Best Practices in Enterprise Relationship Management

Andy Moore ...... 2 Overture Article: The River That Runs Through It The authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto have introduced into our lexicon a great new bumper-sticker phrase: Business is Conversation . . . Steve Pappas,KGain...... 4 V2T2™: Model and Method to Reduce Relationship Risk Two factors increase the threat to the expected LifeTime Value (LTV) of your enterprise relationships . . . Jim Pflaging,Intraspect ...... 6 Enterprise Collaboration: The Big Payoff Business is more than just transactions. Business is about trust, relationships and delivering long-term, sustained value . . . Karen L.Case and Rita Lochner,IBM ...... 8 Customer Service: A Holistic Approach When customers contact a customer service center, they are often anxious or agitated. It is a moment of truth between the company and its customer . . . Mark E.Atkins,Vality ...... 11 The Importance of Data Quality for Effective Relationships Opening systems offers opportunities for faster product development and fulfillment and better relationships. Or does it? There are risks in exposing internal data . . . Alex Dayon,InStranet...... 12 Going External: Content Management for Exchanging Information An important part of the bottom line for corporations is maintaining long-term, individualized relationships with their top corporate customers . . . Phil Lavery,OnDemand...... 13 Demand Management: Where Supply and Demand Chains Converge The last several decades have seen an explosion in demand for enterprise software applications that can streamline supply chain processes and deliver “just in time” manufacturing capability . . . Andy Moore ...... 14 Ground Zero for E-Commerce The essential requirement for a global enterprise is self awareness. Every nerve ending in a successful e-enterprise is tuned to detect change and chance, and the opportunities they bring . . .

Sponsored by

Special Supplement to September 2001 Andy Moore is an editor by profession and temperament, having held senior editorial and publishing positions The River That for more than two decades. As a publication editor, Moore most recently was editor-in-chief and co-publisher of KMWorld Andy Moore (formerly ImagingWorld) Runs Through It Editor Magazine.Moore now acts as a contract editorial consultant and conference designer. As KMWorld's Specialty Publishing Editorial Director,Moore By Andy Moore, Editorial Director,KMWorld Specialty Publishing Group acts as chair for the current series of "Best Practices White Papers," overseeing editorial content,conducting market research and writing the opening essays for each of the white papers in the series. The authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto get of self-interest, earnestness and disre- have introduced into our lexicon a great gard. “What I care about, you don’t. What I new bumper-sticker phrase: “Business is cared about this morning, I no longer care Conversation.” about. But now, I DO care about...” It’s Ba- As high metaphors go, it’s a pretty good bel all over again. one. The gist of the message is that the hu- And that’s just in one dimension. As Jim ways to exchange enough information, agree man factor of two people talking is what Pflaging, CEO of Intraspect correctly points on enough terms and get ourselves heard makes the world go ’round. Steve Pappas, out, work is done not within silos or domains above the din. “There’s a common denomi- President of KGain, who wrote the essay of interest, nor is it carried out in a linear, nator that cuts across all these many pro- following this one has another way of say- orderly fashion. Work is somehow accom- cesses and people ... a river runs through it,” ing it: The “touch” that adds value to a re- plished in complex and messy webs of sales- says Intraspect’s Pflaging. And the river that lationship requires human dialog. people, engineers, marketers, support staff runs through business right now is called col- It’s comforting that the new business lit- and customers, usually talking with another laboration. Conversation. Touch. erature has come full circle, retreating from messy web of process specialists in another Regaining the Touch That’s the way it’s supposed to be, any- way. But face it, the depersonalization of the relationship between your customers and “Each time we deploy a solution, we you is deeply ingrained. We have deployed tons of expensive and complicated systems to address the Babel-problem. And each time we deploy a solution, we add yet another add yet another layer that prevents layer that prevents actual touch, actual human contact. Over time these layers have accumulated, silting up the river so badly that we hardly know it’s there. actual touch, actual human contact.” The temptation is to blow up the dam, somehow undo the damage that all those systems have inflicted on our ability to touch our customers and partners. But that really wouldn’t work, would it? The volume, haste and dispersion of markets require the tech- the tyranny of “process improvement” and re- company in another time zone. How any- nology support. So, we’re stuck. turning to the cracker-barrel homespun of the thing gets done at all is one of the great mys- KGain’s Steve Pappas doesn’t see it as butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. teries of the early 21st century. an unsolvable problem. He suggest that we But the problem with the “conversation” “It’s true,” says Rian Gorey, Practice Ex- simply become more sensitive to the “touch” metaphor is that it doesn’t scale. Individu- ecutive, Knowledge & Content Management requirement, and take the steps necessary to, ally, conversations (or collaborations, or di- for IBM Global Services. “Companies have as the song says, “accentuate the positive, alogs or whatever you call them) are easy to disaggregated and focused on their core- eliminate the negative” and by all means, understand ... two parties, two sets of ex- competencies, requiring increased nimble- don’t mess with Mr. In Between. pectations, a little song, a little dance. But ness in working with buyers, suppliers, com- “We have to amplify high touch where the reality is that at any given moment, we petitors in increased volumes and intensity.” we are currently using it,” explains Pappas. are having multiple conversations with mul- But despite this Babel of biblical propor- “Wherever there’s human interaction, we tiple parties, each of whom is a moving tar- tions, we manage to chug along. We find need to amplify the quality of it.” This is ac-

S2 Special Supplement to September 2001 complished, says Pappas, through cost-effec- Well, how DO people work? Usually not “How do you bring value to your suppli- tive and high-quality training of those mem- very well. You call a supplier and get his ers?” asks Pflaging, noting that the supply bers of your team who are customer-facing. voice mail. You leave a message ... “What’d chain runs in both directions. “Face it, some- At the same time, steps should taken to you think of the proposal?” Then you wait, times the value of my individual transaction “dampen the perception of coldness and and later you send an e-mail with the same just isn’t that important to them. But there is the impersonal image of technology where question. The supplier gets back to you the value in being easy to work with. There are it is being used,” adds Pappas. Systems next day, maybe, with an e-mail, and then he lots of definitions of value.” need to be better at mimicking high touch calls, “Did you get my e-mail? Here’s what So, being easy to work with ... providing by being sensitive to customer frustrations it said...” Then the reply cycle starts again. great service ... communicating freely ... with things like endless voice-mail loops Like I said, it’s a wonder anything gets knowing your customer ... isn’t this just and “all our agents are currently helping done at all. common sense?? other customers...” But there are at least two important un- “Yes! Exactly! It IS common sense!” says “There’s also an education process that derlying messages here: 1. Most commerce KGain’s Pappas enthusiastically. “It’s like, needs to take place,” says Pappas. “We need gets done over the old standbys—phone and the winner is the guy with the most keen gasp to let customers know that the technology is e-mail, and 2. Most commerce happens over of the bloody obvious! The problem is, the in place to help them, and not us.” time between two people who like each other. volume has spread out the complexity, and IBM Global Services’ Rian Gorey takes it a step further: “Customers will be expect- ing it,” he predicts. “The bar rises (for customer expectations) with every new innovation your competitors do.” “Get as close to your customers as you can, otherwise your competitors will, and “The naïve view is that all the put you out of business. But don’t put the burden on your customers; it is a cost of doing business for the company,’ says Gorey. “If you want to know what your customers value is derived from the transaction. want, Ask! But also keep innovating in ways to understand what customers WILL WANT and don’t know that they want it today.” But innovate smartly. As Gorey reminds The truth is that value accumulates us, “Companies have ignored many of the human components of making the ‘people systems’ work. ‘If you build it, they will come,’doesn’t work! What investments have over time from the relationship.” been made to increase the human capabilities, collaboration and interactions that make the content flow over that infrastructure? If these systems and people need to work better together and integrate, what has been done to make that happen? What human- And increasingly, it happens in a shared col- this volume dynamic has diminished that hu- capital investments have been made? The laborative environment of some kind ... kinda man interaction that people prefer.” companies that realize this in a holistic man- like a cracker barrel. The next several pages may or may not ner will get the payback. The others will There’s a naïve view that all the value is strike you as bloody obvious. But it’s clear that have wasted their investments.” derived from the transaction, the final mile. a return to at least the sense of human touch All of which sounds great, but is much But the truth is that value accumulates over in business is on the minds of the visionaries. easier to say than to do. The trick of it (and time from the relationship. It’s not the “what;” Breaking down the barriers that prevent that the everyday focus of the companies in the it’s the “how” that counts. As noted in the In- most basic of relationships—the Conversa- White Paper) is to create and implement so- traspect essay in this White Paper, Harvard tion—is the key challenge for succeeding in lutions that replace the cracker barrel with a Business Review says a mere 5% increase in today’s overwhelmingly abstract economy. seamless replacement. customer retention yields a 25% to 95% in- Here’s your homework: Today, have a conversation. A good, long conversation. ❚ crease in profits from that relationship. What Works? What Doesn’t? But isn’t it faddish to say that the disin- termediation of the Internet allows cus- “People are busy. They don’t have time tomers and businesses to be fickle? I mean, to learn new things,” cautions Intraspect’s Andy Moore has often been a well-known presence in the emer- Pflaging. “Employees will learn, maybe, one you can buy consumer and business prod- gence of new technologies, from independent telecommunications new technology per year. A lot of applica- ucts at auction now. Where’s the relationship through networking and information management. Most recently, tions take a big gulp—in time and in cost to loyalty in that? Moore has been pleased to witness first-hand the decade’s most sig- implement and own.” Pflaging argues that “Conversion to a new supplier or switch- nificant business and organizational revolution:the drive to leverage ing partners is very painful,” says Intraspect’s organizational knowledge assets (documents, records, information totally new solutions are expensive, disrup- and object repositories) and the expertise and skill of the organiza- tive and aren’t embraced by the users any- Pflaging. “For every transaction, there are 20 tions’ knowledge workers in order to create true learning organiza- way. “You need tools that work the way little steps that lead to it. The continuity of tions.He can be reached at [email protected] and welcomes feedback people work,” he says. what goes through it is what counts.” and conversation.

