The Cost of Disconnect: How IT Silos Slow Innovation and Erode Trust by Elkhan Shabanov

Elkhan Shabanov, CEO of Digicode Americas, brings over 20 years of experience to the forefront of IT outsourcing, global team coordination, and leadership strategies. Over the years, he’s seen a consistent pattern emerge: as companies scale, IT often culturally drifts from the rest of the business: quietly and dangerously. What starts as a technical focus can lead to functional isolation, leaving innovation stifled and trust eroded. In this article, he unpacks why this happens, how to spot it early, and why addressing it is mission-critical for any growth-focused organization.

When Tech Becomes Its Own Ecosystem

You don’t notice it at first. The engineers are productive. Systems are humming. Backlogs are managed. However, somewhere along the way, IT stops being part of the business; it becomes a parallel universe.

Different language. Different objectives. Different rhythm.

What starts as operational efficiency can quietly become cultural insulation. And the cost of that is missed opportunity, reputational damage, and lost velocity.

How Silos Form (and Why It’s Not Always Malicious)

In early-stage companies, collaboration happens naturally. Everyone’s in the same room. Feedback loops are tight. There’s no “tech vs. business” dynamic, just problem-solving.

But as companies grow, structure creeps in. Departments formalize. Responsibilities fragment. Soon, IT will no longer be looped in early. They’re brought in at the tail end – to execute, not to influence. That’s the first fracture.

Over time, IT teams begin to optimize for what they can control: clean code, stable infrastructure, and system uptime. Meanwhile, the business side is running fast, chasing growth metrics, customer feedback, or time-to-market pressures. Without deliberate alignment, the two paths diverge.

The result? An “island effect”, where IT begins to function like a sovereign entity rather than a strategic collaborator.

Real-World Signs You’re Already Drifting

These are the red flags we’ve seen again and again across clients:

• “Can’t get through to tech” becomes a common complaint.
  
• Engineering updates are buried in Jira: not tied to customer outcomes.
  
• Project timelines balloon because of “handoffs” no one owns.
  
• IT leaders feel left out of roadmap decisions.
  
• The business team starts treating IT like a blocker, not a builder.

These aren’t just communication gaps, but cultural indicators as well. They signal that IT is drifting from shared purpose and starting to operate by its own rules.

Why This Disconnect Hurts Business Performance

Siloed IT teams, obviously, frustrate internal stakeholders and slow the entire business.

• Innovation stalls. Brilliant developers can’t contribute to strategic ideation if they’re looped in too late. And business teams lose momentum when implementation feels like a black box.
  
• Trust erodes. If one side sees the other as a bottleneck, cooperation fades. Soon, you’re solving internal issues instead of customer needs.
  
• Talent walks. High-performing engineers want context. Purpose. A seat at the table. If they’re reduced to ticket-takers, you lose them: first emotionally, then physically.
  
• Reputation suffers. Once IT is labeled as “the problem,” that stigma sticks. It’s harder to get buy-in, harder to justify investments, and harder to move fast when it counts.
  

The Deeper Cost: Lost Opportunity

At Digicode, we’ve worked with scaling businesses that didn’t realize how much potential was trapped in their organizational design. A brilliant idea stalled because IT wasn’t in the room. A market shift was missed because the feedback loop was too slow. These are costly misses: measured not just in dollars, but in momentum.

And in today’s economy, where speed, agility, and innovation define winners, that lag is the difference between an industry leader and an afterthought.

Summing Up: A Disconnect That Can Be Repaired

The good news? This cultural drift isn’t irreversible. But it won’t be fixed by another meeting or a reorg. It requires leadership that’s willing to treat IT not just as a function, but as a foundational part of the business.

In our experience, companies that thrive are those that build bridges, not walls. 

If you’re seeing the signs, it’s time to act. Because every day your teams operate on different wavelengths is a day you’re not moving at full speed.