KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT AND
COLLABORATION AT
TATA CONSULTING
SERVICES
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
 Founded in 1968 in India
 AN IT-services, business solution and outsourcing
organization.
 Offers a portfolio of IT enabled services to clients all
over the globe in horizontal, vertical, and geographical
domains.
 Has over 108,000 IT consultants in 47 countries.
 The largest Indian company by market capitalization and
is the largest India based IT services company by 2013
revenues.
Q1. ANALYZE THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT EFFORTS
AT TATA CONSULTING SERVICES (TCS) USING THE
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT VALUE CHAIN MODEL
The knowledge management efforts at TCS can be divided into the
following activities:
1. Knowledge Acquisition:
 Over the years, TCS had acquired a vast body of knowledge and
experience in several fields through on shore projects for its clients
across the globe including GE insurance, GE Health, Hewlett Packard,
Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank etc.
 TCS regularly rotated people across various function and within other
Tata Group Companies to gain cross industry experience.
 Employees were also encouraged to be part of outside bodies like the
IEEE, and go in for certifications.
CONT’S
2. Knowledge Storage:
 TCS had developed various repositories and databases for knowledge
storage such as Kbases, Process Asset Libraries, KnowMax, and
Ultimatix.
3. Knowledge Dissemination:
 Knowledge was disseminated using a variety of techniques such as:
- Ultimatix a web based electronic knowledge management portal;
- Propel session: brought together employees with similar interest;
- Live Meeting and Knowledge Transition sessions at the project level;
- “Tip of the Day” email comprising technical, conceptual or human
skills tips were shared within the organization daily.
CONT’S
4. Knowledge Application:
 Employees could access the knowledge repository that raised on the
corporate and branch servers through the intranet.
 Students or anybody should visit the TCS website to explore the new
capabilities developed by TCS and how it relates to the knowledge
they have accumulated over the years about the customers, markets,
systems development, and technologies.
WHICH TOOLS OR ACTIVITIES WERE USED FOR MANAGING
TACIT KNOWLEDGE AND WHICH ONES ARE USED FOR
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
Tools/activities
to manage
explicit
knowledge
Tools/activities
to manage tacit
knowledge
•
•
•
•
KBases
Process Asset Libraries
KnowMax
Ultimatix
• Redesign of development
centers,
• Propel sessions,
• Knowledge Transition Sessions
• Communities of practice
Q2. DESCRIBE THE GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AT TCS? HOW HAVE THESE
SYSTEMS HELPED TCS IN ITS BUSINESS?

The concept of knowledge management (KM) was introduced in TCS
in 1995 and dedicated KM team called “Corporate Groupware” was
formed in 1998.

This group launched the KM-pilot in mid 1999. At that time, KM in
TCS covered nearly every function, from quality assurance to HR
management.

The employees could access the knowledge repository that resided
on the corporate and branch servers through the intranet, with a
browser front end or a Notes client.

The knowledge repository, also called Kbases, contained a wide
range of information about processes, line of business, line of
technology, and projects.
CONT’S

The next step was to create Process Asset Libraries (PALs) which
contained information related to technology, processes, case
studies for project leaders which were made available to all
development centers through the intranet.

The same thing was done through the web-based electronic
knowledge management portal library and Kbases, which were
hosted on the intranet, were merged with Ultimatix, which had
sub-portals for quality management system, software productivity
improvement, training materials, and tools information.
CONT’S

TCS developed Knowmax, a knowledge management system, using
Microsoft share point portal server that gave TCS consultants access
to nearly 40 years of experience and best practices arranged by
type of engagement, the technology in use, and customer
requirements.

It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via
Ultimatix to all TCS associates. Any associate could contribute to
the K-Bank and Knowledge officers were made responsible for
maintaining the quality of content.

The benefits of these tools and systems to TCS are described in
detail Q5.
Q3. DECRIBE THE CALLABORATION TOOLS USED AT TCS?
WHAT BENEFITS DID TCS REAP FROMTHESE TOOLS?

TCS used a variety of collaboration tools:
- Infinity that includes instant messaging, IP telephony, and video
conferencing;
- blogs and wikis;
- IdeaStorm, TIP, and
- Mysite
The benefit:
 Collaboration overseas and local offices improved as instant
messaging (IM) got rid of cultural and pronunciation differences that
could occur on the phone.
 Corporate communications was able to run a 24 hour internal news
broadcast to all TCS offices in the world
 Travel and telecommunications costs were reduced by 40 percent
and 6 percent respectively.
 The other tools improved collaboration, communication, and
knowledge sharing among the employees.
Q4. HOW DID WEB 2.0 TOOLS HELP TCS MANAGE
KNOWLEDGE
AND
COLLABORATION
AMONG
ITS
EMPLOYEES?

Blogs, wikis, and other tools:
- boosts communication and productivity among employees

Wikis
- collaborating on materials related to project,
- supporting brainstorming sessions,
- developing presentations.
 Blogs
- Used as a means to gather inputs on problems that they faced on a
project.
Q4. CONT’S

JustAsk System
- allowed employees to pose a question and in turn get answers
from other colleagues, sometimes leading to a detailed
discussion.
- If someone often answered questions on a particular domain, the
relevant specialist group invited that person into the domain group
and thus gave the visibility to talent within the company.
 The IdeaStorm
- used by the management, helped in generation of ideas on topics
posted by the corporate team.
 TIP
- used as a portal for product innovation and new ideas.
- helped the management to gamer ideas related to product/
service innovation and helped in solving problems.
 Social Net Working MySite
- to help employees communicate better with each other
Q5. HOW DO YOU THINK KM TOOLS HAVE CHANGED SOME
KEY OPERATIONAL PROCESSES AT TCS, SUCH AS BIDDING
FOR NEW PROJECTS, PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION, CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND SO ON?
 Systems development and implementation activities are
more likely to be done by TCS in a manner that is
timely, effective, and cost efficient.
 The same for customer service – by knowing customer
requirements and also taking ideas from other
industries that are stored in the KM databases, the
company can provide new and innovative solutions to
resolve customer queries.
CONT’S
 TCS aims to move up the value chain and to continue to
bid for higher level projects, beyond those of
maintenance and development.
 By accumulating knowledge, it has built capabilities to
understand how to service clients through consulting
and in other strategic areas. So KM has enabled TCS to
continue to move higher up and to bid for more
strategic projects.
 KM repositories that capture best practices in the
projects it has undertaken make the company more
efficient in servicing clients. This means it can execute
better.
CONCLUSION
 Overall, KM tools have become a key strategic resource
at the company and all hires are required to learn them
as a part of their orientation.
 These tools are also the first go to before starting any
project or approaching a client.
 Knowledge in these database allows TCS consultants to
quickly gather intelligence about the client or similar
projects and thus align themselves better with what the
client might want.
 This has led to higher success rate in bidding and
project execution.