Special Supplement to September 2001 S3 customer is inconsequential (global context eclipses local transaction). If a manufacturer V2T2™: does engage a customer during a visit, the mode will be Low Touch, Low Tech, placing the manufacturer in Q4.

Model and Method to Inferences and Implications Volume-based business models dilute ERM lifecycle responsibilities:Volume-based Reduce Relationship Risk business models have spread out everyone (Touch) and everything (Tech) over long supply chains. The diffusion of people and tech- By Steve Pappas, President,KGain nology and the differentiation of roles and responsibilities have made the ERM lifecycle for individual customers the responsibil- The Lifetime Value (LTV) of may be out of “tune” during any phase of ity of everyone and no one at the same time. Enterprise Relationships is at Risk a relationship lifecycle for a given Value- The supply chain is spread so wide and the Volume context. By identifying the primary POVs so narrow that customers are subjected Two factors increase the risk to the ex- causes of potential discord in enterprise rela- to choppy relationship management as they pected LTV of your enterprise relationships: tionships, the V2T2 model can prescribe how interact with each channel agent, who may 1. Before many Enterprise Relationship the enterprise can “harmonize” ERM behav- or may not know their lifecycle histories and Management (ERM) lifecycles even begin, ior with expectations. (Although the context current situations. In our example, before the customers find themselves at odds with the of this example is Business-to-Consumer, sales phase of the relationship lifecycle has “channel agents” they will and may en- V2T2 is applicable to ERM in general.) even begun, the customer is at odds with counter during their experiences, making it Customer point of view (POV): Buying a every channel agent they might encounter less likely for them to continue any relation- car is a High Value, Low Volume transaction. during their visit to the car dealership. The ships they do establish. It’s a significant expenditure made infre- customer’s overall relationship lifecycle ex- 2. Because more resources and substi- quently. Customers expect High Touch as the perience, based on the accumulated effect tutes are available, customers are now less primary mode of ERM behavior when they of the behavior of everyone in the new-car tolerant of any tradeoffs between the ERM physically visit a dealership. The use of Tech- supply chain, makes it less likely for the behavior they expect and any enterprise- nology such as videotapes, computer kiosks, same customer to buy another new car from driven requirements for efficiency, making and websites during the visit is neither nec- the same sales person, sales manager, and it more likely that they will find—and will essary nor sufficient for the customer. Cus- manufacturer again. act upon—a better deal down the block or tomers expect a High(er) Touch, Low(er) Disconnect and paradox of 20th Century across the ocean. Tech mode of ERM, placing them in Q1 of business: Ironically, the primary source of The reality of doing business in the 21st the V2T2 Knowledge Frame. Value in our example, the manufacturer— Century highlights the interest in and goal Salesperson POV: High Value, High Vol- who has the most to gain from a long-term of ERM: Acquire and retain repeat cus- ume. The commission on selling a car is sig- relationship—is literally and figuratively the tomers and influence individuals in the cus- nificant and the salesperson must sell multi- farthest away from the customer. This is a tomers’ networks to be the same. ple cars per month. (The salesperson sees the major disconnect between customers and transaction in a larger context than customers the new-car supply chain and a paradox of do.) The salesperson expects that High Touch 20th Century business. The crux of the par- The KGain V2T2 ™ Model will be the primary mode of ERM during the adox is this: The customer operates from Q1 and Methodology Reduce Risk visit too, but the salesperson’s preference for of the V2T2 model, High Value, Low Vol- High Touch is lower than the customers’— ume, but the manufacturer operates from V2T2 links Value (product and service), because of Volume. The salesperson would Q2: High Value, High Volume. But wait— Volume (discrete or periodic),Touch (human prefer High(er) Tech to help manage more in the example we placed the manufacturer interaction), and Technology (enabling) to customer visits, per unit of time, placing the in Q4: Low Value, Low Volume. Yes, because help you (1) describe the influence of these salesperson in Q2 of the frame. the subject of the manufacturer’s POV in the dynamic forces on your business relation- Sales manager POV: Low Value, High example was a single customer and one car. ships, and (2) prescribe how these same forces Volume. The sales manager is responsible The subject of the manufacturer’s real POV can be harnessed to help you to achieve and for selling tens or hundreds of cars per month is a single market and millions of cars. The sustain a new level of ERM capability. (another step-up in context). Each of these manufacturer’s focus is on an aggregate mar- Linking Value and Volume from Low to relationships must be “closed” successfully, ket and High Tech rather than on an indi- High gives a matrix of four ERM contextual requiring the coordination and integration of vidual customer and High Touch. zones. Similarly, linking Touch and Tech- several people and subsystems that interact Constrained by Volume, corporations (nology) gives a matrix of four ERM behav- with customers. If the sales manager expects compensated in two ways: The preference ioral “tones.” Subordinating ERM behavior to interact during a visit, the mode will be and expectation for High-Value long-term to context and aligning both matrices gives Low Touch (indirectly through the salesper- relationship management is High Touch the Knowledge Frame ™ below. son), High Tech (credit check, financing, in- (human interaction). The corporation, con- surance), placing the sales manager in Q3 of strained by Volume, compensated with High V2T2 Example:Buying a New Car the frame. Tech in two ways: (1) Organizational func- Manufacturer POV: Low Value, Low tions and a supporting infrastructure emerged The ERM scenario of buying a car shows Volume. The manufacturer is responsible to help the enterprise stay in “touch” with how the V2T2 model describes why partici- for selling thousands if not millions of new customers through a wide variety of activi- pants’expectations for Touch-Tech behaviors cars and a visit to a dealership by a single ties and behaviors collectively called brand-

