Wouldn't the investigation into E. coli have been more fruitful if information were more centralized? Isn't it already decentralized, wasn't that the problem?
If the required information _did_ exist but wasn't accessible, then you are right in saying that the non-centralization of the data is a problem. I guess the problem then lies in the fact that information is siloed in different businesses. A solution to this could be the concept of federation, where all such businesses use an agreed-upon protocol/platform, but all can use the client of their choice.
Can we push our imaginations further though? We are still thinking about the resources being distributed by businesses, for example. What about communes, central planning or automation, minus private enterprise altogether?