Knowledge Management at Accenture

Presented by:
Rohit Dobaria
Arvind 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

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Presented by:

 Accenture is a global management consulting,

 Accenture originated as the business and

 Won 2006 MAKE Award

 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

 In 2002, the economy was in a downturn

 Successful company with a global presence

 Unorganized tools and technologies in the

 Increase employee retention and job

 Tough economic environment

 Implemented Lotus Notes across the

 Every business unit created their own portals, and

 These organizations had significant autonomy to

 Elimination of content duplication

 New Architecture will eliminate the decentralized

 The new architecture is based on MS – Sharepoint

 Single point of entry - A Web Portal

 Simple End-User experience

 Improve Search and Browse Features

 Centralize development and operations of the

 Continue with improved Lotus Notes

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