S4 Special Supplement to September 2001 els was to support mass production. Tech- High-Touch interfaces that can be used by nology played an ever-increasing role for the all channel agents when interacting with each enterprise, internally at first, and then exter- other, with customers, or by the customers "...before the sales phase nally, culminating in 20th Century mass themselves. At this level of sophistication an marketing and mass consumption. Now, ex- extranet can be described more appropriately isting customer “touch points” are being con- as a Value Network. of the relationship life verted to High-Tech interfaces, replacing or Transform High-Tech interfaces into High- augmenting High-Touch interaction. While Touch interaction: Technology has slowly posing as “user friendly” and “intuitive,” eclipsed Touch in many Value-Volume con- cycle has even begun, many are, in fact, something less. Addition- texts with questionable results. Review every ally, many enterprises have tried to create interface having direct ERM responsibilities brand new portals in “cyberspace” with ques- and, if necessary, reengineer them to facil- the customer is at odds tionable results. A major factor in these er- itate Touch-sensitive interaction with cus- rors is the perpetuation of the primarily one- tomers and context-sensitive intervention by way flow of traditional marketing and R&D. channel agents. An example of this prescrip- with every channel agent We are used to making assumptions about tion is the Customer Relationship Manage- what customers want and need. This 20th ment software that enables customers to ini- Century mindset of “realspace” has crossed tiate direct multi-modal contact with channel they might encounter." over as a pseudo constraint of 21st Century agents during actual ERM activities. This cyberspace. By definition, Touch, at any level type of on-demand High-Touch interaction of Value, is ultimately effected by human in- should be the rule rather than the exception. teraction and requires dialog. Transform one-way mass marketing into ing. In effect, the enterprise compensated for two-way mass communication: The tradi- the impracticality of performing two-way Recommendations tional mediums of television, radio, and print High-Touch mass communication with one- do not compare to the high-context, touch- way High-Tech mass marketing. (2) As the Transform the supply chain into a Value sensitive, and two-way dialogs that custom- primary anchor in the customer’s experi- Network: Volume has spread people and ers are now learning to demand. The tradi- ence, the product became the focus of ma- technology over supply chains where roles tional organizational functions associated jor investments in research and development and responsibilities are differentiated and with branding are adopting “new media” and (R&D) to make products like new cars su- diffused. It’s incumbent upon the primary need to be fully integrated with modern ERM perior “High-Touch” and High-Tech expe- source of value in the supply chain, like a car practice. An example of this prescription is riences. Corporations succeeded, but (1) and manufacturer, to take the lead and reverse the emergence of permission-based market- (2) are no longer sufficient to remain com- the process. This does not mean eliminating ing, which, in a characteristic High-Touch petitive with the emergence of the “new channel agents but eliminating the effect— manner, asks permission to interact. economy,” punctuated by the Internet and the fragmentation of knowledge about rela- The prescriptions above highlight the World Wide Web. tionships across many people (Touch) and emergence of the 21st Century Value Net- Attempting High Touch with High Tech systems (Technology). An example of this work, enabled by the continuing advances gives mixed results: The original focus of prescription is extranets. Leading enterprises made in Technology to process even more technology in Volume-based business mod- are well on their way to creating seamless Volume. These same advances are enabling customers to be better informed and more demanding. They can change their business relationships easily from the comfort of their own homes by moving a cursor on a computer screen to select or deselect you or your competitor. It will only get easier for them and harder for you. To reduce risk you must reduce uncertainty. KGain’s V2T2 model and methodology reduce uncertainty by enabling you to clearly see the interaction of the essential dynamic forces influencing your business relationships; thereby, helping you decide on the right mix of Touch and Technology to manage a desired level of Value and Volume. ❚

KGain ™ is pleased to introduce the V2T2 ™ General Business Model and Methodology with this article’s publication as the latest addition to KGain’s inventory of enterprise-enabling assets. KGain enables its customers to achieve their goals more rapidly with less error through “fast and light” Enterprise Engineering consulting engagements and self-service digital content. Please visit us at www.kgain.com and KGain’s V2T2 Knowledge Frame ™ simplifies complex Enterprise Relationship Management dynamics. www.v2t2.com.

Special Supplement to September 2001 S5 Jim Pflaging,President, CEO and Chairman,joined Enterprise Collaboration: Intraspect in June 1998.He has expanded Intraspect in the U.S.and Europe,and increased the customer base to more than 200,including The Big Payoff Boeing,General Motors,J.P. Morgan Chase,and Verizon. Prior to joining Intraspect,he was the founder,President By Jim Pflaging, President and CEO,Intraspect Software Jim Pflaging and CEO of Pacific Bell President and CEO Network Integration,a new venture focusing on wide- area data network design and management.In three years, Business is more than just transactions. Industry experts and business executives PBNI became one of the fastest growing network integration Business is about trust, relationships, and assert collaboration, the sharing of informa- companies in California with over 2,000 customers and 200 employees.Mr.Pflaging received his B.S.in Finance delivering long-term, sustained value. Now tion across a broadly connected world, from and Marketing from the University of Virginia. that companies have adopted the web as a suppliers to producers to customers to the platform for basic transactions and com- customers’customers, is a key enabler to re- munications, such as email, they are look- act more quickly to changes in supply and ing for the next step. How can companies demand. The Gartner Group claims that, deliver goods and services with greater “By 2005, your enterprise will be collabo- speed, consistency, and quality? How can rative ... or it won’t exist at all.” We know ◆ Create, gather, and manage unstructured they tap into and leverage the combined in- you want to thrive in the new economy. The and semi-structured information tellectual capital of their employees, cus- question is: where should you begin? ◆ Discuss, analyze, review and approve tomers, and partners? this information collaboratively Enterprise Collaboration: ◆ Discover and reuse the prior work of Collaboration:Just Do It The Technology Breakthrough people in the extended enterprise ◆ Learn on the job from peers and from According to InformationWeek, the an- Sure you can spend time integrating your organizational practices and methods swer is collaboration. In its 2001 survey on back-end systems and linking them with ◆ Be available from anywhere—wired or Information Sharing and Collaboration, more your partners to gain greater efficiencies. wireless—at any time through a browser than nine out of 10 business and IT executives You can even use portals and content man- ◆ Grow smarter and add more value every indicated that collaboration—the sharing of agement systems to efficiently distribute in- day as they refine and reuse knowledge business information within and across cor- formation across your enterprise. However, ◆ Be technically agnostic, using any data- porate organizations—will increase sales op- according to the Gartner Group, 80% of a base, in any server environment, with any portunities and about half say it will cut costs. company’s useful knowledge is unstructured browser, on any email client, scaling inter- In fact, the survey participants agreed that, information, residing in email, on desktops, actions across any enterprise “companies need to partner with suppliers in internally generated documents, on pages ◆ Leverage open standards to hook into and customers to develop the right products, pulled off the web and in human-readable best-of-breed solutions elsewhere in the find the right markets, and deliver goods on reports generated by enterprise applications. company’s enterprise network. time without stockpiling huge inventories.” To what extent are you optimizing your use To collaborate effectively, people work in of this human-centric knowledge? Intraspect Powers large virtual teams, created quickly, spread As companies work together, they gen- Enterprise Collaboration around the world, and comprising colleagues, erate mountains of unstructured information customers and partners. Working in these that is tough to synthesize in one company Intraspect provides an environment where global team-based environments, people es- and next to impossible to synthesize between people collaborate, using email and web- tablish relationships that may be short-term multiple companies. Fortunately we are no based workspaces, to manage business rela- project-focused or long-term and evolving longer constrained by traditional database tionships, share information and coordinate over time. With each new relationship, com- tools. Enterprise collaboration solutions now work. Simply put, Intraspect creates a sin- panies invest in selecting the right people, enable companies to mine and refine the gle place where people do their collabora- learning how to work together, and deter- golden 80% of the person-to-person knowl- tive work more effectively and thereby ex- mining how to extract the most value in terms edge that most enterprise systems leave in in- tract the greatest value from their critical of revenues and profits. formation silos. business relationships. So, how do we measure the value of the An effective enterprise collaboration so- Intraspect’s enterprise collaboration ap- relationships we build? The Harvard Busi- lution must provide a technical means for plications offer four essential capabilities ness Review reports that a 5% increase in people to: (see Figure 1): customer retention can result in a 25% to ◆ Work together on large, distributed, cross- ◆ Web-Based Workspaces that provide a 95% increase in profits from that relation- organizational teams place to work with other people—sharing ship. To maximize their return on relationship ◆ Effectively communicate across distance, information, coordinating work, and ac- investments, companies are seeking ways to time zones, and company borders cessing information in the context of their drive additional revenues and profits from ◆ Develop and sustain relationships with work. A large virtual community has many existing relationships. colleagues, partners, and customers workspaces, both personal and shared, and

