The Knowledge Management Advantage

The Knowledge Edge. (A Case Study on ‘Brown & Brian’)

The Knowledge Management Advantage –

Brown & Brian Case Study.

An Executive Presentation by Olufunso Olofinlade.

A 15 minute presentation prepared for discussion purposes .

Discussion Purposes Only 1

“The basic economic resource

–the means of production – is

no longer capital, nor natural

resources, nor labor. It is and

will be knowledge.”

- Peter Drucker


Outline

Background

Diagnosis

Imperatives for KM

Practical KM Framework

Quick Wins

Opportunities in Nigeria

3

5

6

10

11

12

Discussion Purposes Only

1 2 3

Business Division

3

Background – Brown & Brian

HARDWARE

BROWN & BRIAN

SOFTWARE PROFESSIONAL

SERVICES

Servers

Workstation

Storage

Internet

Desktop

Applications

Support Services

IT Consulting Services

IT Training Services

Outsourcing Services

One of the main players in the IT market

worldwide, with a large portfolio of

products and services.


Brown & Brian Professional Services - History

HORIZON 1 (1995-96) HORIZON 2 (1997-99) HORIZON 3 (2000+)

Commenced Operations

Provided services to

local customer base.

Division had nine (9)

consultants

Business focus was on

Internet Solutions, high-

availability solutions,

data management

solutions area.

Average project

implemented per year

grew to an average of

65

Projects executed per

consultant per year was

7:1.

Execution of high

quality project with no

overrun.

Growth of IT industry

High Turnover Rate of

experienced employees

Increase in number of

employees.

‘Flattening’ revenue lines

Increasing project

overrun

Decreasing customer

satisfaction


Diagnosis: Problem Statement & Implications

“By mid-year 2000, the main problem was the loss of knowledge; this has affected the

revenues of the company and its image in the local market. Those losses in knowledge

caused by high turnover rate have put “B & B” in a risky position”

Employee departure causes loss of key

clients, suppliers, best practices and even

revenue.

Departure of some employees reduces

collective competence firm-wide

competence.

Where critical tacit knowledge is closely

held by a few key individuals; capabilities

can be moved to competitors.

Urgent need to retain tacit knowledge

through informal methods and pointers

Implications Root Cause

High Employee Turnover Rate or

“Knowledge Walk-outs”


Imperatives - Preventing Knowledge ‘Walk-outs’

“Brown & Brian finds itself in a global

economy that has been transformed by IT.

As such, organizations struggle to

maximize the value of the vast amounts

of information available to them.

Competitive advantage has become

increasingly dependent on harvesting and

applying information from systems,

employees and customers. The goal of

the process is knowledge and the practice

of knowledge management (KM) has

arisen to accomplish it.”

A condition for success is to identify the various knowledge

dimensions in an organization.

• Low

• High

• Explicit

• Tacit

• Operational

• Strategic

• Technological

• Business

• Environmental

TYPE

FOCUS

COMPLEXITY

PERISHABILITY

KNOWLEDGE

• Tacit

• Explicit


Should Brown & Brian be pursuing KM?

THOUGHTS

Two types of companies should be pursuing KM.

Type 1: The one that has realized the need to keep up

with its competitors and remain a legitimate player in a

disruptive marketplace.

Type 2: The one that has the core knowledge necessary.

This company realizes that what is innovative

knowledge today will be common place, core

knowledge tomorrow.

Brown & Brian’s business model requires attention to KM and the need to

access and leverage the experience and knowledge of employees globally.


The Knowledge Value Proposition

“The ability of companies to exploit intangible assets is far more decisive than their ability

to exploit their physical assets” Amrit Tiwana.

A bridge is

needed across

the Atlantic.

Unpredictable

markets necessitate

‘Organized

Abandonment’

Those who forget

the past are

condemned to

repeat it

Knowledge

Integration is the

engine of economic

prosperity

KM let’s you lead

change so that

change does not

lead you.

Tacit knowledge

is mobile.

Cross Industry

amalgamation is

breeding

complexity.

Knowledge

application requires

“Water-Cooler” and

“Coffee-Machine”

Cultures. IT barely

supports sharing

Justifications for investing in KM!

Discussion Purposes Only

In 1999, Microsoft

invested in KM to

enable team members

share and collaborate

on documents.

www.news.cnet.com

9

Quick Facts

Employees spend 6

weeks per annum

searching for experts

to complete work –

Northrop Grumman –

Global security

company

7- 20% of time is

spent duplicating the

work that others

have done –

Delphi Group

World’s leading

Innovation advisor

Fortune 500 Companies

will lose $31.5 billion by

2008 through knowledge

Management inefficiency

International Data

Corporation – Global

Intelligence firm

Information

Professionals spend 15

hours + searching for

information on the

internet. Their searches

are only 44% effective.

IRN Services - a website

and community portal

publisher

Successful companies

such as Microsoft,

Intel, AOX, Coca-Cola,

eBay, Yahoo share

something that cant be

shown on the balance

sheets that is largely

driven by an efficient

KM system. The

intangibles include:

Industry driven vision,

Innovative business

ideas, past

achievements,

Groundbreaking

strategies etc.


Proposed KM Framework for ‘B & B’

Identify

Knowledge

Critical to

Business

Align Business

Strategy & KM

Build on, Don’t

Discard

Existing IT

Investment Focus on

Processes & Tacit

not just Explicit

Knowledge

Design an

adaptable KM

Platform

Build and

deploy results

driven KM

system

Implement

Leadership &

Reward

Structures

Evaluate

Initiatives

Learn from

others’ stories

1

2

3

4

5 6

7

8

9

10

Analyze

existing

knowledge at

B & B

10 – Step

Practical KM

Framework for

B & B

The goal of this approach

is to design, develop and

deploy a KM system that is

aligned with B & B’s

business strategy,

infrastructural capabilities

and undertake cultural and

organizational changes

that can make KM succeed

at B &B.

BUSINESS PROCESSES

PEOPLE TECHNOLOGY


Quick Wins: The Knowledge Edge!

KM Initiative Rationale Anticipated Results

Project Retrospective

Project resource persons to share vital lessons learnt

over the project life cycle to prevent repeat

mistakes

Improved Project turnaround time,

success rate, completion rate

Case Studies/

Brown Bag Sessions

Where case studies are woven around real life

scenarios, they help in innovatively solving

problems.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Improved Project Completion/Success

Rate

Storytelling

Learning forum where vastly experienced or

knowledge custodians in the organization share

from their wealth of experience

Retained institutional knowledge

Improved Organizational Process and

turnaround time

Communities of

Experts /Practice

Identify experts in the organization who can

collaborate to resolve pressing issues.

Improved turnaround time & productivity,

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction,

Improved bottom line

Knowledge

Repository

Store explicit information and/or organizational

assets in line with defined taxonomy

Just-in-time access to the right

information., Enhanced productivity


Thoughts on Opportunities in Nigeria…..

Companies

don’t know

what they

already

know

Employees

can’t find

critical

existing

knowledge in

time

No

knowledge is

gained from

failures; they

are soon

forgotten

Expertise is

not shared

Employee

departure

causes loss

of key clients

Individual

employees

closely

guard

knowledge

and insights

Outdated

assumptions,

rules of

thumb,

associated

processes

Frequent

changes in

software,

communicatio

n protocol

Complex

dependencies

among and

between

different

functional

areas

Products and

services are

increasingly

bundled


Thank you.

Presentations & Public Speaking

The Knowledge Management Advantage