Supporting collaboration at Ernst & Young

Supporting collaboration at Ernst & Young James Dellow KM Challenge 2004

“… the future of professional services – which is itself much of the future of differentiated business – is all about people, knowledge and relationships”
Ross Dawson (2000)

See also http://www.ahtgroup.com/How_To_Lock-in_Your_Clients.pdf

Collaboration Technology
Enables “virtual teams” to cross time and distance
Same time, different place
Different time, different place
True hybrid solutions have appeared in recent years
Multimedia technology continues to advance
Virtual teams “predominately use information and communication technology (ICT) to communicate, collaborate, share information and coordinate their efforts but not exclusively.” Dubé and Paré (2002)

Who else is using collaboration technology?
Not just professional services…
Health - telemedicine
Construction – project management
Manufacturing – supply chain management
Small business – virtual enterprises
How is collaboration technology being used in your organisation or industry?

Collaborative Infrastructure
A totally implemented and tested technical infrastructure;
Software readiness, as evidenced by installation, testing and final availability to users;
The availability of guidelines.
Evaristo and Munkvold (2002)

What are guidelines?
Guidelines are crucial “since this paradigm of team working is relatively new and fraught with uncertainties”:
Training on the effective, integrated use of electronic collaboration tools
The allocation of roles and responsibilities
Managing trust
Routines and workflow
Managing cultural differences
Evaristo and Munkvold (2002)

“ The type of ICT available to a team can facilitate or hinder effective communication among team members… The mix of available ICT for a specific situation is thus critical to ensure effective communication.”
Dubé and Paré (2002)
How do people in your organisation know what collaboration technology to use?

Software Risk in Virtual Teams
The Web has changed software
With traditional application development, knowledge about software risk usually resides with I.T. specialists
Some of the risk areas include:
Planning and Development
Functionality
Information Security

A globally dispersed organisation with over 100,000 people located in more than 141 countries
Teamwork is a core value of our firm
E&Y provides 22 standard technologies to enable virtual teams, that include:
E-mail, IM, Global V-mail, Tele-, Web- and Videoconferencing
1,000s of internal Lotus Notes “project team” databases and 100s of Web-based collaboration spaces shared with our clients
Plus other EY/KnowledgeWeb tools
Virtual Teams at E&Y

Availability of guidelines
Helpdesks & Escalation Paths
Tool Selection Guidelines
User Guides
Leading Practice Guides
Templates
Success Stories
Knowledge Managers and Knowledge Networks
Deployment Campaigns
Training (F2F, E-Learning and Tele-training)

E&Y’s collaborative infrastructure
Globally standardised set of tools
Center for Business Knowledge TM
Service line support groups
Knowledge/tool managers
Champions and sponsors

Assessing you collaborative capability
Do your people know how to collaborate?
Does your organisation understand the value, benefits and risks of collaborating on-line with you partners and clients?
Are your IT people ready for user-driven development of a Web-based collaboration tool?
Do you have the right processes in place to both diffuse a collaborative capability as well the processes that would form your collaborative infrastructure?
Have you implemented the appropriate IT systems to help minimise the risks your organisation is exposed to from on-line collaboration with your partners and customers?

Assessing you collaborative capability
Is your technology infrastructure adequately prepared to support a Web-based collaboration tool?
Do protocols exist for testing the on-line workspace before collaboration begins?
What data, information and knowledge do you intend to share on-line?
Are guidelines available for knowledge managers and end-users to learn about the leading and recommended approaches to on-line collaboration?

Alternative Strategies
Hosted collaboration technology:
Collaborative Systems Pty Ltd
http://www.quickplace.com.au/
Provides a hosted IBM Lotus Domino based collaboration space. All that is required is an Internet connection and a compatible Web-browser
Provides the majority of levels 1 and 2
Allows you to focus on level 3

Summary
Successful virtual teaming is a demanding activity but the capability to collaborate on-line can represent a competitive advantage
It takes more than just the right technology, but don’t ignore the collaboration infrastructure framework
“ Knowledge management” has an important role in the your collaborative infrastructure
Who is responsible for managing guidelines (“knowledge” about collaboration) in your business?

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Supporting collaboration at Ernst & Young

by James Dellow on Sep 16, 2007

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Supporting collaboration at Ernst & Young — Presentation Transcript