S6 Special Supplement to September 2001 all workspaces are part of a unified “group memory” of online work. ◆ Many-to-Many Collaboration technology to enable employees, customers, partners and suppliers to work independently or in teams without having to know each other’s information needs, expertise, access authorization or work roles. Groups of people use event and topic subscription, push and pull notification, role-based access and workflow to work together in intranets and extranets. ◆ Enterprise Knowledge Base captures the results of online work for easy learning and reuse. The information is collected at its point of creation in its original business context. Users can simply email documents the system in five countries and is expanding cause you can snap to an answer quickly is they want to share to a unique address as- access to include market research, asset man- very valuable for us in terms of time to mar- signed to the workspace. agement, and investment banking activities ket and pure dollars,” Ashworth says. ◆ Enterprise Integration ensures the web- across J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. based workspaces link directly with the Using DeepThought, partners can quickly Smart Decisions Yield transactions on which they are based. Us- identify the experts within LabMorgan who High Return on Investment ing open standards, companies link struc- know the most about each new idea, instantly tured information such as sales forecast find previously created knowledge, and track Research indicates that employees can data directly with unstructured informa- each project at every stage. With DeepThought, only learn, embrace, and integrate one new tion like proposal versions and contract the review and distribution of information is application per year into their existing work negotiations. These integrations provide more efficient than storing and accessing it in habits. If you can only choose one applica- a single place for managing critical busi- shared folders or by individual email accounts, tion to add to their suite this year, don’t you ness relationships. and it’s much less structured than a traditional want to select the solution that leverages database, making it easier to search across their existing work habits and drives value Intraspect in Action multiple types of data. directly to your customers? at J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. “We chose Intraspect because of their We agree that enterprise solutions need to commitment to building a collaborative en- be easy to use to ensure rapid adoption and When J.P. Morgan & Co. launched Lab- vironment that we could customize to the rapid return on your investment. We know Morgan, a separate business unit that invests unique requirements of our business. Based collaboration doesn’t always come naturally. in companies that web-enable financial serv- on their world class functionality, we have That’s why Intraspect works the way people ices, it also created DeepThought, a knowl- been able to build advanced collaborative ap- work—using email and a browser interface— edge collaboration application built by Intra- plications to manage and run our business,” and links directly with structured enterprise spect Software. DeepThought helps partners claims Jeanne Feldhusen, Managing Direc- systems your employees already use. Ted Gra- make sound business plan investment deci- tor at LabMorgan. ham claims Hill & Knowlton account man- sions. DeepThought already has 3,000 Lab- Separately, Investment Bank CTO Michael agers win new business 33% faster using In- Morgan partners, directors and employees on Ashworth is leveraging knowledge collabora- traspect workspaces because, “they are easy tion to align the organization after the recent to use, requiring scant technical know-how.” merger that brought together J.P. Morgan and With enterprise collaboration solutions “The productivity Chase. Leveraging a blend of in-house devel- from Intraspect, companies achieve a level opment efforts and software from Intraspect of relationship intimacy with their clients Software, Epicentric, and Vignette,Ashworth and partners that far exceeds the relation- improvement gained and his team are developing an internal com- ships built by individual account represen- pany portal to integrate employee resources tatives. Let’s face it, deeper relationships because you can snap and activities. yield higher returns. “Our merger situation leads us to a place As of June 2001, 35% of the Global 50 where much of our resources and information companies, including General Motors, Hi- to an answer quickly is are in independent buckets and our challenge tachi, Siemens, SBC Communications, and is to bring it together,” Ashworth says. Incor- Boeing, are using Intraspect to collaborate very valuable for us in porating knowledge management elements internally or with their business partners. into employee portals and using content man- They want to own the most valuable infor- terms of time to market agement to tie it all together allows J.P. Mor- mation about their customers and competi- gan Chase & Co. to pour large amounts of tors in a single collaborative workspace. So, data into an internal holding area and serve don’t listen to us, listen to them. Are you and pure dollars.” it out to different portals through inquiries. ready to extract the greatest value from your “The productivity improvement gained be- business relationships? ❚

Special Supplement to September 2001 S7 Dependence on a mechanical “Knowl- edge Base Management” approach alone will always take a back seat to approaches Customer Service: human beings have used for thousands of years. We all have tendencies to think cre- atively, and develop relationships. We love to tell and listen to stories. In fact, to hold, share and grow knowledge through com- A Holistic Approach munities is what we do best. And, without a doubt, this holds true in call center and support center environments. At call centers, meetings throughout the Knowledge Management adds value organization have the tendencies to extend our individual and group knowledge through relationships and creative thinking. These social to a CRM Content Management implementation connection meetings, informal or formal, far outweigh any desire to use databases that may contain outdated or hard-to-find documents, or utilization of processes that just don’t fit By Karen L. Case and Rita Lochner, IBM Corporation due to the misalignment with team behaviors or a simple lack of maintenance. Individuals who have developed approaches to get around inconsistencies in availability of support When customers contact a customer serv- to the case history, correspondence, and ref- knowledge also easily veer away from man- ice center, they are often anxious or agitated. erence information (for example, statements agement directives that say they should use a It is a moment of truth between the com- and invoices) could resolve most customer system that doesn’t include using people and pany and its customer. The company can ei- calls during the initial contact. community as primary resources. ther sustain the customer’s loyalty or lose it. It has been proven that access to cus- People support communities. These com- What will make the difference? Prompt tomer information, whether stored in a data- munities breathe life into a Knowledge and and professional treatment will help strength- base, a CRM tool or stored in a Content Content Management system. Without an in- en a customer’s loyalty. But consumers to- Management system improves customer sat- creased awareness and use of organizational day have high expectations for customer isfaction and loyalty. Unfortunately the pay- knowledge throughout the environment, the service. They want a company to recognize back is not always as significant as antic- organization is exposed to loss of competitive them as a customer in every channel they ipated. By taking a holistic view of the edge and ability to provide the various levels use, whether they purchase from a bricks- problem, in other words building a solution of desired support required by customers. and-mortar location, a toll free number, a that meets all aspects of relationship man- Whether it is world-class support or a more Web site, or a combination of all three. agement, including Knowledge Management, “cost-effective” support model, knowledge That’s not an unreasonable demand, and you will get the payback you are looking for. communities—the most valuable component most e-business companies recognize the To help us better take this holistic view, let’s and still the source of the most advanced forms need for a solution. That’s one reason why step back and answer the question “What is of customer support—are the key to maxi- customer relationship management (CRM) Knowledge Management?” mizing organizational efficiency and lowering is a core component of most e-businesses. end-to-end costs of providing service. The Companies are striving to meet and exceed In the Beginning KM Critical Success Factors listed below may customer expectations in order to build and help to gauge where the call center is in re- sustain long-term customer loyalty. At the A good way to view Knowledge Man- gards to Knowledge Management. Go ahead same time, they want to reduce costs by agement is to use an organic metaphor that and rate your organization based on these el- avoiding redundant recruitment campaigns. sees organizations and environments as ements. Where does your organization stand? The customer information generated through complex ecologies made up of many inter- call-center and online interactions is crucial dependent and inter-causal units. In theory for both of these goals. But companies of- it is patterned after the human brain, where KM Critical Success Factors ten hit a glitch when attempting to store the first approach used linear binary opera- Leadership Behaviors and Actions and analyze this kind of information: Much tions theory as its basis. The second ap- ◆ Senior managers legitimize knowledge of it arrives in the form of paper and e-mail proach makes use of the mechanical ap- management by discussing the impor- correspondence. This unstructured data proach where it is needed and useful, and isn’t stored in any database. And even the recognizes its value. But just as humans do, tance of knowledge creation, sharing and use in public forums most expensive CRM solutions can falter the second approach recognizes the limi- ◆ when faced with the challenges unstructured tations of using the mechanical approach Senior managers publicly recognize indi- data presents. on its own. It has been made clear through viduals and/or teams who effectively man- The content of the e-mail and paper cor- countless case studies that initiatives cen- age knowledge respondence may hold the key to prompt tralizing around document repositories only, Linking Knowledge and Business Strategy and accurate resolutions—but only if the along with the belief that people would use ◆ Senior managers articulate the impor- content is readily available and integrated these databases and contribute to them sim- tance of knowledge and its relationship to with the call center and CRM applications. ply because they have access to them, sim- the organization’s business strategy and CRM-enabled Content Management fosters ply will not hold water. These types of proj- achieving business results successful moments of truth for customer ects will have only a limited success rate and ◆ The organization has developed a knowl- service representatives (CSRs) and cus- become more and more difficult to maintain edge management strategy that is linked tomers. Ideally, a CSR working with access over time and through changes. to the organization’s business strategy

