OBS CUSTOMER CASE STUDY | PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Cardno G L O BA L

I N F RA S T RU C T U RE A N D E N V I R ON M E N T A L S E R V I C E S

8 0 0 0 E M P L OY E E S

“The increased connectivity between people all over the world has meant that we are gaining business and saving valuable time.”

SharePoint Knowledge Management Solution

About Cardno

Cardno is an ASX-200 professional infrastructure and environmental services company with expertise in the development and improvement of physical and social infrastructure for communities around the world. The company employs approximately 8,000 people in 290 locations across 85 countries. The global team offers integrated services from professionals who plan, design, manage and deliver sustainable projects and community programs.

Capturing opportunities

Due to its rapid growth and with employees possessing a wide range of skills across many geographically-dispersed locations, Cardno has found it a challenge to share knowledge and services. The company has been keen to build on existing cross-selling capabilities and avoid using external contractors to fill perceived skills gaps when in-house talent is available.

Jackie McPhee, Corporate Marketing Manager, Cardno said: “We were looking for ways to increase revenue and wanted improve the global resources available to staff to find colleagues with particular skills or industry knowledge. This is particularly important for merger partners joining the growing company and any new employees.”

“Our staff members need to find each other seamlessly, based on things such as skills, experience, location and languages. They then need to be able to contact each other and, ultimately, include current details in tender documents or to put forward service teams to our clients.”

Knowledge sharing: Cardno People Profiles

Cardno decided to look for a partner to help them build a platform that would facilitate knowledge sharing. They instigated a bid process and took submissions from five different organisations before choosing OBS to undertake the project.

Jackie said: “Cardno had an existing relationship with OBS and this was helpful. They provided strong guidance on how to proceed on the knowledge management front.”

OBS worked with Cardno management to fully flesh-out the idea from the start. The team held workshops to work out what Cardno wanted to achieve and how it could be delivered.

“We knew what we wanted to achieve from a business perspective but we weren’t sure how to get there. OBS understood the business imperatives and guided us through each stage to make this project happen.”

Jackie McPhee | Corporate Marketing Manager | Cardno

Jackie said: “We knew what we wanted to achieve from a business perspective but we weren’t sure how to get there. OBS understood the business imperatives and guided us through each stage to make this project happen.”

OBS helped to design and deliver a solut ion called Cardno People Profiles, based on Microsoft SharePoint.

Jackie said: “Our global knowledge management objective is to connect Cardno people. Cardno People Profiles is the first step in that project. It provides a user-friendly way to store and search for information about Cardno staff on the global intranet.”

Each staff member creates and maintains an individual profile that includes their contact details as well as a profile summary, industry expertise, skills, country experience and foreign language proficiency. It includes a photograph of the person and the ability to attach Cardno-branded CVs and qualifications.

The system’s search functionality lets users search based on a variety of parameters and refine the search as needed to find the exact Cardno expert they need without delay.

Its integration with Microsoft Lync also makes it easier for staff to make contact with each other and check availability.

Immediate take-up and results

Since its launch to Cardno’s 7,000 English -speaking employees in late 2013, Cardno People Profiles has been widely adopted. This was helped in part by a company-wide competition in which $5,000 prize money was offered to the team that had the highest percentage of completed profiles.

Jackie said: “OBS set up a tracking and reporting system for the solution, which allows us to measure things like the most common search terms, most popular profiles and so on. That system told us that approximately 85 per cent of staff members had completed their profile before the end of 2013. That was a great result in just six months and much better than we had anticipated.

“The marketing team is using the solution to prepare tender documents and bids. This is because they can access Cardno-branded CVs at the touch of a button from Cardno People Profiles, then add the CVs directly into the documents. Even if it’s a global bid, it’s quick and simple for them to find the people that should be involved.”

Gaining business and saving on costs

Cardno’s rapid global growth has made it difficult for all employees to fully understand the depth and breadth of services the company offers. Now, with that information immediately available, Cardno can access opportunities to cross- and up-sell, and significantly reduce the number of unnecessary hires or contractors.

Jackie said: “There are so many highly-skilled professionals in this organisation and being able to utilise their skills effectively is a key outcome of this project. The increased connectivity between people all over the world has meant that we are gaining business and saving valuable time.”