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Knowledge Management At ICICI Bank Akshay Hemanth A023

ICICI Bank • ICICI stands for Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India. • It was founded in mid 1950’s.

• Its purpose was to provide medium and long-term development finance for Indian business. • Established Retail Banking facilities in 1994. • Offers range of products instead of concentrating purely on project finance.

ICICI Bank • Second largest bank in India and largest private sector bank by market capitalization. • It has presence in 18 countries. • As of 31 March 2010, the bank has  2,016 branches  5,219 ATM’s  24 million customers

First Step Towards Knowledge Management ICICI Universe

ICICI Universe • Corporate Intranet of the organization • Employees could check: • HR System for vacation entitlements • View the pension details • Book days off • It encouraged the employees to: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Get familiar with the web based applications Overcome the fear of technology Use the portal on a regular basis Participate in collaborative activities – The employees could contribute or find documents, engage in discussions and post and answer the queries. This idea of ICICI Universe first converted the bank into knowledge management.

ICICI Portal “Wise Guy”

Why “Wise Guy” Was Introduced • To create a culture of knowledge sharing. Whenever an employee moves, he does not leave behind the documented information about the job or the client that he was associated with. The new incumbent spends a lot of time in trying to build a foundation and begin his work called Reinvention of Wheel.

• Merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank was in the offing. The Wise Guy portal could act as a common thread binding two different cultures enabling a smooth transition into a universal bank.

• Provided common platform to bring the virtual team together The Wise Guy portal united the people across the country who have interacted only via emails and have never seen each other in order to foster a sense of belonging.

Initiating Wise Guy At ICICI • The concept was initiated in April 2000. • A Coordination Group comprising of employees from research group, ICICI Infotech and the library staff sold the concept to the employees. • The Wiseguy banner was floated in the company’s intranet.

• Emails were sent to all the employees regarding Wiseguy and its features.

Initiating Wise Guy At ICICI (cont…) • A dedicated team of 7 software developers worked on it using existing IT infrastructure. • First version came on 15th June 2000. • Second version came on 15th October 2000. • Between April and November it had 40,000 hits.

• The Wiseguy eventually became a part of the intranet. • Interested persons could get their and from the system .

Knowledge : Explicit and Tacit

Challenges In Initiating KM At ICICI There was a difficulty in capturing and codifying the tacit knowledge because of the following two reasons: 1.

Unwillingness of the owner of the knowledge to be part with it.

2.

The owner is willing to articulate the knowledge but the recipient is unwilling to absorb it.

Overcoming The Challenges • The Wiseguy portal began with the articulation of the information which was explicit to only a few persons in the organization and tacit in general. • No person was asked to share his/her tacit knowledge at this point. • Only explicit knowledge was shared. • Sharing of explicit information did not threaten anybody’s knowledge quotient. • Nobody lost any personal power which comes from being knowledgeable in a particular area.

The Wiseguy At ICICI • To generate awareness  Mails were sent to all the employees  Banners were put on the Intranet site-ICICI Universe. • To sustain interest  Contributions made by the s are acknowledged.  Top three contributors are selected every month.  Cash prizes (K-cash points are given)  Photographs of the winners get a place for a week on the site.

Accessing The Wisguy Portal • Each section can be accessed only through the -id which is usually the employee code and a . • Confidential sections are restricted by the . • Helps to build privacy especially for sections containing client information.

Technology Platforms • The tools are ed on a variety of hardware and software platforms particularly • • • •

Microsoft Windows Linux Microsoft Office OpenOffice (the open source alternative to Microsoft Office)

Contents Of Wiseguy Portal • • • • • • • • •

Discussions Queries Edited Contributions Books Training Calendar Vendors External and Internal Reports Events Captured offline lectures and presentations

Human Face Of Wiseguy • Knowledge events are organized from time to time. • People can interact with CEOs , CFOs or experts in a formal meeting announced beforehand. • If the branches desire, a webcast is also arranged.

Managing Documents On Wise Guy Wise Guy’s Document Management System

Managing Documents On Wise Guy • The Wise Guy's document-management system offers a managed view into the otherwise overwhelming enterprise content. • It provides access to personalized content. • Team specific interfaces improve collaboration. • Centralized and distributed publishing capabilities. • The business groups can generate their own, data driven miniwebsites.

Wise Guy Contributions Wise Guy has assisted the organisation in a number of ways. It has helped: • In the creation of a common storehouse of knowledge • Staff identify sources of in-house expertise • In the development of a sense of ‘belonging’ among staff • Save the bank money • Improve our employee’s decision-making ability • Empower staff • Provide a means for staff to upgrade their skills • Staff to plan their career movements • Provide a platform for recognition of contributions made to the bank

Other Knowledge Management Initiatives At ICICI • • • • •

Wise Wednesdays Brown Bag Daily Dose The Learning Matrix The Corporate Information Bank

Wise Wednesdays Wise Guy Knowledge Leader Series (KLS)

Several senior people were invited to share their tacit knowledge in an informal manner. Guest speakers included experts on various topics, such as advanced finance, and internal business heads who were delighted to be invited and were willing to give it a try. KLS evolved to include even chief the financial officers and CEOs of renowned companies in India, who have spoken on the topics of leadership and strategy. Called ‘Wise Wednesdays’. It contributed immensely to the Wiseguy brand and really helped to build the popularity of KM in ICICI Bank .

Brown Bag Staff would be invited to bring their lunch along to a presentation on a particular subject by a notable individual, to web conferences and live webcasts, so that any in any location could participate.

Corporate Learning • Learning across the group and from team mates. • Encouraging collaboration and push mechanisms.

1 2 3

• Daily Dose • Learning Matrix • Corporate Information Bank

Daily Dose • It is a summary of what all is new in the outside world and on the portal. • It features

• • • • • • •

Headlines Opinions Polls Happenings Customer Appreciations Newsletters Other Regular Updates

Benefits Of Daily Dose • Important part of employees working day. • Lends high profile to the KM initiatives. • Delivered directly to the mailbox of the employees

• Helps the KM team to capture the “mind space” of the employees as they sit down to work in the morning.

The Learning Matrix • The employees can upgrade the knowledge at their own pace. • 83 plans are currently available. • From this, an employee can select a few modules which he/she would like to do in a given year. • Modules can be both optional and compulsory. • Employees can also keep a track of – What he/she has ed for – How many modules have been completed – How many modules are pending The Scorecard keeps a score of the programs completed and certificates obtained. The electronic version of the certificates can also be printed.

The Corporate Information Bank • Provides Company Research and Industry Analysis. • Provides links to other useful databases.

• The MIT knowledge base, ICRA database, Banking Rules empowers the employees to make a rational strategic decision. • Client tracker and business tracker helps the new employees to the job in order to better know the background of the client and the business in hand.

Key Learnings • KM at ICICI Bank was started in a non-dictatorial manner and its use is voluntary. • To the employees in the bank, KM now is no longer strange or a novelty, but has become the ‘way we work’. • The KM team is encouraged to be open-minded, to bring in outside resources and to avoid being ego-driven – to find solutions within only.