Case Study 16: Knowledge Management and Collaboration at Tata Consulting Services

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INTRODUCTION

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

• Founded in 1968 in India
• AN IT-service, business solution and outsourcing organization.
• Offers a portfolio of IT enabled services to clients all over the globe in horizontal, vertical, and geographical domains.
• Have over 108,000 IT consultants in 47 countries.
• The largest Indian company by market capitalization and is the largest India based IT Services Company by 2013 revenues.

CASE STUDY QUESTION

Question 1:

• Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of knowledge and experience in several fields through on shore projects for its clients across the globe including GE insurance, GE Health, Hewlett Packard, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank etc.
• TCS regularly rotated people across various function and within other Tata Group Companies to gain cross industry experience.
• Employees were also encouraged to be part of outside bodies like the IEEE, and go in for certifications.

• TCS had developed various repositories and databases for knowledge storage such as Kbases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and Ultimatix.

• Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of techniques such as:  
• Ultimatix a web based electronic knowledge management portal;
• Propel session: brought together employees with similar interest;
• Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions at the project level;
• “Tip of the Day” email comprising technical, conceptual or human skills tips were shared within the organization daily.

• Employees could access the knowledge repository that raised on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet.
• Students or anybody should visit the TCS website to explore the new capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the knowledge they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets, systems development, and technologies.

• Tools/activities to manage explicit knowledge
• KBases
• Process Asset Libraries
• KnowMax
• Ultimatix

• Tools/activities to manage tacit knowledge
• Redesign of development centers,
• Propel sessions,
• Knowledge Transition Sessions
• Communities of practice

Question 2:

Answer

• The concept of knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS in 1995 and dedicated KM team called “Corporate Groupware” was formed in 1998.
• This group launched the KM-pilot in mid-1999. At that time, KM in TCS covered nearly every function, from quality assurance to HR management.
• The employees could access the knowledge repository that resided on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet, with a browser front end or a Notes client.
• The knowledge repository, also called Kbases, contained a wide range of information about processes, line of business, line of technology, and projects.
• The next step was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which contained information related to technology, processes, case studies for project leaders which were made available to all development centers through the intranet.
• The same thing was done through the web-based electronic knowledge management portal library and Kbases, which were hosted on the intranet, were merged with Ultimatix, which had sub-portals for quality management system, software productivity improvement, training materials, and tools information.
• TCS developed Knowmax, a knowledge management system, using Microsoft share point portal server that gave TCS consultants access to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices arranged by type of engagement, the technology in use, and customer requirements.
• It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via Ultimatix to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to the K-Bank and Knowledge officers were made responsible for maintaining the quality of content.
• The benefits of these tools and systems to TCS are described in detail question 5.

Question 3:

Answer

• Collaboration overseas and local offices improved as instant messaging (IM) got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences that could occur on the phone.
• Corporate communications was able to run a 24 hour internal news broadcast to all TCS offices in the world
• Travel and telecommunications costs were reduced by 40 percent and 6 percent respectively.
• The other tools improved collaboration, communication, and knowledge sharing among the employees.

Question 4:

Answer

• boosts communication and productivity among employees

• collaborating on materials related to project,
• Supporting brainstorming sessions,
• developing presentations.

• Used as a means to gather inputs on problems that they faced on a project.

• allowed employees to pose a question and in turn get answers from other colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed discussion.
• If someone often answered questions on a particular domain, the relevant specialist group invited that person into the domain group and thus gave the visibility to talent within the company.

• used by the management, helped in generation of ideas on topics posted by the corporate team.

• used as a portal for product innovation and new ideas.
• helped the management to gamer ideas related to product/
• service innovation and helped in solving problems.

• to help employees communicate better with each other

Question 5:

Answer

• Systems development and implementation activities are more likely to be done by TCS in a manner that is timely, effective, and cost efficient.
• The same for customer service – by knowing customer requirements and also taking ideas from other industries that are stored in the KM databases, the company can provide new and innovative solutions to resolve customer queries.
• TCS aims to move up the value chain and to continue to bid for higher level projects, beyond those of maintenance and development.
• By accumulating knowledge, it has built capabilities to understand how to service clients through consulting and in other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to continue to move higher up and to bid for more strategic projects.
• KM repositories that capture best practices in the projects it has undertaken make the company more efficient in servicing clients. This means it can execute better.

 

CONCLUSION

• Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic resource at the company and all hires are required to learn them as a part of their orientation.
• These tools are also the first go to before starting any project or approaching a client.
• Knowledge in these databases allows TCS consultants to quickly gather intelligence about the client or similar projects and thus align themselves better with what the client might want.
• This has led to higher success rate in bidding and project execution.