Knowledge Management at Infosys and UnisysKnowledge Management at Infosys and Unisys

A comparisonA comparisonBy Nikesh.N By Nikesh.N

( M.Tech Student, International School of Information Management, University of Mysore )( M.Tech Student, International School of Information Management, University of Mysore )

AbstractAbstract

Knowledge management is very significant for any organization in this highlyKnowledge management is very significant for any organization in this highly

competitive world and software companies are not exception to this. Organizationscompetitive world and software companies are not exception to this. Organizations

need more than just human capital to successfully distribute and use their employees'need more than just human capital to successfully distribute and use their employees'

knowledge. Knowledge might be inexpensive, but effectively using and managing is notknowledge. Knowledge might be inexpensive, but effectively using and managing is not

the same. This article reviews and compares KM practices at Infosys & Unisys andthe same. This article reviews and compares KM practices at Infosys & Unisys and

highlighting their strategies in developing content, culture, capacity, communityhighlighting their strategies in developing content, culture, capacity, community

building, etc. Similarities and differences in their implementation strategies are alsobuilding, etc. Similarities and differences in their implementation strategies are also

listedlisted.

Company Background: Company Background: Infosys Infosys

Infosys is an IT consulting and software services organization headquartered in Bangalore, India.

Founded in 1981.Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) defines, designs and delivers IT-enabled business

solutions that help Global 2000 companies win in a Flat World. These solutions focus on providing

strategic differentiation and operational superiority to clients. Infosys has over 1, 00,000 employees

in over 50 offices worldwide. Infosys is part of the NASDAQ-100 Index and The Global Dow.

KM intitiatives at InfosysKM intitiatives at Infosys

Infosys has always been recognized for its KM initiative and efforts at world level. Adding a

feather in its cap, Infosys has been recognised amongst the top 16 Asian companies to be listed in

the prestigious Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) study, 2009.

Infosys has won the Asian MAKE award six times in the past and is one of the five Indian

companies amongst the leading Asian corporations to have won the award this year. Infosys was the

first Indian company to win the Global MAKE award in 2003 and to be inducted into the Global

MAKE Hall of Fame in 2005. Infosys has also won Global MAKE award for the year 2008.Infosys

has been recognized for developing new products and services and enterprise knowledge sharing

and collaboration.

During the past several years, Infosys has made a concerted effort to provide an integrated solution

to meet the knowledge needs of the organisation in the four basic dimensions of knowledge

management - people, process, technology and content through an integrated knowledge

management (KM) solution.

Since its inception, Infosys gave importance to learning in the organization. Its efforts to assimilate

and distribute knowledge within the company began with the establishment of Education and

Research Department in the year 1991. The department began gathering content and knowledge that

was available within the organization and the scope of the department grew with the launch of

intranet. A fully fledged KM program began in 1999 with the launch of Kshop. Through Kshop,

knowledge generated in each project across the global operations of Infosys was captured. Infosys

KM initiative for domain areas like software engineering is built on the KM Maturity Model, and is

promoted via the motto Learn once, Use Anywhere. A particularly useful incentive scheme consists

of knowledge Currency Units, (KCUs), whereby employees can award points to knowledge assets

posted by their colleagues and can also earn points when their own posted knowledge assets are

utilized or ranked by their colleagues.

Company background: UnisysCompany background: Unisys

Unisys is a global information technology services and solutions company whose 37,000+

employees help clients in more than 100 countries achieve competitive advantage. Unisys serves six

primary vertical industries: financial services, public sector, communications, transportation,

commercial and media. Unisys also manufactures high end server technology such as the Unisys

Enterprise server ES7000 for mission critical data centers.

KM initiatives at UnisysKM initiatives at Unisys

Unisys follows a centrally lead but de-centrally energized initiative. KM objectives at Unisys range

from workforce transformation and capture of proven practices to develop organizational agility and

enhancing stock valuation. A formal initiative was launched in August of 2000, with special focus

on 11 critical success factors which are explained in the analysis section. Architecturally, this is

facilitated via the knowledge.NET portal ‘Ask Knowledge’- NET expertise location management

application. Fifteen communities of knowledge are operational. For building capacity among the

organization, various introductory courses like KM@Unisys are available though Unisys

University. Other features are analysed in the following sections. Unisys knowledge portal has got

DCI/DM Review Portal Excellence Award in 2005 and 20th Annual CIO 100 Awards of CIO

Magazine in 2007.

Analysis and Comparison of Knowledge Management framework at Infosys & UnisysAnalysis and Comparison of Knowledge Management framework at Infosys & Unisys

Both Infosys and Unisys are having units all over the world, and thousands of employees from different countries and cultures are working. Both companies have developed robust Knowledge Management system for taping both explicit and tacit knowledge needed to full-fill their business objectives and smooth flow of information within the organization and from outside environment. Implementation strategies adopted by the two organizations are different in some aspects and similar in some other aspects. The following table shows the comparison of Infosys’s and Unisys’s KM characteristic and implementations.

