CASE STUDY: Knowledge Management Systems at Abhi & Subhi Consultancy Abhi & Subhi Consultancy is a software services and consulting company having its headquarters in Pune. It is the leading provider of services like information technology and business process outsourcing in the country, and also caters to global clients. Established in 1961, Abhi & Subhi Consultancy was a pioneer in the Indian IT industry, and from 1970, the organization started exporting their services. Their first international order was from Germany, in which they were given the assignment of writing code for heavy machines for some UK-based clients. This experience helped Abhi & Subhi Consultancy bag their first onsite project, a data centre for eight banks, which catered to more than one million customers in the US. In the year 1984, Abhi & Subhi Consultancy set up its first software R& D centre. During the early 1990s, the IT outsourcing industry of India grew tremendously because of two main reasons the Y2K bug and launch of Euro (unified European currency). It was Abhi & Subhi Consultancy who pioneered new model for Y2K conversion. They also developed software tools which led to automation of the conversion process and enabled other third-party developers as well as clients to make use of it. Vision To become a Global Top 10 consulting companies by 2020. Mission To help customers achieve their business objectives, by providing innovative, best-in-class consulting, IT solutions and services. To make it a joy for all stakeholders to work with Abhi & Subhi. Values Leading change, integrity, respect for the individual, excellence, learning and sharing. Human Resources (HR) Function at Abhi & Subhi Consultancy Human resources function is working closely with senior management, business segments, line management and functional leaders in Abhi & Subhi Consultancy. It is responsible for the following activities: Employee services: Employee services are important part of HR services. HR department study the industry trends and use the communication and feedback from employees to continuously improving the services. These services go a long way in employee-company relationship as these promotes organizational citizenship and generate respect and admiration in employees about the company. Talent management: Talent management is one of the core functions for the HR department. Talent management involves arranging specially requested training programs on demand from employees to improve their competencies. It covers the appraisal process and payroll issues. It involves regularly updating the new competencies acquired by the employees. Workforce management: It basically consists of workforce management and global recruitment system. It is responsible for allocating resources to the project teams. Resource management groups handle the request for team members. Global recruitment system is responsible for attracting and hiring new talent from the other companies. They use employee referrals to contact the resources. They also create database of people who apply for job and screen them for project requirements. IT involves taking service of the consultancy firms to get access to new resources. As part of providing an IT solution to reach the strategic goals of the company, Abhi & Subhi has developed a project Kinfo, the official portal of Abhi & Subhi Consultancy. The outcome of Kinfo was a cohesive network and method for deploying all internal processes, together with HR, finance, and project management. Kinfo included J2EE based customized module using rule engines, workflow services, and SOA based on the ERP suite. It is single sign-in portal with a personalized log-in and password for all Abhi & Subhi Consultancy employees. It connects over 20,000 Abhi & Subhi Consultancy employees in 32 countries to a single platform. It is one-stop solution for all the issues related to employees. On one platform, it tackles issues related to employee services, finances, career plans, infrastructure and administrative issues. The employees of Abhi & Subhi Consultancy can connect to any other employee anywhere in the world and can share knowledge. The biggest achievement of this software is efficient flow of information. It contains a bulletin board which shows latest happenings in the company. Employees can get information regarding the latest social and corporate events taking place in the Abhi & Subhi Consultancy. Employees can be informed about the policy changes. One more important aspect of Kinfo is knowledge management. It contains links to technical and managerial resources. It helps employees improve their knowledge by continuously updating link to make latest additions accessible to the employees. It also allows employees to update their competency details on-line so that they dont miss out on opportunities. It is a complete portal for all internal processes like payroll, appraisal, travel plans, exit etc. It is a time-efficient and cost-efficient solution to the unproductive internal processes of the company.

Questions for Discussion 600 Words Minmim - 800 Words Maximum.

1. Comment on the knowledge management system at Abhi & Subhi Consultancy.

2. If you are invited as a consultant, how would you improve the Knowledge Management System at Abhi & Subhi Consultancy? Discuss.