A case study on Knowledge Management framework and imperatives in Nigeria and opportunities presented.

1. Brown & Brian: Leveraging
the Knowledge
Management Advantage.
Discussion Document
Olofinlade, O.S
12/3/2014

2. The Knowledge Management Advantage…. Discussion Document
1
Prepared by Olofinlade, Olufunso Steve Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Introduction
As more individuals and businesses across the globe increasingly depend on technology to perform
basic and functional tasks, the demand for IT and IT related services has consistently been on the
increase. Consequently, the global and very recently the Nigerian IT market has grown exponentially
with several opportunities emerging across the IT sector value chain.
A major source of competitive advantage for contemporary IT professional services firms lies in the
quality of skilled/competent professionals that are on-boarded. However, in recent times, IT firms have
been faced with the problem of retaining their talents/skilled professionals. When these employees
exit the organization they leave with their tacit and institutional knowledge (otherwise referred to as
‘Knowledge Erosion’). The problem of eroding institutional knowledge is an increasing source of worry
for business owners.
Brown & Brian, after over a decade of operations and transformation into a large professional services
provider, is currently facing a similar problem and the need to succinctly address this challenge has
never been more urgent than now.
Problem Diagnosis: The Brown & Brian Predicament
Brown & Brian is experiencing an unprecedented ‘High Employee Turnover Rate’. Its employees
are resigning to take on better career opportunities elsewhere and/or start their own businesses. This
situation has exposed Brown & Brian to business constraints despite the company’s effort to
proactively fill the vacancies.
Purpose of Discussion Document
The purpose of this discussion document is:
 To brainstorm and propose a wide range of Knowledge Management initiatives in addressing
the current challenges being faced by Brown & Brian.
 Provide a platform to assess the effectiveness of these initiatives in addressing identified
problems.
Dwindling
Revenue/
Bottom Line
Increasing
Project
Failure Rate
Increasing
Uncompleted
Projects
Decreasing
Customer
Satisfaction
Level
‘Loss of institutional knowledge’/Knowledge Erosion
High Employee Turnover Rate1
2 ROOT
CAUSAL
FACTORS
Fig 1.0: Problem Diagnosis Schematic

3. The Knowledge Management Advantage…. Discussion Document
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Prepared by Olofinlade, Olufunso Steve Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Discussion Issues
1. Proposing a Knowledge Management ‘Solution’ for Brown & Brian
Table 1.0: Proposing a Knowledge Management Solution for B& B
Right Information
 Helps identify/classify organizational Knowledge Assets.
 Helps in answering the ‘How’, ‘What’, ‘Where’ ‘When’ ‘Who’ and ‘Why’
related questions pertaining to the desired business result.
 There will be an improved decision making process
 Reduced turnaround time and effective knowledge transfer
Right Persons
 Who needs what? Helps identify the users of information
 Organization can reduce time to competence for new hires
 Customers can be better served with increase satisfaction levels
 Organization can become more efficient when employees are performing
optimally
Right Way, Cost,
Time
(Just-in-time
Intervention)
 Storytelling
 Learning from Past Mistakes
 Project Retrospective
 Case Studies
 Communities of Expert/Practice
 Action Learning etc.
Right Results
 Expected business results.
 Capacity to deliver exceptional performances
 Business Continuity
2. Quick Win: Solving ‘pressing’ challenges with Knowledge Management
Table 2.0: Knowledge Management Initiatives vs. expected impact
KM Initiative Rationale Justification Key Success Factors
Project
Retrospective
Project resource persons to
share vital lessons learnt
over the project life cycle to
prevent repeat mistakes.
Improved Project
 turnaround time
 success rate
 completion rate
Codify and store
knowledge gleaned
to enable access at
point of need.
Case Studies/
Brown Bag
Sessions
When case studies are
woven around real life
scenarios, they help in
innovatively solving
problems.
Enhanced Customer
Satisfaction
Improved Project
Completion/Success
Rate
Codify and store
insights gained,
develop action points
and store outcome.
Every Organization desires to be effective by producing the intended result. A professional
services firm like Brown & Brian is effective when the “right information is made available to the
right persons in the right way, right cost and at the right time towards achieving the right results”.
This is the advantage a Knowledge Management Solution offers.
Brown & Brian needs to urgently address the lingering issue of knowledge erosion. It has become
imperative for the business to eliminate the ugly trend of failing and uncompleted projects,
declining revenue line and increasingly dissatisfied customers.

4. The Knowledge Management Advantage…. Discussion Document
3
Prepared by Olofinlade, Olufunso Steve Wednesday, December 03, 2014
KM Initiative Rationale Justification Key Success Factors
Storytelling
Learning forum where vastly
experienced or knowledge
custodians in the
organization share from their
wealth of experience
Retained institutional
knowledge
Improved Organizational
Process and turnaround
time
Capture, Store and
create access at the
point of need.
Communities
of Experts
/Practice
Identify experts in the
organization who can
collaborate to resolve
pressing issues.
Improved turnaround
time & productivity
Enhanced Customer
Satisfaction
Improved bottom line
Presence of a
facilitator to
moderate, capture
and document
knowledge assets
created
Knowledge
Repository
Store explicit information
and/or organizational assets
in line with defined taxonomy
Just-in-time access to
the right information.
Enhanced productivity
Defined Taxonomy
Defined Knowledge
Asset
3. Practical Framework for Consideration
Figure 2.0 below represents a practical framework for consideration for knowledge
management.
Figure 1.0: Practical Knowledge Management Framework: Aligned to Business, People,
Processes and Technology.
4. Opportunities for KM in Nigeria
The impact of globalization and an increasingly mobile workforce is getting local business leaders’
more interested in Knowledge Management. Organizations are looking to become more efficient and
churn out better results. By contrast however, the demand for highly skilled employees is increasingly
making it difficult for organizations to keep their top ‘talents’.
The situation described above describes the predicament of local businesses, which are now on the
look-out for consultants who can solve this challenge. Unfortunately, skilled KM specialists that can
resolve issues like this are few and far between. Consulting outfits that strategically build capacity in
the implementation of top notch knowledge management solutions will enjoy a ‘first-mover’ advantage
in a relatively untapped but large Nigerian market with a GDP of USD521.8Billion.
Align KM to business strategy
Adapt KM B&B’s operating
peculiarities and changing
business model.
Provide an opportunity for
problem solving, dynamic
learning, collaboration and
strategic planning.
Ensure business continuity by
protecting intellectual assets
from decay.
Identify best-in-class
processes to manage the life-
cycle of KM including Content
Management, Feedback
Management,
Collaboration, Tracking &
Reporting.
A clear governance process for
the vision and mission of KM in
B & B
Develop implementation tool
kits and methodologies
Technology use is considered
Intuitive to use.
Enables collaboration &
creation of virtual workspaces
Makes use internet technology
Leverage existing/various
knowledge repositories
Ensures accessibility of
information and knowledge
Strong leadership &
governance structure
Effective Change Management
Programme
Institution of an implementation
team to enable adoption.
Communities of Practices
providing platform for
knowledge sharing
Definition of roles &
responsibilities
Alignment to workforce
Embedding KM into roles &
responsibilities.