Satyam's KI in virtual platform

Satyam Computer Services, one of the leading IT solutions companies, has decided to take its knowledge initiative on to a virtual collaboration platform.

Knowledge Initiative (KI) refers to leveraging the crucial repository of knowledge among employees in order to improve efficiency and productivity within the company.

As KI has begun to show results, the company will now take it to the virtual world where employees can gain quick access to information through the web and mobile phones.

Considering the employee user base, the initiative is expected to translate into direct savings of nearly $1.5 million, not considering the indirect impact on winning business deals.

Knowledge sharing sessions among employees, K-Radio (FAQ database), publications and gaming workshops have helped Satyam's employees increase their productivity.

"KI is now a strategic process within the company. This is one of our Platinum Process Units. It has reduced the effort of our key sales personnel by nearly 30 per cent in terms of man hours. We are making significant investments to take this to the next level where we will integrate all processes on a virtual collaboration platform. This will result in a better yield per employee," Krishna Koneru, process architect, SSU knowledge initiative, Satyam Computer Services, said.

Koneru did not specify on the investments to be made by Satyam for this initiative.

KI from Satyam has reached a stage where clients want them to be offered as a service. When asked about its business potential, Koneru did not rule out the possibility of offering this as a stand-alone solution in the near future. "Our customers, both from IT as well as other sectors like telecom, customer support and retail are asking us for KI solutions. So, the demand is already there," Koneru added.

According to a report published by IDC in 2000, knowledge management service revenues was forecast to grow at a CAGR of 41 per cent, resulting in a global market worth nearly $13 billion by 2005. The report also stated specifically that Asia alone is likely to register a CAGR of 129 per cent in this segment.

Satyam's Knowledge Initiative Circle was established in 2001 to focus on knowledge networking its global pool of employees. Satyam has already began to work on patenting some key processes which are part of KI methodologies that have resulted in higher ROIs.

About 60 per cent of the company's technical workforce are already active.