Course : Knowledge Management
Assignment outcomes:
1. Identify the problems and make strategies to cope with the
critical situation.
2. How organization use IT tools to implement the Knowledge
Management system.
3. Understand the initial step in implicit knowledge and How
to convert technical implicit knowledge into explicit.
Case Study
This assignment is a case study about knowledge management.
Read it carefully and answer the
questions given at the end.
Note:
Ø Each question carries 2 marks
Ø Be very specific and focused on the issue while answering a
question
Ø No marks will be given for extra/ irrelevant details
KM THE BOYGUES TELECOM WAY
Knowledge Management
“Knowledge Management is a business model embracing knowledge
as an organizational asset to drive sustainable business advantage.
It is a management discipline that promotes an integrated approach
to create, identify, evaluate, capture, enhance, share and apply an
enterprise’s intellectual capital” writes a consultant. “Knowledge
Management is not a shrink-wrapped functional solution, it is a
combination of technology, methodology, and corporate belief in the
competitive advantage to be gained from
KM” explains another consultant.
The discussion on the concepts of Knowledge Management is very
intense between consultants.
Actually, there are many definitions of the Knowledge
Management and, may be, it’s due to the lack of operational
experiences. So, for a lot of professionals the Knowledge
Management is still a concept.
The case underneath presents the approach of the Knowledge
Management adopted by a well known French company.
The Bouygues Telecom way
With more than six million customers and a network covering 98
per cent of France, Bouygues
Telecom, created in 1994 as a subsidiary of the Bouygues
global industrial group (turnover : 19
billion euros in 2000), has established itself as one of the
most dynamic and innovative players in the French mobile telephony
market. But size can be a challenge – as with most large companies,
Bouygues Telecom was struggling to manage the flow of information
and know-how across the organization. At times, departments and
individuals were unable to collaborate effectively with employees
in many parts of the business. At the end of 2000, Bouygues Telecom
launched an initiative aimed at maximizing the value of its
business and employee intelligence. More than discussing about the
Knowledge Management and the way of implementing it, the idea of
Bouygues Telecom is to define and develop short and practical KM
projects. But research into the solutions available at that time
proved disappointing. They were difficult to implement, hard to
manage and far too expensive. So the company issued an invitation
to tender. Following careful research of the market, Microsoft’s
SharePoint Portal Server solution was selected because it is easy
to implement and flexible enough to meet the various requirements
of the Bouygues Telecom business. Described as a single knowledge
portal, SharePoint Portal Server is based on a document management
server which enables organizations to manage all of the workflow
processes associated with the publication of documents and to share
them in dedicated spaces.
Speed to market was also essential. Bouygues Telecom defined a
brief which specified that completion of the first project should
not exceed three months. In order to meet this challenging
schedule, Bouygues called on Valtech, a company specializing in
management consulting and enterprise IT. Valtech was chosen because
the project required the rapid delivery of effective knowledge
management solutions and its experience in this field is well
established.
In just a few months, the company has implemented four
knowledge management systems that are enabling the organization to
leverage and extend its current IT systems and
infrastructure.
SAP best practice
The pilot project – tested in north-east France – delivers
support to one hundred staff using SAP.
The aim of the project was to provide online assistance to
end-users and ensure that they could share best practice of this
solution.
The knowledge base manages the publication and the
classification of documents and provides users with a single
knowledge portal. Users can add their own advices and experiences
relating to
SAP via their browser. Results were immediate and impressive.
Users need immediate and accurate information to get the most out
of this relatively complex software and make a real contribution to
the bottom line.
The knowledge base has helped Bouygues Telecom to leverage and
extend the value of its SAP investment. Knowledge management in a
technical reference system
Initially designed for maintenance technicians from the same
region, the second project involved about thirty people in its
pilot phase before being extended to a further 200 staff. It gives
technicians online access to a company knowledge base of technical
information. Technicians frequently work on site. From their
portable computers, they can connect to the technical knowledge
base on the portal and access technical files and recommendations
made by their colleagues in similar situations. If a file is not
100 per cent relevant, they can improve it and make their expertise
available to others.