S8 Special Supplement to September 2001 ◆ The organization understands how its ◆ The organization identifies, creates and formation and communities without having knowledge could be used to develop new maintains communities of practice that to have multiple locations to access and peo- value-added products and services drive the business strategy ple to play phone tag with. ◆ The organization has identified how knowl- ◆ The organization identifies and uses knowl- With so many other important initiatives edge can be built into the design and ex- edge intermediaries or “brokers” to sup- pending and waiting for necessary executive ecution of core business processes port its operations involvement and buy-in, Knowledge Man- ◆ The organization has developed a set of agement may seem (in the heat of current quantitative proxies and qualitative indi- CRM with Knowledge Management situations) less important. However, in or- cators that measure knowledge outcomes der to create a win-win situation for services Consider this CRM model, one that fol- and customers now and in the future, some- Knowledge of Individuals and Groups lows trends in the industry to enhance cur- thing must be done to better connect and ◆ The organization identifies individuals rent economic and structural views and ap- make use of the call center’s most important and groups with relevant knowledge and proaches, anticipating and capitalizing on assets—individual knowledge, team knowl- makes that knowledge visible to the rest the shift in CRM to the needs of customers. edge, and organizational knowledge. of the organization The following diagram represents a “Com- Knowledge itself knows no organizational ◆ The organization understands and exploits pass” for Customer Relationship Manage- boundaries. If knowledge from individuals, the relevant knowledge used by high per- ment that integrates the approaches and groups, and organizations is increased and forming groups and individuals methods of Knowledge Management into its managed well, innovation occurring day-to- Knowledge About the structure. The northern and western quad- day where the worker meets the work will Outside Environment rants have historically been the emphasis of be turned into actions that increase effec- ◆ The organization identifies and employs CRM start-up strategies. tiveness and productivity. customer knowledge across decision mak- In this new model, structural and economic ing processes elements are combined with inter-organiza- Rate of Change Impacts ◆ The organization identifies and employs tional and community/society elements to pro- supplier knowledge across decision mak- vide a comprehensive approach to Customer 1. Staffing changes ing processes Relationship Management; one that benefits 2. Addition of products and services ◆ The organization identifies knowledge from solidifying the elements currently left 3. Reorganizations impacting the flow of from the competitive environment and in- to chance in many call center environments. content corporates that knowledge into strategic Note: Failure to incorporate southern 4. Addition/subtraction of support teams and tactical decisions and eastern quadrants of the compass within the call center results in difficulties establishing inter- 5. Revisions in products and services provided ◆ The organization identifies and incorpo- organizational knowledge sharing and a 6. Temporary peaks in calls requiring tem- rates relevant knowledge regarding its strong relationship with the customer. porary solutions/messages immediately joint venture, alliances and acquisitions As leaders, recognizing that a call center 7. Industry move to self-serve support Knowledge Transfer, needs a knowledge-sharing culture that in- 8. Impacts of in-house projects Diffusion and Absorption tegrates into the way in which people do 9. Implementation of new (in-house) tech- ◆ The organization collects, disseminates their day-to-day business is critical. This nologies and processes and classifies explicit knowledge to re- knowledge-sharing culture is to be sup- 10. Shifts in how call center success is meas- duce the time and effort to find knowl- ported by processes and technology that ured (focus on right answer first call, post edge artifacts drives consistency and swift access to the in- call processing, or cost per call end-to-end) ◆ The organization enables face-to-face conversations and other types of interactions necessary to transfer tacit knowledge ◆ The organization identifies and shares lessons learned ◆ The organization has mentoring/appren- ticeship programs designed to transfer tacit knowledge Work Environment ◆ Individuals and groups are measured and rewarded for knowledge creation, sharing and use ◆ The organization actively promotes an environment that builds trust and “social capital” among individuals ◆ Knowledge management is an integral part of the work environment Organization and Resource Allocation ◆ The organization has developed formal roles and responsibilities and dedicated resources to facilitate knowledge creation, sharing and reuse ◆ The organization formally allocates money, time and space to enable individuals to create, share and access knowledge

Special Supplement to September 2001 S9 The list above is a small representation ◆ Does this system utilize “self appointed” and Content Management is an integral part of the types of changes a call center envi- experts or “community appointed” ex- in any call center's goal to achieve maximum ronment must deal with on an ongoing ba- perts to develop content? efficiency and productivity for Customer Ser- sis. Ensuring the organization has in place a ◆ Is there a link between content environ- vice Representatives. system that is set up to assist in addressing ment and education environment? these types of changes within a CRM envi- ◆ Does the Content Management system Other IBM KCM Solutions ronment is an important element in the abil- impact the length of education currently ity to evolve more proactively as the needs delivered? People Focused Solutions: of your customers evolve. To accomplish ◆ How are analysts rewarded within the or- "Communities of Practice" and Expertise this, CRM organizations should ensure that ganization and how does that impact the location, through the development of linkages they have an integrated CRM, KM and CM long-term use and contribution of the Con- to both tacit and explicit problem specific doc- system as defined. 1)CRM which addresses tent Management system? umentation and education materials, knowl- the relationship of client data, client and the ◆ Does the content system tap into the live edge and content focused training (online and CSR. 2)KM that addresses the creation of verbal support between trusted peers across classroom), knowledge agreements between solutions through the use of KM based com- the call centers? critical support organizations. These as well munities, education, process and portals a ◆ Do the CSRs have to access multiple tools as other people and organization based IBM CSR would use to work with a customer (multiple log on’s) to get at information approaches will ensure that groups using the either live or on-line through the self-serve that is leveraged call by call? knowledge and content system collectively in- environment. 3)CM addresses the physical ◆ Do CSRs have to go on “not ready” queue put and maintain the system using an estab- placement, physical access and search-abil- status for long periods of time to get up lished process while introducing and leverag- ity of the created solutions either through and wait for a question to be answered or ing Change Management programs/initiatives. proactive KM activities or reactive CRM call clarity given per call? based activities. These integrated activities ◆ How will new CSRs leverage the content Process Focused Solutions: should all be measured, which drives the system? Are outlined in the KM Strategy, to en- value placed on the development of Intel- ◆ How does the organization plan to meas- sure linkages between the knowledge and lectual Capital leveraged by an organization. ure success? content management process and core busi- Here are some questions to ask about the ◆ Can management send out messages ness processes such as problem, change, and CRM environment currently in place. If these across the call center using the content asset management. Processes will be devel- do occur are they planned or accidental? management system? oped that ensure the on-going management ◆ Does it assist in breaking down silos be- There may be answers to these questions of Intellectual Capital is addressed. IBM uses tween organizations? and if there are ask this, have they occurred established and proven methods to determine ◆ Does it assist in the development of trust accidentally, or as by-products of other ef- where the organization will realize the largest between support staff within opposing or- forts? Moving an organization from a reac- savings and target those areas appropriately. ganizations? tive based culture to a proactive based culture ◆ Technology Focused Solutions: Does it/can it address the various types of IC development and management is some- Utilizing the current and proposed call cen- knowledge and information required to thing that is planned, measured and managed, ter technologies, the Knowledge and Content do the job? not accidental or a by-product of another ef- ◆ Management program ensures that the CSR is Will staff still need to rely on other peo- fort. To address this within an organization able to access and contribute key information ple to interpret what is found within the IBM recommends that organizations begin and problem solving knowledge to the systems content environment? with an IBM KCM Strategy. This may be ac- ◆ through workflow applications that are fully Will this system assist in understanding companied by workshops and other assess- integrated with all Knowledge-related pro- what information your organization is ment tools that IBM provides clients. The cesses. An infrastructure is designed so that the most in need of? overall objective of the Knowledge and Con- CSR has access to all pertinent information ◆ Will this system help to prioritize what in- tent Management (KCM) Strategy is to cre- from a single portal into the system. This en- formation is still necessary to be devel- ate an action plan that provides a detailed ables the CSR to provide prompt and accurate oped and who has that information? roadmap and guide to improve call center re- information to their customers which will sim- ◆ Will this system assist in determining how sponsiveness and maximize efficiency and plify problem resolution, improve customer each organization operates to determine productivity for Customer Service Represen- satisfaction and sustain customer loyalty. similarities to build off of? tatives and their management. Knowledge Bringing a total solution that integrates knowledge management, content management and customer relationship management enables IBM to help your organization become more nimble in the market place by “It has been proven that access to customer shifting the focus from a reactive problem solving base to a proactive problem solving base through the leverage of people, pro- information improves customer satisfaction cesses and technologies working together to provide the timely, accurate support a CRM environment needs for their CSR's and on- and loyalty. Unfortunately the payback is line self-serve environments. ❚ Karen L. Case is knowledge management consultant at IBM Knowledge & Con- not always as significant as anticipated.” tent Management, Minneapolis, MN. Rita Lochner is project executive at IBM Knowl- edge & Content Management, Boulder, CO.

