Knowledge Management at TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)

In 1995, the concept of KM was introduced in TCS. The framework for KM was defined in
1996. The framework identified the KM constituents in the business and assessed the culture in
TCS to determine its readiness to adopt KM initiatives. In 1998, a dedicated team known as
Corporate Groupware was designed. The main objective of Corporate Groupware was the
automation of various systems within TCS, like training automation and library automation, to
make sure the smooth movement of information. In 1999, KM Pilot was launched and was
implemented afterwards.
KM was accepted across TCS in every process and every function. All the TCS workplaces
across the world were connected by a communication network. TCS had a knowledge repository
in corporate and branch servers, this knowledge repository was accessible to all the employees
over the intranet. This repository, also called KBases, contained a wide range of information
about processes, line of business, and line of technology. KBases contained information
regarding process and technology related to good practices, tips concerning technology and
customers, project related information, and management related information. Contributions to
the KBases were obtained from different teams within the organization, reports generated during
the lifecycle of the project, customer feedback, and secondary sources.
TCS vision of being one of the top 10 IT companies in the world by 2010 called for
transforming the company to drive excellence throughout the organization and in all its activities.
TCS embarked on the journey to transform itself in order to respond to internal and external
changes in the global markets. Another factor that influenced the decision was the stand taken by
the senior management proclaiming that change was necessary for the very survival of the
organization and employees. TCS had move up the value chain and transformed itself from a
centralized organization, to a distributed and empowered organization.
The organizational structure of TCS was changed to achieve the transformation. The aspirations
of the employees and the customers were kept in mind while developing the new structure.
Employee participation was of prime importance in the transformation and with several thousand
employees having to be involved in the exercise, TCS realized the need for a proper
communication strategy. The transformation process pervaded every aspect of the organization,
involving every functional and operational team. The top management, including the CEO and
the CTO, too participated in the program. Once the internal processes were in place, TCS started
looking at global customers by projecting its competence and the value achieved by the
transformation.
With the activities of TCS spreading across the globe, the employees had to face different work
cultures and expectations. The workforce comprised many foreign nationals as TCS felt that they
would be able to connect more effectively with clients in their countries. In such a scenario, it
became necessary for the senior management to adopt a flexible approach. With this in mind,
TCS advocated the fishnet approach instead of the traditional pyramid or flat structures with
which, people and skills were interlinked in a meaningful manner and could be rearranged in no
time.
TCS adopted several models for spreading its KM activities in line with its Vision, Mission, and
Values. Knowledge was widely shared across the organization. There are a number of ways in
which TCS harness and expand the knowledge. They also have various mediums like TQMS,
best practices sessions, social initiations, project work, and mobility. They encourage people to
be part of outside bodies like the IEEE, going for certification and similar measures. In TCS, a
culture driven by constant learning made the base for increasing the value of the intellectual
capital.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
As the workforce of TCS was being increased day by day, it presented a challenge in terms of
aligning and integrating these people into the system. However, the structured business processes
followed in TCS helped in the process.
All the new recruits are provided four months of training. The instructors for the training
programs were drawn from various branches of TCS having a wide experience. The new recruits
are trained in software engineering processes and methodologies. About 40% of the training
comprised soft skills, including general etiquette, teamwork, leadership, and appreciation of
literature and culture. After the trainees were placed on a project, they were given training for a
month in the relevant technology. Recruits from foreign countries were put through a similar
training program for a period of six weeks. The clients often visited the training center to share
their knowledge with the new recruits which is a unique feature of the training process in TCS.
Using the knowledge accumulated through interaction with the clients and the trainees, the center
developed a knowledge base, using which case studies were developed and used for improving
the scope of the training.
All the employees had to spend around 20 days every year in TCSs continuing education
program, focusing on technical and managerial skills. Each role in TCS had a set of defined
competencies, and any employee assuming a new role had to go through relevant training
programs that would equip him/her to fit into the new role.
TCS initiated a movement called Propel, comprising of conferences and camps. These helped the
employees in conducting group meetings and transferring their learning and knowledge to other
employees across the organization. Propel was not limited to only sharing knowledge pertaining
to the organization, but also brought together employees with similar interests and carried out
various activities of common interest like book reading sessions and musical concerts. This has
also improved the social skills of employees remarkably.
Through the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM), the employees learnt about managing
data, process orientation, and motivating and energizing people. Employees above the project
leader level were put through the management education program, which was developed in
association with some management institutes.
Using the TBEM, TCS managed all facets of quality. While other models are about management
of quality, TBEM is about the quality of management.
One of the seven values and concepts of TBEM was measurement analysis and KM, where KM
by an individual at the personal and organizational level was considered. TBEM also urged that
best practices be shared among the Tata group companies. Senior executives of group companies
met once a year to share their best practices with the other group companies.
TBEM ideally helped to balance the day-to-day running with rapid changes in the business.
Trained people from other Tata group companies assessed TCS and provided feedback. TCS
deployed cross-functional teams to ensure that the feedback received was implemented.
MAXIMIZING THE VALUE OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
TCS came up with the concept of Community of Practices (CoPs) in 1980s, when it had around
thousand employees. Later, online platforms were used to form CoPs. TCS encouraged
conversations between teams across the organization, located in different time zones. The
communities were treated as repositories of organizational memory. In 1980s, the groups
consisted of one or two people who were experts in their respective fields. These groups started
documenting the best practices. By mid-1980s, problems and solutions were documented and the
mainframes section itself had more than 1500 case studies, which employees could refer to.
There were more than 40 review case study documents in the field of quality as of 1993.