KM KM CharacteristicsCharacteristics

Infosys Unisys

AimAim To move towards a "Learn Once, Use Anywhere" paradigm.

To set up a system that defines the process,

tools and behaviors needed to deliver the right

content, in the right context, to the right people

at the right time.

ObjectivesObjectives i. To minimise the efforts dissipated in redoing learning that has already happened elsewhere, and ii. Ensuring that Infosys employees (Infoscions) in contact with the customer have the collective and organised knowledge of the Infosys with them. 

i. Transform the workforce to one that

capitalizes on business opportunities at every

turn.

II. Leverage experience

Leverage expertise

Hire & retain the best people

Unify the company

Develop organizational agility

Accelerate marketplace delivery

Enhance image of the company

Enhance stock valuation

GoalGoal Delivering all organisational learning to benefit the customer.

Transform the way individuals in the

organization leverage knowledge assets to

support the fast action, optimal decisions and

innovation needed to drive customer value

StrategyStrategy Knowledge Management Maturity Model.KMM- Knowledge Management Maturity Model is based on the realisation that path to achieve KM success involves significant changes: a. In the working culture, b. In the Processes of the organisation, and

Based on critical Success factors identified.

They are

1. Align K M goals to the corporate strategy

2. Build the technology infrastructure to

support KM

c. System in the organisation. ii. Instead of taking one giant leap a staged frame work is done under progressive development.  The most well established model available today to/ for managing changes in phased manner is Software Engineering Institute's (SEI Carnegie Mellon Institute) Capability Maturity Model (CMM). iii. Further the purpose of KMM Model is twofold:a. To provide framework, this can be used to assess current level of KM maturity, b. To act as a mechanism to focus, and help prioritize, efforts to raise the level of KM maturity.

3. Focus on strategic knowledge communities

4. Establish a multi-dimensional framework

linking communities to the business

5. Approach KM as a holistic business

system

6. Establish community goals that align

business and member drivers

7. Integrate KM processes to business

process

8. Recognize that KM is a process, not a

project

9. Establish metrics and a performance

management process

10. Institutionalize KM to ensure that it is

sustainable.

They have strategized these initiatives through

centrally lead, but de-centrally energised

framework.

Vision Vision To be an organisation where every action is fully enabled by the power of knowledge:a. Which truly believes in leveraging knowledge for innovation, b. Where every employee is empowered by knowledge of every other employee, andc. Which is globally respected knowledge leader.

Agile Enterprise having knowledge led

organisation, connected team and empowered

individual.

ConnectivityConnectivity Sparsh- The Intranet – (CIP) The Central Information Portal. . ii. It forms the central information portal. iii. It consists of 5000 nodes:     a. Spread across India-Based Development Centres/DCs    b. USA based marketing office.Other technologies like video conferencing, wireless connectivity etc. are also established to foster better communication.

A suite of enabling technologies is being

employed for collaboration and connectivity.

The main focal point is Enterprise knowledge

portal (Knowledge. Net). For knowledge

community members, knowledge.Net provides a

workspace where documents and other work

products can be stored, reused and most

importantly shared among fellow community

members. The enterprise portal is

complemented by other collaboration

technologies like teleconferencing, bulletin

boards, calendars and tools like place ware and

NetMeeing.

ContentContent Very well strategies to Manage Content. Eighteen different content types have been identified such as case studies, white papers, book reviews and product reviews, Frequently Asked questions, and event materials etc. For easy retrieval, each document is tagged by one or more paths though knowledge level hierarchy. Each document is also associated with composite Knowledge Currency Unit rating awarded by subject matter expert. Knowledge created posted by individual employees is also earning KCU when they get used.

The central point of content creation, storage

and dissemination is through Knowledge.Net. It

integrates Knowledge management capabilities

with business activities on a common platform.

Knowledge communities within Unisys use

knowledge.Net as platform to share their views

and ideas across all countries and units. Another

significant thing is Ask knowledge.NET which

is an expert location management application

which makes tacit knowledge retrievable usable

and reusable. It does this by making someone’s

tacit knowledge accessible to others via

enabling collaboration. Ask knowledge.Net

integrates with knowledge. Net’s search and

portal technology meaning easier and quicker

access for anyone using it. Unisys also

established some asynchronous systems like

Bulletin board system, Unisys Forums etc. To

foster collaboration.

