Download Team #3 Knowledge Management at Accenture

Knowledge
Management @
Accenture
Team 3
Katia Arrus
Cristian Orellana
Suresh Jayaraman
Jonathan Hayes
Jay Bashucky
Agenda
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Case Introduction
Theoretical Background of KM
Company’s Background
Knowledge Management @ Accenture
Strategy and SWOT Analysis
Knowledge Management Technology
Main issues
Analysis and Recommendations
Actual Implementation
Case Introduction
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Accenture had a long history of focusing on
Knowledge Management (KM)
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Accenture faced budget cutting and headcount
reductions
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More demand for KM
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Preparing the launch of the Knowledge Exchange
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T. Barfield (KM lead) needed to provide
recommendations for future direction
What is Knowledge Management?
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KM comprises a range of practices used by
organizations to identify, create and distribute
knowledge.
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Knowledge consists of:
 personal knowledge and experience
 published material
 specific material
Knowledge Management
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“A form of expertise management which draws
out tacit knowledge making it accessible for
specific purposes to improve the performance of
organizations” (Broadbent, 1997)
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It must involve capturing the internal knowledge
generated by a firm – its best thinking on
products, customers, competitors, and
processes – and sharing it.” (DiMattia et. al,
1997)
Why is KM important?
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Retention of knowledge
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Helps organizations repeat success and prevent
mistakes
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In an environment in which the information is
widely available, the successful players are the
ones that properly leverage that asset
KM - IT tools
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E-Mail, Internet
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Intranet
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Document Management
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Workflow/Groupware
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Imaging
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Information retrieval systems
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Electronic publishing systems
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Data Warehousing and Data Mining
Company Background
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Originated as a feasibility study for General
Electric in 1953
Arthur Andersen implemented automating
payroll processing at GE
Formed as Anderson Consulting in 1989
Accenture went public in 2001
Company Background
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Won 2006 MAKE Award
Other winners included: Apple, Google,
Microsoft, PWC
Employees 100,000 (2005), 178,000 (2008)
Consolidated in 47 countries with headquarters
location
In 2004 ROI was ranked first on the S&P 500
Accenture’s clients include 91 of the Fortune
Global 100 and more than two thirds of the
Fortune Global 500
Company Background-Core Values
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Stewardship
Best People
Client Value Creation
One Global Network
Respect for the Individual
Integrity
Economic Conditions
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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
Knowledge Management @
Accenture
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Strong focus on Knowledge Management
Formal KM strategy adopted in 1990
By mid 90’s, thousands of knowledge
repositories had been built using Lotus Notes
KM system becoming inefficient
Strategy Session
A strategy session was held in 2004
 Goal was to determine the future of KM at
Accenture
 Knowledge Management Strategy:
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 “Drive
value from knowledge to enhance
revenue, reduce cost, and foster innovation”
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Knowledge Management Vision:
 “To
create a world class knowledge-sharing
culture and environment that contributes to
Accenture’s success”
Knowledge Management
Framework
SWOT – Strengths
Successful company with a global
presence
 Existing enablers: Knowledge Exchange,
myLearning, Accenture methodology
 Inherent belief in relevancy of KM
 Corporate support for KM from CEO to
upper 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 job
satisfaction
 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
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Implemented Lotus Notes across the
organization
 Every
Business unit has their own database
 Each unit was responsible for managing and
updating their content
 Late 90’s Web-based access was enabled
Issues with Lotus Notes – Current KM
Lack of usability – Less User friendly
 Lack of awareness of system capabilities
and content
 Inefficient search process – Lead to
duplication of documents
 Lack of consistency in document
templates
 Lack of clear governance structure:
responsibility for the documents was not
clearly defined
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Issues with Lotus Notes – Current KM
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Procedures were not in place for managing
the system (content / documents. No records
retention: archival process inconsistent and
very manual)
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Every business unit created their own
portals, and by the end of 2003, several
disparate systems / databases were created
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Cost of maintenance was increasing
New KM Technology
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New system will provide consistency across
organization and will save time and money
for managing the system.
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New Architecture will eliminate the
decentralized Lotus notes environment.
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The new architecture is based on MS –
Sharepoint technology.
New Architecture
Accenture Portal
Knowledge & Resources channel
Search
Browse
Managed topic pages
Single centralized
knowledge content
store (from end
user perspective)
Email
Collaborate
Intention pages
Content from other
sources
(myLearning,
MethodologyFinder,
Marketing
Credentials, etc.)
New KM Technology
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Will Address specific business goals
 Simple
End-User experience
Search and Browse Features –
Concept of Metadata
 Improve
 Centralize
development and operations of the
Accenture Knowledge and Simplify content
management
 Single
point of entry - A Web Portal
Expected outcomes of the new
KE system
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Major enhancements
 Enhanced
search results
 Elimination of content duplication (caused by
decentralized applications)
 Improved visibility to innovations across all groups
 Increased usability (because of a consistent user
experience)
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Consistent archival process (that is no
longer manual intensive)
Challenges in implementing this
system
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A strategy need to be developed to address
change management
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Need to address cultural barriers – Converting
tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge
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Design a system to match what user’s want.
 Make
them part of the implementation team
Alternatives and Considerations
Continue with improved Lotus Notes
 Adopt the new Knowledge Exchange
 Do Nothing
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Alternatives and Considerations
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Continue with improved Lotus Notes
 Decentralized
portals for different groups
within the organization
 Works well, but could have room for
improvement
 Can be confusing and may potentially lead to
miscommunication and duplication of work
Alternatives and Considerations
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Adopt the new Knowledge Exchange
 Needed
to centralize information
 Important to have clear governance structure
for new KM
 End- user strategy is key
 Better organization of knowledge leads to
higher job satisfaction and less time spent
training
Alternatives and Considerations
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Do Nothing
 Lose
knowledge
 System may become unmanageable
 No investment required
Alternatives and Considerations
Continue with improved Lotus Notes
 Adopt the new Knowledge Exchange
 Do Nothing
 Other?
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What would you do?
Team Three Recommendation
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Go to new KM structure
Implementation – Big Picture
Ensure upper management is on board
with KM goals
 Create a team with stakeholders from key
areas
 Implement to specific pockets of
organization first on a trial basis, then
apply 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