Executive summary
The knowledge management is given much importance in the today’s world it deals with the different kind of the changes that are corporate in the organization and the use and the success of them in the organization. The complete analysis of the knowledge management in the Saudi telecom company and how they help in the different kind of the strategy formulation, technological know-how and the success after the implementation is considered. This gives the idea of the essentiality of the knowledge management in the telecom company.
Introduction
Knowledge Management is essential for every business activities. The use of knowledge management in a business helps to coordinating the information that one has by collecting, sharing and also innovating some other data. Improving the present knowledge will help the company to work in an efficient and successful way. Knowledge management offer a positive energy to the employees for their work. Every organization is subjected to change under different circumstances. So, the organizations are ready to face the changes that they want to introduce and after considering all these changes they try to acquire some precise knowledge to make these changes in a competent way. For that, to make this study a complete one several procedures like proper planning, implementation and time management etc are considered as primary factors. The main concept of knowledge management is refreshing the current knowledge for improving the efficiency of an organization.
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) offers various telecom services to the customers. High quality of service made them the best telecom company in Saudi Arabia. They give preference to the requirement of the customers. They always put forward several new ideas to improve the quality of their service. Competition in the telecom field is increasing day by day. Today, there are various private and public telecom companies; all of them offer numerous telecom services to the customers. Some of the offers seem to be very attractive to the customers and the customers are ready to utilise the services. Competition among the telecom companies increases and it acts as a major challenge among the telecom companies. In order to survive from competition the organizations are aware of the current market requirement. The different strategies of knowledge management always give an idea about the types of changes that they want to implement and it helps to give suitable offers to the customers.
Importance of knowledge management in an organization
Every organization can have a specific objective in its performance. To make the company’s performance better, it has to collect appropriate data for improving efficiency. “KM is getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time so they can make the best decision” (Petrash in Jashapara 2004).” (Knowledge management report 2009).
To survive in the field of telecommunication, the organizations like STC can have strong knowledge regarding its marketing and its services. Therefore, it has to go for the solutions for the current business problems by acquiring new knowledge, which helps improve the performance in current marketing of the company in many ways. Proper knowledge management offers lots of advantages to STC. They are improving the quality of the product, avoiding the mistakes they usually make, decreasing the cost of production and motivating and improving knowledge sharing and learning among the employees. STC planned to expand their business to commercial business standards. For that, it adopts various methods. STC mainly focuses on the current market situations. To make its own standard in the global telecommunication field, STC makes an effort to understand the major changes that occur in the telecommunication field. To get high quality services to the client, “STC has recently adopted its FORWARD Strategy that aims to support and re-enforce its competitive position. Based on this strategy, STC strives to enhance customer- centric culture in all its business aspects.” (Overview 2009).
FORWARD strategy helps the company to extend its business to international level. It leads to improvement of the financial condition of the company. The services of STC offer high reliability. Through excellent performance, STC has become the top telecom company in global marketing.
Advantages of knowledge management plan
Knowledge is continuous and it will not exhaust. It is the key element for the success of an organization. Appropriate usage of knowledge management gives an idea about intellectual capacity in an organization. Knowledge management has got its own benefits. “Knowledge Management: an Integrated Approach is centred around five parts of the knowledge cycle namely discovering knowledge, generating knowledge, evaluating knowledge, sharing knowledge and leveraging knowledge.” (Jashapara 2004).
By using knowledge management in an organization, the firm will become inventive and adaptable. Knowledgeable staffs are the real outcome of an organization, Through KM organizations get a clear idea about what are the steps to be taken to achieve their goals. Application of KM in a business firm helps in developing the skills of a person. Saudi Telecom Company is one of the best organizations adopting knowledge management plan in the organization. STC offers not only offer best services to a firm but also provide services to the members of the organization. It provides various communication services by giving landline connection and internet connection to the firms and individuals. It offers employment opportunities to many people in the telecom industry. Its employee strength is about 21,000 and has the largest place in Saudi Arabia’s communication sector. Benefit acquired by using knowledge management is that the company is able to develop the market for telecom locally and regionally focusing on the individuals. Another advantage STC provides is the services it provides to the customers who are using mobiles. Knowledge management helps in the development of the company by introduction of the latest techniques in the field of communication. Fast Internet service provided by the STC offers a great help for the business sector as well as the educational sector. The company is introducing various techniques in the telecom sector by considering the future trends. Saudi Telecom Company is planning increase their share by implementing suitable plans, which results a lot of benefit in the form of profits. By Communicating different the knowledge concept between the staff members in the company may help in implementation of new plans in the organization. The company offers a reduction in the call charge to the customers when they make calls and receive calls. While sending SMS, discounts are offered to the customers. Knowledge management of STC helps the customers in understanding the language of the company when they are giving any technical information. They communicate the information to their users clearly, correctly and exactly. Saudi Telecom Company provides services to all types of customers in all regions; because of this it is able to capture more customers from different parts of the country.
