In most business processes, something magical happens when all relevant information is stored in one place and made accessible to people involved in the Business Process!
Let's assume you are a country, processing applications for passports for your citizens. It is likely that you have one system for processing incoming applications, another system with the law enforcement authorities or Homeland Security for checking your background, another likely system that produces the passports and mails them out. Centralizing all this information in one place (made accessible easily would even give the illusion that it is all in one place, you don't need to physically have them all in one server!), helps you improve this business process in immense ways! Instead of doing steps in a sequential way, you can probably squish multiple steps together and have one person do it all, instead of putting it in a serial assembly line format.
Let's consider an Auto Insurance company handling accident claims. There is the policy system that gives you information about the insured, coverage limits, etc. Then there are the local Insurance agents systems that may contain information about the accident, damage estimates, repair estimates, etc. Then there are the third-party repair shops that do the repair. It may involve rental car company systems if you provide a replacement car while the repair is being done. Just having all this information in one place makes the claims process and the repair process go faster! I have direct experience in this arena. The paperwork and the process takes all of the two weeks, typically it takes to get your car repaired, and only two days for the actual repair! 80% of the time is wasted waiting for information rather than actual repair work which is the only value-adding work for the insured.
Let's say you order something online like a pair of jeans. It may involve the ordering system, third-party systems if say, some custom tailoring like adjustments are needed, a third-party drop shipper if it ships from some nearby location! Having all this information in one place will help the vendor fulfill orders quickly or even tell you where your order is, if it is getting delayed.
You can think of thousands of other cases where simply having the information in one central place helps implement process improvement.
Information centralization is not considered usually by Lean or Six Sigma Process Improvement people since IT may not be their bailiwick usually. It is a logical first place to look into if you want to get quick, big returns!
Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit - William Pollard
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