Knowledge Management at Accenture

CASE III - Shane C & Abby M

Accenture- History

•Once the administrative services division of Author Anderson (1953 – 1989)

•Split from Arthur Andersen in 1989 but kept the Anderson Trademark (Anderson Consulting).

•In 2000, changed its name to accenture after a contract dispute with Arthur Andersen

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

•Accenture is a global company, working with 96 of the top 100 Fortune Global companies.

•3 main revenue streams consulting, technology services and outsourcing▫ 100,000 people in 2005▫ “today” 181,000 in 120 countries▫ 13.67 billion in Revenue in 2004 ▫ “today” over 25 billion in Revenue

Organization

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

“High Performance Delivered”

•Low Employee Efficiency ▫Highly Fragmented Organizational

Structure▫Access to the right expertise and

information to sell and deliver against their clients

▫30% of employees are new •Shareholder Loss of Value

▫Pressures to maintain competitive edge ▫Operational Budget pressures

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages

Problem Aspect

Current State – (2005)• Average of 4,500 employees access to

information on-line PER DAY with on average 500 new users each day.

• Currently running more than 40 lotus notes servers, knowledge exchange fragmented by decentralized web based portals

• Knowledge exchange management team recently downsized.

• Unclear who is to manage the content and how the governance structure should be mandated

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages

Problem Aspect

Information Collaboration

Efficiency

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages

Problem Aspect

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Multiple web based portals

Lack of centralized search technology

Lotus Notes

Multiple Servers

Multiple Data Bases

Knowledge Management Systems• Knowledge Management is the collection of

processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge.   ("An Open Discussion of Knowledge Management", Brian (Bo)Newman, 1991.)

• Range of practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences. ("Knowledge Management", Wikipedia).

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Knowledge Management Systems• KM involves the ability to categorize and retrieve

information that other people have written. To be able to share the collective knowledge of the organization is what can give you a competitive advantage. (IBM Website)

• Knowledge is unstructured and Messy.  A successful KM program transforms data into intelligence and wisdom. 

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Organizational Objectives of KM•Improved Performance •Competitive Advantage •Innovation •Sharing of lessons learned •Continuous Improvement

Technologies Employed in KM• Knowledge Bases (Searchable,

Categorized Knowledge) • Knowledge Repositories (Repository of Media)• Groupware (Email, Calendaring, etc) • Expert Systems (Use of Artificial Intelligence to assist

decisions) • Group Decision Support Systems (Electronic Meeting

Systems) • Blogs • Wikis • Rss Enablement • Social Networking

Gartner Magic Quadrant• Knowledge Systems

1) Sharepoint

Allows organizations to consolidate and centralize

their content, data, documents, processes,application and people▫Easier knowledge retrieval▫Efficient knowledge asset management▫Reduction in servers to 10▫Cost savings (estimated to be one million

dollars)

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

2) Upgrade existing system

Lotus Notes currently house documents,processes, knowledge articles in

centralizedrepository•Add ins for specific knowledge transfers •Enhanced search and retrieval abilities•Centralized data

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

1) SharePoint Pros Cons

• Change leader in place• Industry standard

▫ Popular for medium to large size businesses

• Strong development toolsets• Availability of Developers• New Users comfortable with

user interface▫ Similar to other Microsoft

products▫ Tighter integration with

existing Microsoft products

• Change• Could be seen as conflict

of interest• New product not allot KM

tools available and experience

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

2) Upgrade existing

Pros Cons

• Existing staff familiar with system

• Easier migration• More mature KM

tool/modules• Customizable

• Availability of programmers

• User profiles and security levels not integrated with active directory▫ Single source of

authorization /authentication

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Why not upgrade?

•Why not improve what is working?▫Evolution vs revolution▫Culture needed a KM revolution

•Build on it rather than start fresh ▫Efficiencies may not have been gained by

working within existing architecture and concepts

•70% of users are familiar▫New future users and/or 30% are not and

Lotus Notes is more complex

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Compelling reason to Change• Gains through process of newly designed

knowledge exchange architecture• In house champion•Shareholder value ▫More marketable solution for their consulting

and even possible IT services group •EFFICENCY side, equal in terms of options

as the benefit in the process of re-architecture of design and human process.

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

Project Goals• 1) Fostering and Sustaining a Knowledge Sharing Culture • 2) Improving the time to Competency for New Hires • 3) Enabling and Enhancing Accenture's’ Sales Capability • 4) Ensuring and Improving the ROI for KM • 5) Improve Margin on Key Engagements

SWOT Analysis showed for each of these goals showed thatelements of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, andStrengths had hardly anything to do with technology, andeverything to do with Process and People. 

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect

What happened at Accenture

•Legacy system was retained for 90 days•Increased usage, 170,000 downloads per

month to more than 400,000•Increase in Employee Satisfaction surveys

and a 7-10 point increase in access to information and ability to locate

•Increased Cost savings, ability to reduce the number of servers

Messages for Modern Leader

•Not Just Information Technology •Culture of Continuous Improvement•Foundation of Governance (Policies and

Procedures) •Motivating Staff •Training Staff on what KM is and why?•Building a KM team, empowered/enabled

Organization – Organization – Information – IT/IS impact – Alternatives – Pros/Cons – Solutions – Messages Problem Aspect