Turning Knowledge into Value

As a knowledge management pioneer, KPMG Consulting is moving its long established internal knowledge processes onto a truly global basis.

Company background

The need to quickly access knowledge applies to most organisations, especially service-based organisations. International professional practices like KPMG Consulting identified its importance and developed knowledge management processes earlier than other companies.

As one of the world's leading accountants, business advisors and management consultancies, KPMG Consulting has therefore been practising knowledge management for a number of years. However, its systems were nationally focused with international links. It is currently replacing them with 'K-World,'a truly global system that represents its fourth or fifth generation knowledge management system.

The Knowledge Management solution

"We have been an international company for decades, involving a lot of liaison and collaboration between local practices when working with international clients," says David Parlby, head of knowledge management at KPMG Consulting. "The primary objective in designing K-World was to move knowledge management onto a truly global basis, which means different practices adopting the same technology platform and approach. This is allowing us to focus more closely on bringing together people from a number of different countries in order to service the needs of global clients."

K-World comprises three components. A single messaging platform based on Microsoft Exchange and Outlook 98 provides communication and collaboration; a global intranet enables knowledge sharing; and a client collaboration system enables KPMG Consulting staff to exchange information with clients. By the end of 1999 these systems will have been rolled out to 60,000 people in 16 countries and will be extended to all 100,000 professional staff world-wide by the end of the year 2000.

"It has gone remarkably smoothly," says Parlby, "as a result of the very active sponsorship from our International Executive. It has helped to drive the deployment through in a very short space of time. We also made a serious investment in the right skill sets to make it happen. As part of a global alliance we worked very closely with Microsoft in building the infrastructure and the applications within K-World. Some of the things we have done with them will set new industry standards."

Solution Summary

Knowledge management isn't just about technology, but about creating a knowledge organisation. KPMG Consulting has made a substantial investment in recruiting and deploying chief knowledge officers and knowledge managers in its businesses, amounting to some 1,500 full time staff world-wide. KPMG Consulting has a global knowledge officer with national counterparts in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, German and the United States of America, the first four core countries to adopt K-World.

The practice has enhanced its previous knowledge management processes to cover hosting of content onto K-World, ensuring that it is edited to the appropriate quality standards and published in the right format. It has also constructed a global taxonomy, which classifies all information in K-World to that it can be navigated and searched quickly and easily.
Knowledge sharing is a fundamental value within KPMG Consulting, along with a focus on people and on clients. It is an important component of performance measurement and affects both employees'remuneration and their career prospects.

Benefits

K-World fundamentally supports KPMG Consulting's strategy of turning knowledge into value for the benefits of its clients, its people and its communities. "It has improved the quality of the bids we put in - and the work we carry out for clients is more innovative," concludes Parlby. "It has also improved our operational efficiency, revenues and margins and our speed of response. It has also improved the quality of life for our staff because they are spending less time on the mundane collection and gathering of information. Most important of all, it genuinely gives our clients access to not just the expertise of the client engagement team, but also into KPMG Consulting's entire global pool of expertise."
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