A single source of truth (SSOT) is a platform or system that consolidates all information from various internal departments for the sake of centralizing that data. It's a commonly used term in IT, in part because it has so many advantages.

But how exactly does an SSOT work? And do you really need one?

The Idea of an SSOT

SSOTs exist as a kind of abstract concept. This source of truth is not necessarily a single system, or a single platform, though it can be. Instead, you can treat this as a kind of singularity where most, if not all your employees can find whatever they're looking for.

Consider the following scenario. You have four or five different software applications where you gather, analyze, or report on information related to your target customers. When a person on your sales team or marketing team investigates a matter, they may not know which app they should turn to. Even worse, they may find conflicting information in different apps, or fail to recognize that they've totally neglected a platform they didn't even know existed.

Now imagine that there's a singular platform that draws data from all of these apps simultaneously. Within a single dashboard, your marketing and sales team members can find anything they're looking for, and rest assured that the data isn't in conflict with any other location. This is what an SSOT looks like.

Having an SSOT is especially important in data analytics. However, it's arguably essential for any business or department that has some kind of "truth," or data, to track and understand.

The Benefits of an SSOT

What are the benefits of having an SSOT in place?

• Less complicated infrastructure. For starters, having a singular source of truth typically means less complicated infrastructure. There might be some setup demands; for example, it may take some time to coordinate integrations and make sure all of your separate pieces of software are working well together. But once your orchestrations are complete, it should be much easier to manage your tech stack.
• Lower costs. Companies spend an average of $3,500 per employee on software. That's a lot of money, even if this software is indispensable for your business. In some cases, you'll have to pay more money to get access to a single source of truth; for example, you may need to pay to build a platform from scratch or invest in developers who can facilitate better integrations. However, in many cases, adopting an SSOT means ceasing to pay for other apps. Even if that's not the case, you'll save money in other areas—as we'll see.
• Less confusion. Some business owners love having a single source of truth in place because it leads to less confusion among their employees. No longer will your employees have to try and figure out where a piece of data exists, nor will they have to try and manage access to 100 different apps with 100 different sets of login credentials.
• Fewer discrepancies. If you have data in multiple places, you'll typically run into more discrepancies. There will be pieces of missing information that are present in other systems, as well as similar pieces of information that directly contradict each other. Having a single source of truth doesn't mean you'll be free from errors, but there should be fewer discrepancies.
• Easier mistake/error spotting. Speaking of errors, they're going to be much easier to spot once you have an SSOT in place. This makes it easy to highlight areas of redundancy or contradiction, so you can resolve these matters faster.
• Productivity and time savings. Every business benefits from saving time and streamlining productivity—and an SSOT helps you do it. When everyone is very familiar with and confident in a given system, they can work with it much more quickly and reliably. At the highest scales, this can save countless hours of collective time.
• Smoother reporting and analytics. And of course, having an SSOT means your reporting and analytics will be much smoother and easier to facilitate.

Best Practices for Adopting an SSOT

What are the best practices for adopting an SSOT?

• Start with a high-level plan. Begin with a high-level vision of what you want your SSOT to be. Do you want enterprise software that can do everything? Or do you want specialized apps that integrate together?
• Document and communicate. Explain exactly how your systems work and communicate that to your employees. Without documentation and training, your processes will be less consistent.
• Identify potential issues proactively when possible. Try to anticipate issues before they arise, rather than responding to them reactively.

Not every business desperately needs an SSOT. But if you currently work with significant volumes of data, or if you have multiple competing systems, it's a good idea to see if you can centralize and streamline your operations with this useful IT concept.