Big Silo: The Myth of the All-In-One Data Solution

Apr 15

You’ve heard the pitch.

“Our platform does it all—email marketing, CRM, donation processing, analytics, user portals, fulfillment, storytelling, social media integrations, mobile apps, and more!”

It sounds glorious. It’s also almost never true.

The One Big Silo That Does Everything (and Nothing Well)

At Congruity Works, we’ve seen a lot of clients stuck inside what we call the “big silo.” A vendor convinced them that one software platform would solve all their problems—and maybe it did, for a while.

But the big silo eventually lives up to its name. That same all-in-one platform now holds your data hostage. It can’t flex to your new engagement model. Or it makes your staff wait six months for a new feature because only the vendor can change it. Or worse, it just can’t do what you need.

We once worked with a client who had been sold a one size fits all membership system that was supposed to provide a donor database, membership management, a personalized website experience, ecommerce, advertising, payments and advanced accounting all in one package. However, it quickly became clear that anything outside of the specific use case their product was designed for was going to either be impossible to accommodate or very expensive to implement.

One-size-fits-all quickly becomes one-size-fits-none.

The Middle Tier Problem

If you’re a mid-sized nonprofit, media org, or membership-based organization, you probably live in what we call the middle tier. This may be you if you find your system is:

Too complex for spreadsheets and Zapier hacks
Too unique for out-of-the-box solutions
Too cash-conscious to build your own solution from scratch

You need flexibility. You need tools that talk to each other. And most importantly, you need a data infrastructure that reflects how your people actually work—not how a software company thinks they should work.

Enter: Data Unification with a Connection Layer

Instead of trying to shove everything into one opinionated platform, we help orgs build something different: a connection layer.

Think of it as a translator, orchestrator, and peacekeeper for your tech stack.

Want Mailchimp to talk to Salesforce?
Need your donation data to sync in real time with your CRM?
Trying to give your members a single login to manage payments, preferences, and subscriptions?

The connection layer is what makes that possible. And when you own it, you own the choreography between your systems. You're not locked into a vendor's roadmap or rate card.

You're free to dream, experiment, iterate.

Automation With Empathy

We’re not just talking about APIs here. The connection layer also solves for a deeper problem: how to automate without losing the human touch.

When our client gave up on the “one size fits all” membership software, we started by listening carefully to their needs. Then we worked with them to get the best in class systems they needed and connect the different platforms so that each system had the right level of automation and the data it needed in its context.

We’ve built systems where:

Duplicate donations are flagged before the member complains
Staff are notified when something needs a manual check-in
Segments update in real-time across email, SMS, and donor platforms
A/B testing can happen across channels, not just within one tool

Automation isn’t about replacing people. It’s about freeing them up to do the work that matters most—listening, storytelling, responding, building relationships.

What You Need Is Imagination Infrastructure

Every platform has its own language and logic. Your Mailchimp data doesn’t look like your Salesforce data. Your event system doesn’t talk natively to your CRM. And the longer that goes on, the harder it is to ask big questions like:

Who are our most valuable members?
Where are we losing people in the funnel?
Which messages actually move people to act?

A good connection layer gives you the imaginative space to ask better questions—because your systems are no longer holding your curiosity hostage.

The Future Is Interoperable

We live in a world of gardens. Each platform has its own strengths—beautiful flowers, rich vegetables, specialized tools. The trick isn’t to bulldoze the gardens.

It’s to build smarter gates.

So let go of the myth of the all-in-one. You don’t need one big system to rule them all. You need systems that speak to each other—and a layer of intelligence that helps you understand what they’re saying.

Let’s Talk:

What’s the biggest frustration you’ve had with an all-in-one system? And what kind of flexibility would change the game for your team?

Note: ChatGPT was used in the editing of this article.

Tim Nafziger