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.

Here at Summit Business Media — parent company toClaims Magazine — we have faced our own particulardilemmas related to silos. Five print magazines make up our P&Cinsurance division: National Underwriter, P&C,Claims Magazine, American Agent and Broker,Tech Decisions, and Florida Underwriter.Together, these publications take a closer look at differentaspects of the P&C industry, each providing a silo ofinformation that targets a specific audience or region.

And it works, at least in print. In today's web-savvy world,though, this approach's flaws become evident. With more powerfulsearch tools and interactive research capabilities expanding everyday, having each magazine maintain its own web site and news endedup creating barriers to information and duplicative reporting.Making it difficult for readers to find information is not whatdrives the editorial teams for each publication; in fact, it'squite the opposite.

So for the last several months, we've been tearing down thevirtual walls, right down to the silicon studs. We've been workingto combine all five magazine web sites into one portal that catersto all audiences in the P&C sector in one location. Thus,PropertyCasualty360.com was born.

When it officially launches next month, PropertyCasualty360.comwill be an all-inclusive source for P&C news, analysis, trends,and industry activity. It will enable professionals at all levelsof the industry to understand and react to the unique marketchallenges they face. Eventually, the site will combine theestablished knowledge resources and news reporting capabilitiesfrom the experts at each magazine with proprietary market data andrelevant content aggregated from across the web to create onedistinct and vital information source for all P&Cprofessionals.

As part of this transition, though, it's time for me to saygoodbye to Claims readers as I move forward to take thereins of PropertyCasualty360.com. I leave you in the capable handsof the magazine's new editor in chief, Christina Bramlet, whom manyof you have gotten to know in her previous role as senior editor.I'm confident she will continue to bring her fresh ideas andexcellent journalistic capabilities to the print magazine and thenew portal site through 2011 and beyond.

Even though I'm leaving, remember that I'm not going far. I'llbe making sure those silo walls stay down, contributing content,and working to make PropertyCasualty360.com a dynamic,information-driven site that continues to help you and all of theother P&C professionals stay informed and educated in new anddynamic ways. Come along for the ride, and be sure to stay in touchwith me at [email protected].