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ICL
International Computers Limited (ICL) is Britain's oldest information systems company and was long regarded as the flagship of the UK's indigenous computer industry. The company evolved from the amalgamation of computer interests from within several companies. The climax of these amalgamations resulted in the formation of ICL in 1968, in a deal between ICT (International Computers and Tabulators Ltd) and the English Electric Company. Over time, the company has moved from its computer design and manufacturer origins into a service-led organization, within which knowledge about technology is its real asset.
Living in a rapidly changing environment, ICL adjusted its vision from simply manufacturing to helping its customers to seize the opportunities of the information age. In attempting this transformation, ICL has come to realize that the management of knowledge is a fundamental source for competitive advantage.
This realization has led ICL to focus upon its worldwide intellectual capital and reflect upon ways to leverage these assets. Examining its operations, the company quickly became aware that knowledge was not being utilized effectively. There was a great deal of duplicated effort, especially in developing services and methodologies. In addition, it had trouble in quickly identifying experts to support projects. There were many examples in which different ICL businesses were simultaneously and unknowingly bidding for the same customer projects.
Knowledge initiative beginnings
ICL took a decision not only to improve its information management infrastructure, but also its capacity to tap into the tacit knowledge and experience carried in the heads of its employee and construct ways to use this know-how more effectively.
ICL's knowledge initiative took off in late 1994 in the coming together of an informal network of ICL people who were interested in the knowledge challenge. This group, known as the knowledge management network, discovered that a great deal of knowledge management was already taking place within the organization. For example, the group identified twenty-three different internal information services for employees, which were heavily duplicated because of an almost total absence of co-ordinated effort. The group also discovered many activities being undertaken by well-meaning people in an attempt to be helpful, but who had insufficient time, money or management support to make a significant difference to the business.
The initial insights into the problems were uncovered through a series of learning workshops in 1995. The outcome of the workshops led to an appreciation that here was an excellent opportunity to accelerate ICL's business transformation. In January 1996, the network approached Keith Todd, ICL's newly appointed chief executive, with the recommendation that he appoint a full-time programme director for a cross-company initiative. Todd accepted the business argument for this (even though he was still in his first week as CEO), and thus the seed for Project Vik (Valuing ICL Knowledge) was sown.
Project Vik
ICL had always invested significantly in training and development, focusing on improving the capability of individuals and teams. With the new strategic focus an additional dimension was added to the training and development goal: how could an employee's or a team's skills, knowledge and learning be transferred from one part of the organization to another? In other words, how could the company supplement organizational learning to the existing emphasis on training and developing people? During the early weeks of the Vik, it became clear that the areas that were going to require greatest effort were:
The approach adopted to tackle these challenges was to create a small ‘catalyst’ team with cross-functional skills and understanding of these areas. Catalyst team members were selected based on the criteria that they were change agents, good communicators, effective consultants and influencers. Catalyst team positions were advertised on ICL's global e-mail system, and led to 120 responses from fourteen countries. This indicated strong interest within the organizational community in the project. By mid-1996, a breadth of experience was represented in a new fiveperson team.
Project Vik was set up deliberately as a project, rather than as a separate knowledge management function as had happened in some other companies. This approach was grounded in the belief that, as with the company's quality initiative, the knowledge management initiative needed to be woven into line management responsibilities.
In rolling out the project, the company focused on getting early successes that would be visible across the company. It was decided that, even though the catalyst team was drawn from across management teams and communities, it needed to be visible and operational at the local level. Understanding and initiative at the local level was necessary to evaluate exactly how people, processes and technology needed to change so to create an effective knowledge-sharing environment.
In grappling with the transformation issues the company knew it had to effectively incorporate new technologies into its operational processes. Emergent new technologies, such as intranets and groupware, present opportunities to make knowledge accessible globally, which hitherto had not been possible. Project Vik's first major aim was to create a global information service using ICL's intranet. This is expected to deliver immediate impact on productivity, by reducing time wasted in locating company information. The effort was code-named Cafe Vik, to reinforce the idea of connecting people.
In running with this new initiative ICL was acutely aware that, given the existing perception that there already is an information overload, implementing a new system requiring even more data could easily lead to counterproductive consequences. Nevertheless, investigations with client managers suggested that effective services that inform people on a just-in-time basis could actually save time. ICL client managers estimated that in the past they had been spending up to a day every week tracking down information and expertise. If that time could be cut by half, it would significantly enhance productivity.
In mid-August 1996, with the 50 per cent reduction target explicitly in mind, the project team ran a number of focus groups for frontline employees – consultants, project managers and salespeople. The focus groups explored ways and types of information individuals needed to do their job more effectively. Even though responses were of different ICL businesses, common issues emerged. People wanted information about:
- ICL itself, so that they could be effective ambassadors for the company
- customers and major partners, and relationships with them
- ICL services and products
- processes and policies across the different parts of the company
- the company-wide expertise available to them.
Besides the above, there were also requests for simple timesaving tools such as up-to-date telephone and site directories and maps of ICL offices worldwide. Different parts of the organization were called upon to contribute their design, technical skills and energies, as well as lobby owners of the required information for the successful development of electronic knowledge-sharing community. With good collaboration from all quarters, Cafe Vik opened eleven weeks later.
Cafe Vik
Cafe Vik came into being as a web site on ICL's intranet. The website was thoughtfully put together with special attention given to its design. A distinctive feature of the design was a cartoon-like character representing the personality of the service, who very quickly became known as Vik.
