Implementing Knowledge-Enabled CRM Strategy in a Large Company 275Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtenmuch data inaccuracies over the years, and there is a need for conducting an urgent
cleansing of these data.
From a technical perspective, there were great expectations as to the capabilities of
KCRM systems, but the systems turned out not to be as successful as expected. The
system overpromised but underdelivered as it was hard to use for basic queries due to
the unavailability of some data elements in the legacy system and quality of data (some
data elements were inaccurate and/or incomplete at the data source and data entry level).
Some managers claimed that project management had not considered some prob-
lems from the past and, therefore, problems continue to exist with the new systems.
According to one manager, “One of the problems that has happened which we have
inherited now putting this integrated knowledge-based systems together is that we know
all systems had data corruption in the past, and again [GTCOM] hasn’t properly done
enough work to clean that data first and then put into the system. Today, for example,
[we are] suffering because [we are] basically doing analysis and generating reports and
some of it is not accurate.”
The GM of HR explained the data accuracy problem in the HRMS implementation
by saying, “What has happened during our trial period is that at the end of the year, I
discovered that some people have got a lot of leave days, this is one of the short comings
of self-service because it has not been handled properly at line management level. Then
I discovered that a lot of people have days of leave outstanding so I questioned and when
we checked with the line managers they say, ‘Oh, I forgot to enter it.’ So instead of you
having 20 days leave, you were having 60 days leave, and I said to the person or
department, ‘OK, all staff above 20 pay them those days in cash to do the balance and
not have more than 20 days.’ You know it would have caused me to make the wrong
decision because of lack of responsibility of line management.”
Resistance to Change
The KCRM is a core business initiative that is sensitive to the political environment
within an organization. Without complete user support, KCRM projects are doomed to
failure. People’s mind-set and resistance to change posed a real challenge to the KCRM
program. Some employees did not accept the new system, as it was too advanced for them
to cope with. User training was not adequately provided to the right people, at the right
time, and for the right duration.
There is a need for new blood as it is too difficult to fine-tune the mind-sets of some
employees. More recruitment and training of staff, for example, new graduates, who are
capable of absorbing or generating new knowledge, and the incorporation of knowledge
creation, sharing, distribution, and usage of knowledge in the performance appraisal of
employees could help in the expansion of knowledge usage.
However, GTCOM did not have any formal mechanism for providing financial
rewards to members who create, share, or use knowledge. A direct outcome of the lack
of financial incentives is the limited willingness of employees to contribute to the
knowledge sharing, creation, and leveraging. Changes in GTCOM’s reward system could
help in motivating knowledge workers to create, share, and apply knowledge.