TCS went on to create Process Asset Libraries (PAL) which had information related to
technology, processes and case studies. These were made available to all the software
development centers of TCS through the intranet. As in traditional set-ups, organizational
memory resided in human memory. The knowledge was passed from one person to another
within the organization through some type of mentoring processes. The same thing was done
through the web-based Electronic Knowledge Management (EKM) portal called Ultimatix, of
which PAL was the precursor.
Ultimatix was a digital platform, aimed at speeding up the process of decision making and
digitizing the organization. It was launched in 2002 and digitized the organization through the
web. All the employees of TCS across the globe were connected through the platform.
Ultimatix has become TCSs single employee-service window; it has ensured that employees
get their services without much difficulty. They can log in with their claims, loans, or even leave
applications for processing. All approvals are done online. To that extent, TCS is a paperless
organization.
The PAL library and other knowledge bases on the intranet became a part of Ultimatix, which
had sub portals for quality management, software productivity improvement, training materials
and tools information, etc. TCS had EKM administrators taking care of each practice and there
was also a subject group whose responsibilities included editing documents and approving them
for publishing. The success of the CoPs could be gauged by the fact that between January and
June 2003, the members had exchanged more than 10,000 documents through Ultimatix.
Another model developed by TCS was The Integrated Quality Management System (iQMS),
which was a proprietary system. Termed as the DNA for project management, the system
provided a roadmap for each project and guidelines for conducting and monitoring the projects.
The system specified about 90% of all the procedures to be followed. Along each project of TCS,
the progress in all the processes was measurable and was closely monitored.
Retaining the right talent was important and with this in mind, the senior management in TCS
worked toward integrating the goals of the employees with those of the organization. The first
step in this direction was identifying the right kind of people. The challenge lies in harmonizing
diverse skills to meet the vision and mission.
In association with management institutions like the Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC),
TCS introduced a comprehensive leadership program. Another unique program carried out was
Assessment Centers, which assessed critical roles and functions within the organization. TCS
equipped its managers with skills found to be of prime importance by linking up with
universities which offered courses pertaining to them in India and abroad.
In TCS, the employees from different backgrounds and perspectives, brimming with creative
ideas came together and executed the project with many review meetings. These meetings
generated a considerable amount of knowledge that was captured in reports and databases.
To make the employees gain cross-country experience and broaden their perspective and
knowledge, TCS regularly circulated employees across different projects and functions and
sometimes even across other group companies. All these efforts enabled TCS to develop a
culture that encouraged knowledge sharing across the organization.
WEB OF PARTICIPATION STRUCTURE
The knowledge gained by TCS in nearly four decades of association with global players was
distributed to the customers through its Web of Participation structure. The Web of Participation
structure combined TCSs knowledge of business domains with expertise in various
technologies. Under the industry practice, were energy & utilities, s-governance, life sciences &
healthcare, transportation, retail & consumer goods, manufacturing, telecom, insurance and
financial services & banking. Service practice comprised eBusiness, application development &
maintenance, architecture & technological consulting, engineering services, eSecurity, large
projects, infrastructure, and quality consulting. This unique structure enabled TCS to share its
knowledge and expertise in different areas with clients.
KM MATURITY MODEL 5iKM3
TCS developed a model to measure the maturity level of knowledge management in an
enterprise and managed over 40 KM implementation projects globally. The 5iKM3 model was
developed keeping in mind the fact that to successfully implement KM initiatives, organizations
needed to bring about a complete change in all aspects including people, process, and
technology. The way people, process and technology interacted depended on the culture of the
organization. This model from TCS worked as a benchmark to evaluate the acceptance and
maturity of KM.
TCS helped customers in formulating a KM vision and strategy and assessed the clients
readiness to adopt the KM initiative. The company suggested the KM roadmap that customers
could follow. According to TCS, the three pillars of KM, called Key Foundation Areas (KFAs)
were People, Processes, and Technology. People included culture, Process included policy and
strategy, and Technology included infrastructure.
TCS identified five stages of KM maturity. The first was the Initial stage where there was no
formal process to put the knowledge in the organization to use. The second was the Intent stage
where the organizations realized the benefit of employing the knowledge for business benefits.
The third stage was the Initiative stage where the business processes had been knowledge
enabled in the organizations and the impact and benefits were being seen. The fourth stage was
the Intelligent stage where the organization had a considerable amount of knowledge
collaboration and sharing, resulting in collective and collaborative organizational intelligence.
The fifth and final stage was of Innovation, where the knowledge management efforts of an
organization resulted in process optimization and in securing a business edge.
KM maturity could be achieved by constant efforts after which the organization progressed from
one stage to the next. In an organization, the people play a crucial role in the success of
knowledge management process.
Assessment Model 5iKM3
The Purpose of the assessment model is to offer a framework which will facilitate the
following:
1. Identification of the current state of the organization in terms of People, Process and
Technology.
2. Identification and statement of the current processes for business and knowledge
management.
3. Benchmarking with the 5iKM3 concept model and delivery of a comparative with
other states.
4. Identification of suitable interventions.
5. Planning the next course of actions.
The KM Maturity assessment starts with the management mandate and involves:
1. Defining the business and KM goals.
2. Identification of the stakeholders.
3. Conducting awareness workshops for the purpose of assessment.
4. Collection of data through interviews, surveys and workshops.
The data thus collected is then consolidated and report is prepared to reflect:
1. The current state of KM Maturity.
2. General Feedback, if any.
3. Next course of action.
4. Proposed solution.
5. Suggestions, if any.

The assessment model formed a part of TCSs KM implementation methodology called
SIGMARG. The assessment of KM practices was carried out at regular intervals in order to
maintain the KM maturity level in the organization.
As a result, the company had one of the lowest employee attrition rates in the software industry
and attracted quality talent constantly.