An organisation’s greatest asset is often the hardest to access
By Jens Kjær Henneberg, CTO, Process Factory
Data is often described as one of a company’s most valuable assets. But for many organisations, the real challenge is not the amount of data they hold. It is their ability to access it, connect it and put it to work.
Insurance companies hold decades of insight into customers, claims, products and risk. Yet even simple cross-system analysis can become a major undertaking when critical data remains locked inside the systems where it was originally created.
According to IBM, 77% of organisations say data silos limit their ability to perform real-time analytics and make data-driven decisions, while 83% say silos slow down innovation.
The implication is clear.
Competitive advantage is no longer defined by how much data an organisation has, but by how quickly it can turn that data into insight, decisions and action.
The monolith was not built for today’s data demands
Many of the insurance industry’s core systems were built for stability, security and high transaction volumes. Over time, they have become part of the business infrastructure itself.
But they were designed for a time when data was primarily used within the system itself.
Today, the business expects something different. New partnerships need to be established faster. AI initiatives need access to data across the organisation. Digital services need to be able to operate within ecosystems and create value across companies.
This is where the limitation becomes clear.
The data exists.
But it is often difficult to put that data to work outside the systems where it was created.
In a digital business, data must be able to move freely between systems, processes and partners. This requires a different approach to integration and data sharing than the traditional monolithic architecture was designed to support.
The hidden cost of inaccessible data
When data becomes organisationally and technically inaccessible, the consequences reach far beyond the IT department.
Teams and leaders spend around 25% of their time searching for answers.
According to Atlassian’s State of Teams 2025 report, teams and leaders spend around 25% of their time searching for answers.
That is equivalent to a quarter of the working week spent on knowledge that exists within the organisation but is too difficult to find and put to use.
Data silos are not just a technical issue.
They are a productivity problem.
They slow product development, limit customer insight and weaken the quality of decision-making. And when opportunities emerge or market conditions shift, the organisation is slower to respond.
Data freedom requires an agile integration infrastructure
Many organisations focus on modernising or replacing their applications. But the greatest value often lies in what connects them: enabling data to move freely across the business.
This requires an agile integration infrastructure where data can be shared, combined and used across systems, processes and partners without turning every new requirement into a development project.
When new data sources, partnerships or AI initiatives depend on access to business data, integration capacity becomes a competitive advantage.
Integration as a Service
Many companies still treat integration as a series of individual projects rather than a long-term capability. The result is fragmented solutions, greater complexity and new silos.
The alternative is to make integration a continuous capability that supports the business as it evolves.
It gives the business a foundation for connecting new systems, data sources and partners continuously, without rebuilding the integration setup each time.
This creates the flexibility that modern business development and AI require.
The strategic question
The stratetic question is no longer: “How do we get the most out of our core system?”
The most important question is:
How quickly can we put data to work where it creates the most value?
Because the next competitive advantage will belong to the companies that can put their data to work faster and more effectively.
The answer is not necessarily new systems, but a more agile integration infrastructure that makes data available where it creates value. That is why more companies are moving towards Integration as a Service as a foundation for digital transformation and AI.