CommunityCommunity Many virtual communities are being formed among employees. These communities are not formed by Management, but by interested group to share their views and ideas across all the units. Online collaborative tools like wikis; blogs etc are being used to facilitate the communication.

70+ communities are operational. Top down

approach is followed. Top management will

decide about the communities with the help of

expert consultants through Community

Enablement Method.

CultureCulture The aim of KM initiative in Infosys is to move towards a culture where knowledge sharing is built into the organizational fabric. Creating such a culture of sharing is governed by principles that have much in common with Metcalfe’s Law - as more people grow convinced of the benefits of participating in the knowledge-sharing movement; it becomes easier to convince more people to buy in. Infosys adopted a judicious mix of motivation, facilitation and awareness mechanism to develop a knowledge culture within the organization across all units.

KM system attempt to make a positive cultural

change through communities and not through

any specifically named programs like ‘cultural

change’ or behavioural change’. Special

programs may create a feeling among

employees that they are forced for a change.

Instead, Community Operations Team in

looking at their community outcomes to identify

who is critical to achievement of an outcome

and then how their behaviour or the behaviour

of their manager, department head or people

they are dependent upon will affect their ability

to achieve the outcome.

Capacity Capacity Infosys management decided to locate the KM team in its Education & Research (E&R) group of Infosys corporate University to enable the team to enforce changes in the organization as a whole, they bolstered the KM team's influence by giving it a high-level steering committee that included many members of the board of directors and several other heads of business units.

To educate people on the KM values and the

importance of KM to the company, various

programmes are being conducted. KM@unisys

is introductory e-learning course currently

available though Unisys University which can

introduce Unisys employees to the value the

company places on KM, the investment being

made in building a KM infrastructure, an

individual’s personal responsibility to help

growing Unisys knowledge assets and the

required behaviours for KM to work. Another

programme is Leadership at Unisys.

CooperationCooperation

Infosys collaborates and shares its knowledge with Academia and other partners. Its campus connect programs act as forum. Some of the best practices of Infosys may be shared with educational institutions and also aligning the needs of colleges, its students, faculties with those of the IT industry. Infosys has set up collaborations with many institutes to upgrade their employees in different domains. It also has set up many in house programs too.

Through Unisys collaborative extranet, system

is sharing the knowledge with its clients,

employees and business partners. Extranet team

rooms act as the central point for

Collaboration, Discussion, Content

Management Content Development, Content

Sharing, Content Distribution, Auto Alerting

and Access Control. Unisys is having an

industry partner’s portal where consumer

oriented industry news and solution portfolio,

who is who and client details and engagement

etc are available.

CommerceCommerce Devised Knowledge Currency Units (KCUs) whereby employees can award points to knowledge assets posted by their colleagues, and can award points to knowledge assets posted by their colleagues, and can also earn points when their own posted knowledge assets are utilized or ranked by their colleagues. These can be encashed in to gifts at a local e-tailer.

Unisys introduces different reward programs.

Achievement awards for excellence are meant

for individuals or teams who achieve

outstanding technical or professional results.

Short term achievement awards are meant to

provide immediate recognition for outstanding

contributions to a job related goal within a

workgroup. Unisys treats KM

behaviour/contribution as a part of measurable

objective in an employee’s performance plan.

CapitalCapital Infosys highly values the importance of Knowledge Management and it believes in incremental modelling. Management is providing adequate financial support to Knowledge Management department and its activities. Latest figure could not be gathered as it is not published in the net.

Unisys treats Knowledge Management activities

as utmost important for the organization and

invest adequate amount for the activities. Exact

amount could not be collected as it is not

published in the web.

Benefits Benefits Profit improvement and making money through information. Increase in share value in India and abroad/Wiser Infoscions through continuous Human Resource Development, Lean Production through enrichment in system, process and technological standardisation, vii. Achievement of CMM, KMM, ISO, PCMM, IIIE technology and human resources benchmarks. i. Standardised knowledge acquisition procedure, ii. Standardised knowledge development process, iii. Infosys has knowledge encyclopaedia on all the relevant subjects, iv. High amount of knowledge sharing,v. Knowledgeable and Wise Infoscions are long term asset for Infosys, Wise Infoscions is the term used for the individual and common wisdom of Infosys employees and employers, vi. Improved Infosys brand name, as it provides end-to-end solutions to its clients, vii. Employee involvement and organisation belongingness among them, viii. Better interpersonal excellence among all Infoscions/ Infosys stakeholders. ix. Talent retentions through employee job satisfaction. x. Continuous improvement in the customer satisfaction. xi. Infosys is able to beat the competitors with riding high on the KM instead of business intelligence.

The knowledge community concept accepted at

Unisys takes a holistic approach to KM

100 % services employees with KM

performance objectives.