Its project team felt that the launch warranted more than simply an announcement or a brochure landing on people's desks. It was important to signal the strategic importance of the service in context: this was one small step on the much longer journey of changing the way ICL is to work as a company.
These cues and actions were provided by:
1 Meeting directly with employees to explain why knowledge management was such a critical part of the new, service-led ICL. The roadshows could be used to introduce Cafe Vik and to obtain immediate feedback. Keeping attuned to the spirit of the service, simple inexpensive café tables and chairs with around six personal computers were all that were needed to establish Cafe Vik in standard conference rooms at ICL sites.
2 Preparing briefs for management and employees.
(a) Management briefing emphasized the link between managing intellectual capital and creating business value.
(b) Employee briefing stressed the practical benefits of being better at sharing knowledge across the company.
These briefings were given to small groups in Cafe Vik before giving them the opportunity for a hands-on session with the service.
Cafe Vik roadshows made a tour of major sites in the UK and across Western and Central Europe. Visits to Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France and Poland were well received. For the more distant outposts a gathering of thirty national managers was convened, and drew an equally positive reaction. The positive reception seemed to stem from the fact that this was an initiative done for employees, rather than to them. This seemed to be particularly welcome. Immediate and positive feedback was not just informative but helpful in strengthening the resolve of the catalyst team itself.
Outcomes
By its first anniversary in November 1997, Cafe Vik was already being used by about 50 per cent of ICL's 19 000 employees. As awareness of the service spreads the number continue to grow. Reported benefits are:
1 People have been able to identify and contact client managers quickly to alert them to problems or opportunities.
2 Line managers can obtain reliable and up-to-date company policy information.
3 Technical specialists have rapid access to technology briefings.
4 Consultants can use in their proposals descriptions of capabilities available in other parts of the company.
Although most of the benefits of better ‘knowing what we know’ have been captured largely in anecdotal form, they still manage to present a convincing enough arguments for other potential adopters. Every anecdotal example has a common benefit: saving time. This message is used to drive home the two major derived benefits: first, the value of time saved itself and, second and perhaps more importantly, it frees up more time for creating new knowledge.
Future
From its efforts at knowledge sharing ICL has learnt that the process needs dedicated support to be effective. Proponents in ICL believe that five main job roles will become increasingly common in organizations that recognize knowledge as a key aspect of competitive advantage:
1 Chief knowledge officer. A member of the senior management team accountable for identifying and gaining leverage from critical knowledge assets. Although the title is used more widely in the USA than in Europe, the role remains the same.
2 Information service providers. These electronic librarians organize, catalogue and maintain the knowledge databases. In some organizations, they offer a help desk to search the electronic library for employees. In ICL, Cafe Vik is managed by an information services team without whom data would soon become obsolete and the value of the service would be diminished in the eyes of users.
3 Web masters. These maintain the technical infrastructure on which information and knowledge is shared. They are responsible for the maintenance of an intranet; this role is often combined with that of information service provider.
4 Knowledge sponsors. These are responsible for deciding which type of knowledge should be shared and presented. For example, a sales director might be the knowledge sponsor for the information shared across an organization about its clients. He or she would need to decide if all visits to customers were followed up by a quick note on the intranet, or whether to increase the number of face-to-face meetings between salespeople in a particular industry. Although not deemed a full-time job, it is a critical role in knowledge-based organizations.
5 Knowledge owners. All the information that ICL shares through Cafe Vik has a clearly identifiable owner who must update that information and ensure its accuracy. With technology that makes information so easy to share, most people are knowledge owners and it is critical that the responsibility is taken seriously. One must be wary because there are legal pitfalls, among other things, if the information is inaccurate. Knowledge owners need to be acquainted with legislation on issues such as data protection and defamation. ICL suggests from its experience that managers need to reinforce the importance of information sharing by weaving it into role descriptions and reward and recognition processes.
The role of the Project Vik catalyst team now is to work with different parts of the business to identify their critical knowledge assets. The team aims to define which key actions and roles will create an effective knowledge-sharing environment for them. This has led the team to discover that leaders need a range of new tools and frameworks to help them view their business from a knowledge perspective and to gain real benefits from it. These new insights mean that in the future:
1 Management education will play a significant role in the months ahead.
(a) A programme of half-day workshops has been started for key ICL management teams to produce a knowledge asset register, recording the critical knowledge that supports their business.
(b) Each team develops an action plan for using and enhancing this knowledge, reflecting the new roles and accountabilities required to sustain this way of working.
2 ICL is building the knowledge perspective into its recruitment, induction, performance management and reward systems.
(a) ICL's graduate induction programme has a session on the importance of sharing knowledge, and the human resource function is looking at how to promote knowledge sharing as part of the new psychological contract between the company and its employees. Put simply, ICL wants it to be ‘the way we do things around here’.
Keith Todd has declared publicly that his personal vision is one in which everyone at ICL has the same access to knowledge across the company as he does, in order to harness that capability for ICL customers. This vision has come through the realization that by dedicating enthusiastic change agents to the knowledge-sharing task ICL has made significant progress. Nevertheless, a sustainable knowledge-sharing environment needs recognition from each and every business leader and employee, not just the chief executive and knowledge officers, that knowledge is an asset that must be nurtured and protected. That is the next stage of ICL's knowledge journey.