I've had a lot of discussions about silos in my six years withClaims — the metaphorical business ones, not thefree-standing farm versions. Typically, a “silo” is loosely definedas a unit of a company that focuses on a specific, self-containedgoal with little interaction with the other aspects of a company'sfunction.

The discussion about silos really revolves around issues relatedto communication. In other words, silos can be great for addressingand achieving specific goals, but the risk is that tunnel visioncreeps in, creating blind spots to other aspects of a company'soverall strategy.

In insurance, this is perhaps most obvious in the silos thatcrop up between claims and underwriting. When these two units ceaseto communicate, successes and best practices are never shared, andfailures are never used to enhance the learning process. When theycommunicate effectively, however, intelligence is shared on riskfactors and exposures, to the betterment of the company and thestaffs involved.