Traditional Information Sharing

Today, businesses must share information amongst their departments and teams quickly. How do these information shares happen? In many organizations departments assume their own unique identities and can become isolated from others, so that the company appears to have many individual silos, each independent of the other.

In a setting like this, an information request is likely to bubble up to the Director of Department A, who will then send a message to the Director of Department B, from which the request trickles down to someone who can compile the information needed. Once the information has been found, the process reverses until it lands in the hands of the original requestor. 

There are countless ways this method can be considered inefficient. It can take a long time and involves too many people. Worse still, when the information finally makes its way to the requestor, there is a reasonable chance it is not exactly what was originally asked for. Details may have been lost or unnecessarily added during the many stops along the way.

This leads to lost or wasted time and acts as a hindrance to high performance. 

Introducing the Hub and Spoke Method

Perhaps there is a better way. The Hub and Spoke Method of information sharing, particularly with regard to digital analytics, can accelerate and standardize the way teams send and access information. In it, departments request information from a central place - the hub - which formats the request and retrieves the necessary data on the requester’s behalf (Polarizing, 2018). 

A model such as this has several benefits, such as

There are other benefits to the hub and spoke model as well. By its very existence single-department silos begin to morph into a connected part of the whole. This creates a far more unified approach and enables departments to share and contribute to the company’s strategic vision. Further still, it can encourage automation. 

Automating Tasks and Addressing Stakeholders’ Needs

Subject matter experts operating in the hub can and should make a point to understand the unique needs of organizational departments. While departments must regularly share information, it is likely they will apply knowledge differently. By understanding what information stakeholders must have and where it can be found, coalition and delivery of such data can be automated, significantly reducing time investment and thus demonstrating a measurable savings in company resources.

Information from a central hub also can help keep stakeholders informed on company direction and progress. Through regular updates each department can begin to understand trends and, over time, position itself to be agile and responsive to the company as a whole (Morley, n.d.).

The Role of the Digital Analyst

Digital Analysts provide an important function when acting inside the hub portion of this model. To be effective they must have an understanding of both the strategic direction of the company and the tactical processes of its departments. Such knowledge translates into increased efficiency: Understanding and delivering information with speed and precision is what propels the business forward.