S10 Special Supplement to September 2001 Mark E.Atkins has more than 25 years of management The Importance experience building both entrepreneurial and Fortune 1000 firms in the computer and financial industries. of Data Quality for Since joining Vality Technology Inc.in 1990, Mr.Atkins has served as President and CEO.Under his leadership,Vality has evolved Mark E. Atkins Effective Relationships from a start-up to its current President and Chief Executive Officer position as the leading company in the data quality market.He is now driving the By Mark E.Atkins, President and CEO,Vality Technology,Inc. next level of growth into enterprise information intelligence (EII),extending Vality’s products and services into business intelligence,ERP migration,enterprise application integration Meta Group reports that enterprises now A one-time fix can’t solve these prob- (EAI),and e-commerce.He is also spearheading major partner share 28% of their data warehouse data with lems. Companies need an enterprise data initiatives,including successful reseller agreements with IBM.Under these agreements,Vality’s flagship product, partners, suppliers, and customers and fore- quality solution. This involves: ◆ the INTEGRITY ™ Data Re-engineering Environment,is casts more than 50% growth in this usage by Implementing automated batch and real- integrated into IBM’s Visual Warehouse and Net.Commerce. 2002/03. For e-business collaboration, com- time data quality processes enterprise- wide—wherever data is deployed for Before joining Vality,Mr.Atkins was Senior Vice President panies are also giving affiliates and customers of Computer Solutions Inc.—the precursor of Powersoft access to ERP and other back-end systems new purposes, external data integrates Corporation,ultimately acquired by Sybase.Responsible via the Internet. Opening systems offers op- with internal systems, and customers and for sales,marketing,and client support and consulting, portunities for faster product development affiliates search internal databases. Mr.Atkins was a key contributor to building the company and fulfillment and better relationships. ◆ Regularly auditing data in critical systems. from five employees to a nationally recognized firm. Or does it? There are risks in exposing ◆ Proactively modifying systems to parallel Previously,Mr.Atkins gained extensive business experience internal data—and, fortunately, solutions and support the rollout of new strategies. in both sales management and financial management for avoiding them and leveraging these op- To do this job requires top-level spon- positions.As National Sales Manager for the Data Networking portunities. sorship and an understanding of how infor- division at Honeywell Information Systems,he was responsible mation flows support the business as well as for the global revenues of the division.Prior to this,he held executive management positions at Service Bureau Prevent Data Degradation with robust data re-engineering tools. Look for software that handles any data and provides Corporation,a former IBM subsidiary;Polaroid Corporation; Enterprise Data Quality Solutions and BayBank (acquired by BankBoston,now a part of Fleet mathematically-based matching technology, Boston Corporation). PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Global Data to ensure accuracy and completeness in finding related records. Mr.Atkins has a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Management Survey 2001” found 75% of an advanced banking degree from the American Institute companies studied reported problems from of Banking,and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from poor data quality. Even if companies cleanse Bridge the Communication Gap Babson College. warehouse and internal systems data during with Effective Product Search data migration, data quality is vulnerable to degradation. New data enters daily from Even with high-quality data warehouses ◆ Context mediation—for determining the new and expanded internal systems and the and internal systems, customers, partners, and business meaning of a word or value Web (where input is uncontrollable), re- suppliers will run into roadblocks when look- based on the context or associations of sulting in data issues. ing for specific data because of a commu- adjacent data. For example, inconsistencies and typos nication gap: different people use different ◆ Normalization—for transforming users’ in names, addresses, and product data occur, nomenclature, categories, and descriptions. terms to your terms and recognizing word generating duplicates—such as Mark Atkins For example, customers or affiliates may variations and synonyms. Getting both versus Mark Akins. Information is entered want notebooks. Your warehouse lists lap- sides of the search aligned facilitates into the wrong fields, becoming buried. Er- tops. Customers may categorize a Palm Pilot matching. But it can’t eliminate all non- rors, such as transpositions in product num- as a hand-held computer. In your data it’s a standard descriptions, so you need the bers, also increase. PDA. Customers are looking for an AAA or next capabilities, too. These data issues can impede integrating triple A battery. Your records describe it as ◆ Fuzzy retrieval—for finding data with- all information on a supplier or customer— 9 volts or 9. out a precise key, such as a product num- for example, Atkins/Akins. That means the This gap wasn’t a problem when com- ber, or under conditions where data is in- company lacks a complete picture of this pany representatives familiar with internal consistent or missing. customer, skewing its customer count, pro- terminology and inventory mediated be- ◆ Fuzzy matching and filtering—for measur- filing, targeted marketing, and online per- tween customers or partners and your data. ing and ranking “possible” matches—to get sonalization. So it misses the opportunity to The reps could translate AAA into 9 volts the best one(s) and avoid irrelevant matches. build the relationship. based on the context. However, open sys- Why take the time and trouble? So cus- Even worse, quality problems hinder cus- tems are self-serve. tomers, partners, and suppliers won’t have tomers and affiliates from getting accurate The good news is that technology can to. Effective search is effective service. When information from your company—and keep bridge the gap and interpret the context of internal systems are open, high-quality data online transactions from being seamlessly words. Product search engines have evolved and product search help to eliminate the processed. The result is mistakes, delays, that deal with users’errors, word variations, risks of misinformation, make processes and satisfaction issues. Furthermore, poor and divergent terms and categories. Look for seamless, and build relationships that bene- data makes a poor impression. search software that provides: fit your enterprise. ❚

Special Supplement to September 2001 S11 Dayon has more than ten years of experience in the database and software tools Going External: industry.Prior to founding InStranet in May 1999, Dayon was senior group vice president,products at Content Management for Business Objects (worldwide leader in e-business intelligence).In addition to being a technical visionary Alex Dayon for Business Objects’product Exchanging Information Co-founder and Chief development,Dayon Executive Officer,InStranet managed a large engineering organization distributed between San Jose,California,and Paris,France. By Alex Dayon, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer,InStranet Alex Dayon holds a master’s degree in computer science from the Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité.