100% six sigma lean projects managed with

share point /project server

36,000 + share point users

11,600 + employees are using their

personalized my sites for communication

14,000 + site collections are created.

1110 collaboration team rooms

70 + officially charted knowledge communities

200 + executives tracks Sharepoint for

opportunities

More than 3,600 3D-VE solution blue print

asset captured

AwardsAwards Winner of MAKE (Most Admirable Knowledge Enterprise) award from the year 2003 onwards. In 2009 also Infosys is selected for Asian MAKE award. In the year 2005, Infosys has

been included in the hall of fame list of MAKE.

Findings Findings Key features of KM frame work in Infosys are as follows

1. A KM team in the learning unitInfosys management decided to locate the KM team in its Education & Research (E&R) group, outside of its mainline business units. To enable the team to enforce changes in the organization as a whole, they bolstered the KM team's influence by giving it a high-level steering committee that included many members of the board of directors and several other heads of business units.

2. A decentralized architectureContent management is handled by establishing a set of satellite repositories, owned by local groups and affiliated with the central KM repository. The central KM team coordinates the KM promotion effort, with a large network of KM "promoters" across business units who are responsible for promoting KM in their respective teams.

3. Incremental scopeThe KM solution at Infosys was rolled out incrementally, first to a few research units and other support functions, then to several technical groups in the service delivery units. Only after covering most of the technical community was the solution extended to cover customer-facing groups, such as sales and marketing.

4. Content first, then collaborationThe KM solution was initially all content-based. This strategy, based on the theory that ramping up sufficient content for the chosen target audience will make the rollout of the KM solution to that audience successful, has worked very well. Only after the content-based solution had generated sufficient enthusiasm and support across the organization were other elements developed to support collaboration.

5. Voluntary participationAn important principle for KM at Infosys has been not to force employees to use the KM system. In the early stages, direct incentives were offered for participation. Later in its KM journey, the promotion scheme was changed to focus more on awards and recognition, rather than monetary rewards. Introduction of KCM (Knowledge Currency Units) is really providing a boosting effect.

6. An in-house solutionWhile specialized KM products have been evaluated periodically for various functionalities, even those products touted by suppliers as "comprehensive KM solutions" have never been able to cater to all of the company's KM requirements.

Key features of KM framework in Unisys are as follows

1. Centrally lead , but decentrally energized Initiative2. Based on critical success factors identified.3. Knowledge Community concept accepted at Unisys take a holistic approach to KM. It

allows communities to form around self-described interests, but it does not allow employees to waste time on communities that are not tightly aligned to a corporate goal. 70 + officially chartered knowledge communities are set up.

4. Introductory learning course provided through Unisys University is very helpful to make people aware about KM and for capacity building for the knowledge sharing and dissemination process.

KM system: similarities and contrast between Infosys and UnisysKM system: similarities and contrast between Infosys and Unisys

Both the company’s vision and objectives are to set a smooth KM system which ensure capturing and disseminating all knowledge necessary to satisfy their business objectives and ultimately serve the customers better. In both the companies adequate technology back up are facilitated for connectivity between geographically separated units and people. For capturing the content and its preservation, both companies have developed Knowledge portal namely Kshop in Infosys and Knowledge.Net in Unisys. All the employees are provided access to the portal and encouraged to submit their knowledge tips and bits to knowledge repository. In both the companies various measures are there to build knowledge culture and capacity among employees to share and use knowledge. The following are the significant differences seen in the implementation of KM strategies.

Infosys follows KMM- Knowledge Management Maturity Model which is based on the realisation

that path to achieve KM success involves significant changes in the working culture and in the

processes of the organization. Instead of taking one giant leap a staged frame work is done under

progressive development. Unisys identified some critical success factors to be followed for the building of

KM system which has been discussed in the analysis part. They have strategized these initiatives

through centrally lead, but de-centrally energised framework.

Regarding Knowledge communities, Infosys allows making of communities by interested group employees based on their interest to share their views and ideas across all the units. Online collaborative tools like wikis; blogs etc are being used to facilitate the communication. Normally Management don’t impose any control over such communities.

But in Unisys, communities are centrally formed by expert group specifically set up for this purpose. They will identify the need for communities in different subject field related to its business objectives. It does not allow employees to waste time on communities that are not tightly aligned to a corporate goal. 70 + officially chartered knowledge communities are set up.

ConclusionConclusion

Both Infosys and Unisys have recognized the importance of proper Knowledge Management System and implemented using proper strategies suitable for their environment. From the survey results it is evident that almost all employees of the both organization have understood the value of KM to the organization and the individuals. Both companies have won international awards for setting up and running efficient KM system in respective companies. Both companies are trying to incorporate latest trend in KM research and development by setting up separate KM research team in respective companies.