team3:knowledge management

7/30/2019 Team3:Knowledge Management

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Knowledge

Management @

Accenture

Team 3

Katia Arrus Jonathan Hayes

Cristian Orellana Jay Bashucky

Suresh Jayaraman


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Agenda

Case Introduction

Theoretical Background of KM

Companys Background

Knowledge Management @ Accenture

Strategy and SWOT Analysis

Knowledge Management Technology

Main issues

Analysis and Recommendations

Actual Implementation


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Case Introduction

Accenture had a long history of focusing on

Knowledge Management (KM)

Accenture faced budget cutting and headcount

reductions

More demand for KM

Preparing the launch of the Knowledge Exchange

T. Barfield (KM lead) needed to provide

recommendations for future direction


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What is Knowledge Management?

KM comprises a range of practices used by

organizations to identify, create and distribute

knowledge.

Knowledge consists of:

personal knowledge and experience

published material

specific material


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Knowledge Management

A form of expertise management which draws

out tacit knowledge making it accessible for

specific purposes to improve the performance of

organizations (Broadbent, 1997)

It must involve capturing the internal knowledge

generated by a firm its best thinking onproducts, customers, competitors, and

processesand sharing it. (DiMattia et. al,

1997)


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Why is KM important?

Retention of knowledge

Helps organizations repeat success and prevent

mistakes

In an environment in which the information is

widely available, the successful players are theones that properly leverage that asset


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KM - IT tools

E-Mail, Internet

Intranet

Document Management Workflow/Groupware

Imaging

Information retrieval systems Electronic publishing systems

Data Warehousing and Data Mining


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Company Background

Originated as a feasibility study for General

Electric in 1953

Arthur Andersen implemented automatingpayroll processing at GE

Formed as Anderson Consulting in 1989

Accenture went public in 2001


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Company Background

Won 2006 MAKE Award

Other winners included: Apple, Google,

Microsoft, PWC Employees 100,000 (2005), 178,000 (2008)

Consolidated in 47 countries with headquarterslocation

In 2004 ROI was ranked first on the S&P 500 Accentures clients include 91 of the Fortune

Global 100 and more than two thirds of theFortune Global 500


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Company Background-Core Values

Stewardship

Best People

Client Value Creation

One Global Network

Respect for the Individual

Integrity


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Economic Conditions

In 2002, the economy was in a downturn

Resulted in significant budget pressure on KM

group Many senior managers left; 30% of all KM

managers left or were laid off

Pressure to offshore to reduce costs (India and

Philippines) Focus on short term as opposed to long term


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Knowledge Management @

Accenture Strong focus on Knowledge Management

Formal KM strategy adopted in 1990

By mid 90s, thousands of knowledgerepositories had been built using Lotus Notes

KM system becoming inefficient


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Strategy SessionA strategy session was held in 2004

Goal was to determine the future of KM atAccenture

Knowledge Management Strategy:Drive value from knowledge to enhance

revenue, reduce cost, and foster innovation

Knowledge Management Vision:To create a world class knowledge-sharing

culture and environment that contributes toAccentures success


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Knowledge Management

Framework


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SWOT Strengths

Successful company with a globalpresence

Existing enablers: Knowledge Exchange,myLearning, Accenture methodology

Inherent belief in relevancy of KM

Corporate support for KM from CEO toupper and mid level management

Historical success of KM at Accenture


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SWOT - Weaknesses

Unorganized tools and technologies in the

KM infrastructure

Difficult to share and access information

Lack of ownership in KM area

Failing to capture knowledge as

employees leave the company


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SWOT - Opportunities

Increased employee retention and jobsatisfaction

Decreased knowledge drain Great tool for new employees

Further industry leadership position on KM

Turn knowledge into Intellectual Capital Business Opportunities


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SWOT - Threats

Tough economic environment

Need to demonstrate ROI

Ineffectively applied capital

Short project life cycles


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KM Current Technology

Implemented Lotus Notes across the

organization

Every Business unit has their own database

Each unit was responsible for managing and

updating their content

Late 90s Web-based access was enabled


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Issues with Lotus Notes Current KM

Lack of usability Less User friendly

Lack of awareness of system capabilitiesand content

Inefficient search process Lead toduplication of documents

Lack of consistency in documenttemplates

Lack of clear governance structure:responsibility for the documents was notclearly defined


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Procedures were not in place for managingthe system (content / documents. No recordsretention: archival process inconsistent and

very manual)

Every business unit created their own

portals, and by the end of 2003, severaldisparate systems / databases were created

Cost of maintenance was increasing

Issues with Lotus Notes Current KM


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New KM Technology

New system will provide consistency acrossorganization and will save time and money

for managing the system.

New Architecture will eliminate the

decentralized Lotus notes environment.

The new architecture is based on MS

Sharepoint technology.


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Accenture Portal

Knowledge & Resources channel

Search Browse Collaborate

Managed topic pages Intention pages

Email

Single centralized

knowledge content

store (from end

user perspective)

Content from other

sources

(myLearning,

MethodologyFinder,

Marketing

Credentials, etc.)

New Architecture


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New KM Technology

Will Address specific business goals

Simple End-User experience

Improve Search and Browse FeaturesConcept of Metadata

Centralize development and operations of theAccenture Knowledge and Simplify contentmanagement

Single point of entry - A Web Portal


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Expected outcomes of the new

KE system Major enhancements

Enhanced search results

Elimination of content duplication (caused bydecentralized applications)

Improved visibility to innovations across all groups

Increased usability (because of a consistent userexperience)

Consistent archival process (that is nolonger manual intensive)


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Challenges in implementing this

system A strategy need to be developed to address

change management

Need to address cultural barriers Converting

tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge

Design a system to match what users want.

Make them part of the implementation team


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Alternatives and Considerations

Continue with improved Lotus Notes

Adopt the new Knowledge Exchange

Do Nothing


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Decentralized portals for different groups

within the organizationWorks well, but could have room for

improvement

Can be confusing and may potentially lead tomiscommunication and duplication of work


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Needed to centralize information

Important to have clear governance structurefor new KM

End- user strategy is key

Better organization of knowledge leads to

higher job satisfaction and less time spenttraining


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Do Nothing

Lose knowledge

System may become unmanageable

No investment required


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Do Nothing

Other?

What would you do?


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Team Three Recommendation

Go to new KM structure


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Implementation Big Picture

Ensure upper management is on board

with KM goals

Create a team with stakeholders from keyareas

Implement to specific pockets of

organization first on a trial basis, thenapply to organization


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Implementation - Specifics

Edit existing content to ensure a proper

base

Ensure template usage for content

Ensure proper labelling (typology) is

followed: want general descriptions not

jargon Support entire cycle, from proposal to

delivery


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What happened

Re-architecture of system using MS and

Avanade (MS supplier) products and

processes Created a team to handle the project

Submit using a standardized template

Easy access to KM from company portal

Created a download cart; once done

shopping, files are zipped and

downloaded


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What happened

Manually updated files: from 200k to 80k

Went from 40 servers to 10

Piloted to 1000 users before entire

company

Kept legacy system for 90 days, then

decommissioned

Search function improved to include

source categories and improved deep

searches


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Questions

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