Presented by:Rohit DobariaArvind Senta

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology consulting and technology outsourcing company.

Accenture originated as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Company Background

Won 2006 MAKE Award Large no of employees all over the

world Present in more than47 countries In 2004 ROI was ranked first on the S&P

100 Accenture’s clients include top Global

companies

Case Introduction

Accenture had a long history of focusing on Knowledge Management (KM)

Decreased employee count and budget cutting

There was increasing demand for KM

Preparing the launch of the Knowledge Exchange

T. Barfield needed to provide recommendations for future direction

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”

SWOT – Strengths

Successful company with a global presence

Present KM initiative: Knowledge Exchange, myLearning, Accenture methodology

Corporate support for KM from CEO to upper and mid level management

Success of KM at Accenture

Knowledge Exchange: centralized system that would simplify access, improve search and streamline content management with a consistent user interface.

Assets that are managed in the Knowledge Exchange include client credentials, proposals, project estimates and best practices.

myLearning: personalized learning management system.

New search capability that integrated results across Accenture’s key content areas.

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

Increase 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 Ineffectively applied capital in KM

IBM Lotus Notes

Implemented Lotus Notes across the organization Every Business unit has their own

database(portals) Accenture Portal – contained links to

decentralized portal Each unit was responsible for managing

and updating their content

Issues with Lotus Notes – Current KM Issues with userfriendliness Lack of awareness of system

capabilities and content Lack of consistency in document

templates Difficult to determine exactly who

should be responsible for managing the content .

Duplication of data

Issues with Lotus Notes – Current KM Unit based knowledge sharing tools were

inefficient, inconsistent and costly

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

These organizations had significant autonomy to do the right thing for the part of their organization

New KM Technology It will provide consistency across

organization and will save time and money for managing the system.

Elimination of content duplication

New Architecture will eliminate the decentralized Lotus notes environment.

The new architecture is based on MS – Sharepoint technology.

Exhibit 1: High level view of new architecture Will Address specific business goals

Single point of entry - A Web Portal

Simple End-User experience

Improve Search and Browse Features

Centralize development and operations of the Accenture Knowledge and Simplify content management

Benefits of the new KE system

Major enhancements Enhanced search results Elimination of content duplication (caused

by decentralized applications) Increased usability (because of a consistent

user experience)

Challenges in implementing this system

Resistance from employees How to transfer existing knowledge in new

system

Issues

Document obsolescence Ways in which to increase the

usefulness of the documents in the system

Focus on immediate Return on Invenstment (ROI) or Focus on developing internal capabilities

Alternatives

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

Thank You