Knowledge Management @ Accenture

Team 3Katia Arrus Jonathan HayesCristian Orellana Jay BashuckySuresh Jayaraman

Agenda 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 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

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 materialspecific material

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 on products, customers, competitors, and processes – and sharing it.” (DiMattia et. al, 1997)

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 the ones that properly leverage that asset

KM - IT tools E-Mail, Internet Intranet Document Management Workflow/Groupware Imaging Information retrieval systems Electronic publishing systems Data Warehousing and Data Mining

Company Background

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

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

Stewardship Best People Client Value Creation One Global Network Respect for the Individual Integrity

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

Knowledge Management @ Accenture

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:

“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 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

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

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

SWOT - Threats

Tough economic environment Need to demonstrate ROI Ineffectively applied capital Short project life cycles

KM Current Technology

Implemented Lotus Notes across the organizationEvery Business unit has their own databaseEach unit was responsible for managing and

updating their contentLate 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

Procedures were not in place for managing the system (content / documents. No records retention: archival process inconsistent and very manual)

Every business unit created their own portals, and by the end of 2003, several disparate systems / databases were created

Cost of maintenance was increasing

Issues with Lotus Notes – Current KM

New KM Technology New system will provide consistency across

organization 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.

New Architecture

New KM Technology Will Address specific business goals

Simple End-User experience

Improve Search and Browse Features – Concept of Metadata

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 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)

Consistent archival process (that is no longer manual intensive)

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 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

Alternatives and Considerations

Continue with improved Lotus NotesDecentralized portals for different groups

within the organizationWorks well, but could have room for

improvementCan be confusing and may potentially lead to

miscommunication and duplication of work

Alternatives and Considerations

Adopt the new Knowledge ExchangeNeeded to centralize information Important to have clear governance structure

for new KMEnd- user strategy is keyBetter organization of knowledge leads to

higher job satisfaction and less time spent training

Alternatives and Considerations

Do NothingLose knowledgeSystem may become unmanageableNo investment required

Alternatives and Considerations

Continue with improved Lotus Notes Adopt the new Knowledge Exchange Do Nothing Other?

What would you do?

Team Three Recommendation

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

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

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

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’

Questions