An important contributor to the bottom line tent is alike, the market is evolving quickly process. Based on pre-determined categories for corporations in industries ranging from away from “one size fits all” software to in- defined by the organization, the business user insurance and financial services to manu- dividual solutions developed to address spe- can search multiple criteria at once, includ- facturing is maintaining long-term, individ- cific needs. A new, emerging breed of software ing document type, key words, time and ge- ualized relationships with top corporate cus- supports business to business communica- ography. This stands in stark contrast to tra- tomers. In this competitive marketplace, a tions, provides bi-directional publishing and ditional content management applications large corporate client can equal millions of facilitates collaboration. Conducting business which are based on a hierarchical model, and dollars in annual revenue. Transactions of between large corporations requires a solution require multiple, drill-down searches. this magnitude require the coordination of and overall ebusiness strategy uniquely tai- The EIX provides a corporation’s clients multiple business units across enterprises, lored to this complex operating environment. with a single-point of access to relevant doc- but it doesn’t end there. There are serious uments, ideally suited for service-oriented consequences if information or documents organizations. By logging on, both the inter- How can a Corporation Turn nal business user and the client can retrieve are accessed by the wrong group of people, Service-Related Content into an Asset? or a business user is unable to locate critical and contribute documents and content. The internal and external users have a single view pricing and procedural information. With The answer is in a new approach to en- of the corporation regarding all service-re- multinational corporations growing in com- terprise-level content management: the En- lated documents exchanged between the or- plexity, the information required to conduct terprise Information Exchange (EIX). This ganizations. As a shared platform, clients business is limitless. is an application that enables communica- have the ability to search and retrieve docu- In recent years, applications have emerged tions across the enterprise, provides a central ments with as much ease as the internal user. that are designed to manage content created repository for the storage of documents and Benefits include: for the Internet. A wide variety of appli- content, and offers permissions-based secu- ◆ Single, unified view of all customer-related cations fall under the content management rity. The EIX is a specialized content man- content for account managers heading. The term itself refers to solutions agement application designed to help large, ◆ Consistent representation of the corpora- that provide traditional functionality such as multinational corporations manage their re- tion’s services for its clients authoring, templates, workflow, publishing lationships with business partners and clients. ◆ Greater efficiency through improved access and delivery, library services and repository Unlike traditional solutions, the EIX was de- and organization of key documents management. Recognizing that not all con- veloped with the bi-directional nature of com- ◆ Faster response time to the client’s needs munications between enterprises in mind. It ◆ Rapid time to market, with highly pack- allows relationship managers from both the aged functionality ❚ internal and client sides to have quick and “Recognizing that not easy access to a wide range of specialized account information. The extranet is an online About InStranet “map” of the organization’s relationship with InStranet,Inc.develops Enterprise Information Exchange (EIX) ap- all content is alike, the clients. It provides both a global and person- plications that give large corporations the ability to exchange mission alized view of key account information. critical information with customers,suppliers and business partners over the Internet in an organized and secure environment.An XML- and Java- market is evolving quickly In many circumstances, the business user based intranet/extranet solution,EIX enables business users to publish, fights an uphill battle trying to maintain con- organize,retrieve and share customer-related documentation and busi- away from ‘one-size-fits- sistent representation of the organization. ness content quickly and easily.Utilizing an innovative Web Content Accessing historic, present, departmental Warehouse system and patent-pending multidimensional technology, and geography-specific information is no EIX streamlines complex communication processes across enterprises all’ software to individual easy task. The EIX has a central repository while using permissions-based access control to maintain security. built to store all documents and content rel- InStranet's Enterprise Information Exchange is currently deployed evant to the corporate/client relationship. The in many high-profile installations,including AXA Corporate Solutions, solutions developed to France Telecom,Manpower,Universal Music,Vivendi,and Zurich U.S.The central repository can warehouse tens of company's partners include BEA Systems,IBM,Oracle,and Sun Micro- address specific needs.” thousands of documents, and allows users to systems.The company is headquartered in New York with offices in Paris retrieve information in a single step through and London and technology distribution partnerships in Europe and a patent-pending multidimensional search Asia.For more information visit www.instranet.com.

S12 Special Supplement to September 2001 Phil Lavery joined OnDemand in May 1999.As CEO,Phil brings a wealth of growth Demand Management: management experience and a proven track record of success from 15 years in the IT industry. Where Supply and Prior to OnDemand,Phil spent 14 years at Microsoft in General Management and Director-level positions Phil Lavery focused on sales,marketing, Demand Chains Converge CEO,OnDemand business development,and channel management. As General Manager,Phil developed Microsoft Federal By Phil Lavery, OnDemand Systems' business model and grew their business to $250 million in revenue.He was Director of Microsoft Enterprise Alliances,responsible for developing,negotiating and The last several decades have seen an ex- sider implementing technologies that give managing Go-To-Market strategies and programs with plosion in demand for enterprise software ap- them increased control over their “Demand companies that included Compaq/Digital,Hewlett-Packard plications that can streamline supply chain Management” processes. Demand Manage- and NCR. processes and deliver Just In Time (JIT) man- ment solutions can help drive the convergence ufacturing capability. Leveraging enterprise of supply and demand chains by harnessing software for direct and indirect materials pro- accurate and reliable information from a va- curement, inventory planning, supply chain riety of direct and indirect channels, manag- ◆ Altering their inventory allocations in real- management, and product data management ing demand forecasting, inventory allocation, time, based on real-time demand forecasts (among other functions), companies across and entitlement processes efficiently, and that incorporate information from all chan- a broad range of industries have been able then providing closed-loop integration be- nels—both direct and indirect. This in- to achieve significantly better operational tween key demand and supply chain systems. creases revenues by targeting allocations efficiency in their supply chains. By feeding accurate information from the de- to those channels and regions that are the Meanwhile, on the other side of their busi- mand chain into the supply chain while uni- most effective sellers. nesses, many companies have been moving fying communications and processes across ◆ Providing greater supply chain visibility to aggressively toward outsourcing their prod- both organizations, Demand Management demand chain partners, thereby eliminat- uct distribution. Especially in today’s tougher systems can dramatically increase inventory ing the incentive to overstate forecasts and economic climate, companies use outsourced turns, reduce inventory write-offs, increase enhancing the channel’s ability to deliver distribution channels to keep sales overhead revenues, and improve manufacturers’ com- reliably on its promises to end customers. in line without sacrificing revenues. And so, petitive position in their markets. This action will increase sales both through across such industries as semiconductor, soft- Almost by definition, the successful De- improved channel sales efficiencies and ware, networking equipment, telecommuni- mand Management solution will be driven through improved substitution selling. cations, consumer electronics, automotive, from the channel relationship management ◆ Providing greater channel visibility to the and industrial equipment manufacturing, perspective. This is because the vast majority enterprise, removing the guesswork from distribution channels today account for up of revenues across all manufacturing indus- the process of demand forecasting, in- to 50% of revenues. tries today are generated from the channel, and ventory allocations, and entitlement man- As a result of these trends, many manu- that majority is projected to continue growing. agement. By enabling sales, marketing, facturers today find themselves in a unique As a result, up-to-date, accurate, and detailed and operations management to “see” in- quandary: They can generate more products, demand information from the channel is crit- ventory in the demand chain better, such more efficiently than ever before, but they ical to the success of any Demand Manage- visibility will increase profitability by sub- know woefully little about what to produce ment solution. In addition, any successful De- stantially reducing inventory write-downs and for whom. They can now “see” into their mand Management solution will need to and product obsolescence. supply chains better than they ever could, but incorporate a closed-loop process for gather- they lack the same kind of visibility into their ing, analyzing, and filtering demand forecasts often-fragmented demand chain. Indeed, de- from channel partners; and as a result such a Achieving Enterprise Systems ROI mand forecasts are typically generated from system will need to be tightly integrated to en- with Demand Management Solutions a direct sales force that is responsible for as titlement and other benefits program manage- Leveraging Demand Management solu- little as one-quarter of overall revenue, then ment systems for channel partners. tions, manufacturers can increase their return revised and fine-tuned by marketing teams Using Demand Management solutions, on investment for existing supply chain and JIT who have little interaction with either direct companies can begin to bridge the gap be- manufacturing applications by feeding highly or indirect sales professionals or with cus- tween their supply and demand chains by: accurate data into their planning and forecast- tomers. The unfortunate result: inventory ◆ Reshaping their relationships with their ing systems, while they simultaneously lever- write-downs, missed financial projections, channel partners to generate and ensure ac- age their channel partner relationships for missed market opportunities, lost competi- curate demand forecasts. Manufacturers greater strategic and revenue advantage. ❚ tive advantage, and lost revenues. should implement a closed-loop process incorporating changes in entitlement lev- As a KMWorld special offer, OnDemand will provide a half-day New Answers to New Problems: els based on ratings received for forecast- ROI workshop to share best practices and align your channel strate- Demand Management ing accuracy, thereby ensuring that just-in- gies with a Demand Management solution.This workshop,valued at time manufacturing is performed for the $4,000,will be offered free if you are willing to commit your personal To bridge the gap between their supply right products, in the right quantity, at the time and your key team members.Please contact OnDemand Inc.at and demand chains, companies should con- right time. 877-937-3239 or e-mail [email protected].

