MIS Quarterly Executive Vol. 10 No. 1 / Mar 2011 1 © 2011 University of Minnesota Leveraging Collaborative Technologies to Build a Knowledge Sharing Culture at HP Analytics Leveraging CoLLaborative t eChnoLogies to buiLd a KnowLedge sharing CuLture at hP anaLytiCs 1,2 Thompson S. H. Teo National University of Singapore (Singapore) Rohit Nishant National University of Singapore (Singapore) Mark Goh National University of Singapore (Singapore) and University of South Australia (Australia) Sameer Agarwal HP Decision Support and Analytics Services (India) MIS Q Uarterly E xecutive Executive Summary 2 In a progressively knowledge-dependent economy, businesses need to pay greater attention to harnessing the knowledge that resides in their organizations. However, despite increasing investment in knowledge management (KM) tools, organizations often experience frustration in developing a knowledge sharing culture. This article describes how HP’s Decision Support and Analytics Services (referred to as HP Analytics) unit in India promoted initiatives aimed at changing the behavior of employees and successfully fostered a knowledge sharing culture as it implemented a cost-effective KM platform using web-based collaborative technologies. Its experiences in branding the KM program, establishing interest groups, using opinion leaders as KM ambassadors, and encouraging blogging over a multi-year period provide important lessons for CIOs and other organizational leaders who seek to build a knowledge sharing culture. THE CHALLENGE OF BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE SHARING CULTURE Knowledge management (KM) has been a business leadership focus since the early 1990s. 3 Initially, the focus was on how to create a knowledge repository by documenting knowledge inside the organization using various technologies such as performance support systems and groupware. However, organizations found they also needed processes to facilitate knowledge sharing if they were to gain beneits from these technologies. The importance of knowledge sharing is evident from the recent emphasis on business analytics, where harnessing existing knowledge is crucial for obtaining insights to enhance organizational competitiveness. 4 With the emergence of web-based collaborative technologies in the 2000s, KM became more interactive and participatory. Web 2.0 collaborative technologies, though, have the same drawbacks as many other technology-based knowledge sharing initiatives that require a high degree of individual participation to be effective 5 : knowledge contribution is often dominated by a few employees, 6 thus making any knowledge sharing initiative based on such platforms ineffective. The key to harnessing knowledge is to develop a knowledge sharing culture inside the organization. Various case studies have shown that a knowledge sharing culture is crucial to the success of a KM program. But developing such a culture is easier 1 Jeanne Ross and Carol Brown are the accepting Senior Editors for this article. An earlier version received the 2010 SIM Best Paper Award and was presented at SIMposium 2010. 2 The authors wish to thank Prithvijit Roy (Director, HP Analytics), Debleena Majumdar, Prashanth Sarpamale, Debasish Das, Arumugam Pitchai, and the entire KM Team at HP Analytics for their cooperation and support. 3 For an article that explores KM in organizations, see Nonaka, I. “The knowledge creating company,” Harvard Business Review (69), November-December 1991, pp. 96-104. 4 Davenport, T. H. and Jeanne, G. H. Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Harvard Business School Press, 2006. 5 For examples on ways to effectively use Web 2.0 tools in organizations, see the four articles published in the December 2010 special issue of MIS Quarterly Executive; and Chui, M., Miller, A. and Roberts, R. “Six ways to make Web 2.0 work,” McKinsey on Business Technology, 16, Summer 2009, pp. 1-9. 6 Ma, M. and Agarwal, R. “Through a Glass Darkly: Information Technology Design, Identity Veriication, and Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities,” Information Systems Research (18:1), 2007, pp. 42-67. MISQE is Sponsored by