In a matter of months, Bouygues Telecom has built a
comprehensive online library of technical knowledge. Technicians
now have rapid, real-time access to the sum total of the company’s
expertise. It is also highly versatile. Technicians can search the
knowledge base according to various criteria including full text,
and their specific areas of interest. End-user feedback is also
extremely positive. Technicians now have all the information they
need to make better decisions more rapidly than ever before. Before
the portal they spent far too much time searching for right person
with the right information – now all they need to do is look on the
web. They can resolve networking issues quickly and with minimum
fuss helping the company to further increase the overall quality of
customer service.
Using knowledge management to innovate information
systems
CPS (Computer Planning Strategy) Division is responsible for
researching new technology and then ensuring rapid implementation
of the solutions that best support the company’s business
objectives. It was formed to track and research new technologies
and then validate them before they go live in any part of the
business.
The knowledge base was used for accelerating the movement of
new technology from the CPS management to operational divisions.
All technical documents are classified, and each event in the
knowledge base can be traced. No time is wasted searching for
documents and the CPS can make full use of acquired knowledge to
develop innovative new information system strategies.
Keeping track of new technologies
The success of the CPS project has generated interest in
additional knowledge management solutions. The CPS team and
operational management would like to access a knowledge base on the
latest technological developments. Such a tool is to help them
collect and validate new information and leverage knowledge.
Like the earlier projects, it will only take a few weeks to
complete.
Bouygues Telecom has overcome the main obstacle to knowledge
management success – enduser resistance with a light use of change
management. By setting up focused, effective projects that deliver
impressive and immediate results, Bouygues Telecom has managed to
make its knowledge management vision reality.
The best approach for implementing Knowledge Management
In the Knowledge Management as in many other subjects there
are two kinds of approach: top down and bottom up. The top down
approach of the Knowledge Management is currently defined as an
approach with two main objectives: identifying the whole knowledge
management needs of a company, defining the knowledge bases for
covering these needs and establishing a portfolio of projects for
implementing the knowledge bases.
It’s a study in a strategic and general management point of
view, not an implementation approach.
On the other way, the bottom up approach of the Knowledge
Management is an implementation
approach. It’s positioned as an incremental deployment of the
Knowledge Management and focalized on unit realization of knowledge
base.
With this approach, the job is registering and qualifying the
needs for knowledge bases rose from the ground floor.
To qualify the needs Valtech usually integrate all the aspects
of the implementation of a knowledge base: Return on investment,
Process, Modelisation, Information System, Human
Resources, Change Management and Organizational
Learning.
Actually, implementing the top down approach is impossible for
a company without any practical experience in Knowledge
Management.
If the company doesn’t have any operational knowledge base,
the Knowledge Management still stay a concept. Like Bouygues
Telecom did, the best approach for implementing Knowledge
Management, can be split in the major following steps:
· Identify needs for a Knowledge Management application
· Qualify the opportunity of realizing a knowledge base
· Define the knowledge base
· Implement the knowledge base
· Develop a focused change management
· Obtain a practical success
This approach has to be reproduced until the company has
implemented with success a sufficient number of knowledge
bases.
At this time, the company can introduce the top down
approach.
Key Points for implementing Knowledge Management
· Focalize efforts on results not on concepts
· For the beginning of the KM implementation in your company
start by the ground floor
· Define value added KM projects
· Identify measurable and non measurable gains to obtain by
projects
· Choose a tool easy to implement and use which can readily
meet all the company’s
professional requirements
· Obtain staff adhesion by a good utilization of change
management
· Design, develop and implement the projects quickly
Questions:
1. What is the reason of discussions on the concept of
Knowledge Management given in this
case? In your opinion, what could be other reasons of such
debates on knowledge
management?
2. Analyze the situation and identify what problem was faced
by Bouygues Telecom. What
strategy was adopted by Bouygues Telecom to cope the
situation?
3. How Bouygues Telecom incorporated IT tools to implement the
Knowledge Management
system?
4. Which initial step Bouygues Telecom took to share implicit
knowledge?
5. How did Bouygues Telecom convert its technical implicit
knowledge into explicit
knowledge?