Special Supplement to September 2001 S13 able and the knowledgeable partners to align oneself with all play roles. This understanding can be developed slowly, over Ground Zero time and space, through prolonged educa- tional and sales cycles. And that's exactly how many of today's enterprises are slowly finding their way toward self-awareness for E-Commerce and success. There's another way. Industry conferences and exhibitions provide a total immersion ap- Face-to-face with knowledge in the learning spaces proach to learning that can leap-frog over the typical, slow, inefficient learning process. In the course of three days, the accumulated knowledge of all the vendors, pro- By Andy Moore, Editorial Director,KMWorld Specialty Publishing Group fessional service organizations and industry experts can be tapped in a focused, planned experience. KMWorld 2001 (Oc- The essential requirement for a global enter- nology, professional services and plain old tober 29–November 1, 2001, Santa Clara prise is self awareness. Not only does "the left work. Where many attempts at creating the Convention Center) is one such event. Its hand know what the right hand is doing," a e-enterprise have failed is during the critical billing as "the world's largest knowledge truly aware e-enterprise senses each of its mul- building stage, where the tools and techniques management event" is more than a mere tiple touch points; all those places where it in- are knitted together. Like a ship at sea, a tiny marketing hyperbole. Completeness of in- teracts with customers, suppliers, competitors, navigational error at the beginning of the dustry coverage, from the newest start-up media and ultimately within its own organi- voyage can mean the difference between vendors to the old-line stalwarts, is neces- zational structure. Every nerve ending in a suc- finding port and drifting into danger. sary for such an immersion to succeed. cessful e-enterprise is tuned to detect change Half a solution doesn't cut it. Half-size and chance, and the opportunities they bring. How to Make the Correct Choice? events aren't adequate for the needs of to- This level of acuity doesn't happen over- day's decision makers either. night, or easily. It can also take an enormous Education is clearly key. Understanding It's instructive to hear what the organizers investment—a big gulp—in terms of tech- of the marketplace, the building blocks avail- of KMWorld 2001 say about their program:

KMWORLD 2001 October 30-November 1 Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA Tuesday, October 30 Wednesday,

10:15 a.m.– 11:15 a.m.– 2:00 p.m.– 3:00 p.m.– 4:15 p.m.– 10:15 a.m.– 11:15 a.m.– 11:00 a.m. 12:15 p.m. 2:45 p.m. 3:45 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 11:00 a.m. 12:15 p.m.

TRACK A Designing Case Study: Second- Case Studies: Underpinning the Justifying KM Valuation of Organizations to Metrics, Incentives KM Generation KM Iomega and NCR KM Approach Projects Knowledge Add Value STRATEGIES & Methodologies Strategies Through Knowledge TRACK B Technology for Implementing KM TOOLS & The Future of IT KM: Economics Knowledge Form Follows The New KM Reusable Under the Hood & Evolution Sharing Function Information TECHNOLOGY & Transfer Objects TRACK C Calculate the ROI Taxonomies, An Evaluation of Content Managing Automating Dynamic Content of Corporate Lexicons & Modern KM & CONTENT Management Content and Content Management Knowledge Organizing Categorization in Transition Knowledge Management Demystified MGMT/ Initiatives Knowledge Systems CM TOOLS TRACK D Building & Building a Collaborative Knowledge Different Cultures, Communities of Collaborative Sustaining Business Case for Workspaces CULTURE Communities Different Tactics Practice Intranets & KM Knowledge Collaboration in Practice Networks TRACK E What’s The Emerging eProcess — Business Insight Happening with KM Practices in KM and eBusiness eBusiness InterEnterprise Smart eBusiness eBUSINESS Networks eGovernment Government & KM Enterprise Collaboration Strategies

S14 Special Supplement to September 2001 "You will learn to ... in neck deep until you find your own path serendipity. You can't NOT step into good ◆ Deploy KM tools within organizations and out of the mire. Those who expect a quick- luck when it is prepared for you at every turn. discover the types of technological solu- pill solution do so at their own peril, and The place will reek with opportunity. The tions we can expect in the near future; practically assure a wasted investment and only question remaining is whether you will ◆ Embed KM processes and models into an a lost opportunity for your organization. give it a go, or miss it. And to my way of organization's business processes; ◆ Determine and implement the most effective KM strategies; and ◆ Capture, manage and access content and business know-how for competitive ad- "Half a solution doesn't cut it. vantage." This is not small bananas. These elements —this event's deliverables—construct a nearly Half-size events aren't adequate for the ideal roadmap for the emerging e-enterprise. Each touch-point is present here: discovery, instruction, advice, action and vision. needs of today's decision makers either." Commit and Get In It The thing about confabs such as KM- I've organized a few events such as this thinking, there's not a choice. You can't sub- World 2001 is that they are not hands-free (including some KMWorld events a while tract knowledge by attending a confab; so injections of knowledge. That would be back), and the most gratifying feedback one there's really no downside. The single factor sweet, but it just doesn't work that way. You can get, for lack of a better phrase, is "the joy to consider is: how much can I absorb? don't walk under a shower and come out of the unexpected." When attendees tell you When the books are written about the be- smarter and squeaky-perfect. It's a collabo- they came with a very specific list of goals, ginnings of global e-commerce, confabs ration, in which the attendee (you) and the but walked away with new knowledge they such as KMWorld 2001 will be identified as instructors (everyone else) share an obliga- had no way of anticipating, well, it doesn't get the places where knowledge leapt in great tion to mix it up and get their hands dirty. any better than that. exponential bounds. I like to think of face- Here's a tip: DO NOT bother to attend a When KMWorld 2001 is over, I can al- to-face events as accelerants—gasoline on face-to-face event unless you intend to wade most guarantee there will be examples of that the match. Go there. Light it up. ❚

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE For more information or to view the complete program, log on to www.kmworld.com or call 800-300-9868 (609-654-6266). October 31 Thursday, November 1

1:45 p.m.– 2:45 p.m.– 4:15 p.m.– 10:30 a.m.– 11:30 a.m.– 1:45 p.m.– 3:15 p.m.– 2:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 11:15 a.m. 12:15 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m.

How to Create Technology Case Study: Business Value Company Focuses Intellectual Capital Tacit and Explicit First Things First KM@Telstra Eli Lilly with KM Solutions on People & that Work Processes

Using a Knowledge Building KM & Voice Intellectual Capital Who Knows What Knowledge Portals Portal Payback Framework to Knowledge Sharing Technologies & Technology Build & Deploy with Portals Enterprise

Quality Metrics Taxonomies Natural Language for Taxonomy XML, CM & KM Standards for KM in Action Advances XML Show & Tell Development

Implementing a Influencing End KM as Fostering a KM Solution at Creating Building eLearning Users to Contribute Infrastructure for Knowledge- Motivations in Cambridge Knowledge-Based in Different and Organizational Empowered eLearning Technology Cultures Environments Use Knowledge Learning Culture Partners

Knowledge Sharing Knowledge Advancing Knowledge Tools for Better Designing Your Human Capital Management in for Successful eBusiness & KM Sharing Strategies eGovernment eWorld Enterprise ROI Practice eBusiness

Special Supplement to September 2001 S15 For more information on any of the companies who contributed to this white paper, visit their website or contact them directly:

IBM Corporation E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ibm.com/software/data/cm

InStranet 60 West 35th Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10001 PH: 877.932.5826 or 646.473.0777 FAX: 646.473.0770 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.instranet.com

Intraspect Software, Inc. 8000 Marina Boulevard Brisbane, CA 94005 PH: 650.246.5200 FAX: 650.869.6000 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.intraspect.com

KGain 1111 Arlington Blvd., 937 West Arlington, VA 22209 PH: 703.527.0992 FAX: 703.527.0993 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.kgain.com and www.v2t2.com

OnDemand, Inc. 1555 Adams Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 PH: 877.887.6993 or 650.463.6700 FAX: 650.463.6701 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ondemandinc.com

Vality Technology, Inc. 100 Summer Street, 15th Floor Boston, MA 02110 PH: 617.338.0300 FAX: 617.338.0368 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.vality.com

Produced by: Kathryn Rogals Paul Rosenlund Andy Moore KMWorld Magazine 207-338-9870 207-338-9870 207-236-0331 Specialty Publishing Team [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

For information on participating in the next white paper in the “Best Practices” series contact [email protected]