public Sector Innovation Conference* held on the 8th March 2022 in London. The conference looked at the core principles of rapid digital transformation and adoption in the public sector, including interoperability, platforms, data, and emerging technologies. These blog posts are based on the notes I took during the event. Follow the hyperlinks below to explore specific themes:
Introductory post: what's the future of digital innovation? (link here)
Theme 1: We need to take care of the future through responsible innovation. (link here)
Theme 2: We need to break down organisational silos and promote joined-up thinking (this post).
Theme 3: Digital transformation requires initiating and embedding organisational culture change (link here).
Organisational silos and digital innovation
One key theme in the discussions at the 4th Public Sector Innovation Conference was the need to move beyond silos and challenge the status quo, with the aim of bringing different actors together to promote shared learning, joined-up thinking, and collaboration.
Organisational silos refer to divisions that operate independently from one another (e.g., working in their own ‘bubble’) and avoid communicating with one another. The Silo Mentality is defined as a reluctance to share information with employees of different divisions in the same company, which can reduce the organisation’s efficiency and even damage its culture. Within organisations, particular teams can operate in silos due to a lack of understanding of how it fits into the bigger picture (e.g., organisational goals). Silos can also be sectoral (e.g., between organisations in a sector) and cross-sectoral (between different sectors), creating barriers to knowledge transfer, partnerships, and collaboration.
Organisational silos can create barriers for digital innovation by creating divisions that
operate independently and avoid sharing information, skills, expertise, data, software, and so forth. For example, data silos can exist when data held by one group (e.g., a team or department) is not accessible by other groups in the same organisation. This can create problems if data is difficult to find, is poor quality, does not make sense, is incompatible with other datasets across the organisation, etc. Siloed data can also make it difficult for managers to get a sense of the 'bigger picture' and a holistic view of their organisation's data (e.g., creating problems for strategy and governance). Silos can be rooted in an organisation's culture, which could require a culture shift to enact change in the long-term (this is discussed in the next post in this series: digital transformation requires initiating and embedding organisational culture change).
The future of digital innovation must involve working to break down silos within organisations and between (and across) sectors, promoting joined-up thinking and collaboration. It’s important to start with a shared language and understanding (what does it mean? What does it require? What does ‘best practice’ look like?), shared skills (what is required? What are the skill gaps and how can we overcome them?), sharing platforms and data (what silos exist? How do they impact the team/organisation? How can we solve them while improving trust, transparency, and efficiency?), and so forth.
In a ‘fireside chat’ discussion on platforms and interoperability between Charlie Boundy (Head of Data Science at DWP) and Yatin Mahandru (Head of Public Sector at Cognizant), both speakers reflected on the importance of not operating in risk-adverse silos and maintaining this momentum going forward. One key issue was adopting best practice standards for digital innovation across different organisations in the public sector. It is important to bring together different organisations (of different sizes), with different skills, expertise, and experiences across the sector, as well as embracing the potential for learning and collaboration with other sectors.
‘If we lose pace, if we start moving back into risk adverse silos, we’re in real trouble’ - Charlie Boundy (Head of Data Science at DWP).
Some of these issues were echoed in a panel discussion on the use of data to drive innovation including Robin Sutara (CDO Microsoft UK), Svetlana Videnova (Technology Director, Data & AI, TPXimpact), Paul Maltby (CDO, DLUHC), and Alan Brown (Professor of Digital Economy, University of Exeter). The panellists emphasised the need to pull together across departments and between organisations, move away from a silo-based approach, and create a movement of people who think this way – working hard to overcome the ‘status quo’. This should involve action from the bottom-up as well as top-down approaches.
Instead of operating in silos, the future of digital innovation requires cross-collaboration between public, private, academic, and third sectors. We are all part of society, so need to
come together to tackle key issues for a better future.
Barriers to digital innovation can include organisational silos which create barriers for sharing skills, data, technology, and so forth. In the public sector, it is essential that government departments, agencies, and public bodies overcome siloes and come together over common issues. The next blog post (link here) in this 4-part series on digital innovation explores one way that organisational silos can be overcome – by initiating and embedding an organisational culture change.
*While these posts are inspired by the discussions at this conference, they are my personal interpretation of key themes and are not necessarily reflective of the event as a whole. I have also supported the points made by referencing additional sources and added my own reflections.