Knowledge management process and its implementation
Knowledge management strategy
Knowledge management is the set of procedures through which the organization combines, researches, develops and analyzes its knowledge with the resources like the people, technology and the organizational objectives. “To be successful, a KM strategy must do more than just outline high-level goals such as ‘become a knowledge-enabled organisation’.” (Robertson 2004).
Knowledge management strategy includes different kinds of long term plans that are implemented and tested accurately. The kind of the strategy may include depending on the organizational objectives. Knowledge management strategy makes use of the push and the pull strategy for successful implementation.Knowledge management strategies are mainly object oriented; they keenly focus on the performance measurement, competitive advantage and the technological innovation. Knowledge management with regard to organization considers knowledge as the heart and the soul. This also provides much in-depth knowledge about the market segmentation and the competitive analysis and the criteria of pricing and promotion. Knowledge management process has a lot of data mining and data warehousing is required.
Knowledge management strategy in Saudi Telecom Company
Knowledge management has the assessments like the performance appraisal, and they are assessed in three different stages; they are the pre-implementation mode, the implementation mode and the post implementation mode among the different operations. The pre-implementation process may lead to the different kinds of operations that are exhibited or the different kinds of analyses that are to be done during the implementation. To implement KM in a business, at first organization authorities must consider KM will affect the company in a best way or not and to identify how much improvement will occur in the output of the firm. The post-implementation consists of the evaluating whether the knowledge management process was a good attempt and a success.
The work of the company was related by the hierarchical structure from the old military approach, but today the technology has much advanced and the use of them has been massive in the market, the concept of the virtual management ahs the bigger impact and as the telecommunication company has the much of the impact in the current scenario.
The Saudi telecom company
The Saudi telecom deals mainly with the valuable resources and they value this as the valuable asset of the company.they have the much of the knowledge that are exhibited to the design, development and the successful implementation.
As the part of the knowledge management developments hey are collaborated with the converges, the customer care giants for the execution of the advanced billing and the customer care services. They have the facility for the deployment of the speed to the internet services where there is an end to end visibility for the different kind of the problem analysis of the company. The information management of the company also plays an important role where there are the service executives for the information management. This helps them in the profit maximization.
Knowledge management tool
The tools are the techniques that are used for the transfer of the information or the data for the profitability and for the productivity or the product efficiency of the organization. The main area to be concentrated in the management tool is the generation, codification and the transfer.
The knowledge generation makes use of the system were the information has to be supplied or it has to be generated were they have the new generations that are to be concerned with the use of the research and the development of the activities are been considered and the use of the different techniques that are internal generation tools are been considered.
The codification includes the coding of the information and then the putting them together in the leveraging of the knowledge. These make use of the artificial intelligence or the virtual memory for the codification. The specific action is performed only after the correct data is achieved.
The transfer of the data is considered when the proper information is obtained from the codification and when they have to transfer the information based on the data and the information achieved. this includes the consistent data on the system that are been used for the transfer of the ultimate information.
Knowledge management also deals with the formulation of the different strategies; the two important strategies are the push strategy and the pull strategy.
Push strategy
Push strategy is the integrated strategy; it may deal with managing and improvising the knowledge. This makes use of the employees in the organization to have the ideas and the perception and puts forward the explicit knowledge. This may also deal with the intensive contribution of the employees to the organization. This mainly uses the different techniques of conveying the ideas that are related, otherwise known as the codification. This may deal much with the training and the other assistance being provided by the company. This contributes much to the economies of scale to the company.
Pull Strategy
Pull strategy is the kind of the strategy where there is the use of some expertise in the field to give necessary output and feedback that are related to the better functioning of the organization. This is the strategy where the people in the organization do not have the say in the push strategy. This mainly concentrates on the ideas of the experts. This may also include the vivid views of the pioneers in the field. This can also be the team work effort on the organization.
Collaborative technologies
This is an important strategy that has been formulated by the company in building up innovative technology and for its wide market presence by the different kinds of technological ideas to make the company’s presence wide. It has the strategy to have a full-fledged broadband connection. It concentrates more on Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam before concentrating on the other eight major cities. “STC’s Unified International Roaming Network is a strategic step that follows and complements global communications trends,” said Eng. Al Daweesh. (Ammari 2008).
STC is the first largest telecom company in the region to introduce the unified international roaming service comprising of the 30 other companies globally.
Knowledge mapping
Knowledge mapping finds the upcoming developments in the sector; this may also deal with exhibiting the inputs to be the global leader. This comes when different kinds of knowledge may be implemented in the knowing of the market.
After action reviews
After action reviews are those which are carried out with implementation tactics, they have to be viewed. The reviews are checked after the viewing of the process by which the implementation has to take place.
Implementation of the knowledge plan
The implementation of knowledge management plan is a step by step process, the implementation can be done in the survey model where the survey has to be conducted where lot of information should be gathered, this may also lead to the identification of the problems or different kinds of technology related issues in the organization; they should also have the different methods of solving the technology related issues, the discarding of the obsolete technology used. “Implementation depends very much on the nature of the particular project.” (KM planning and implementation 2002).
The identification of the places where promotions have to take place and the cities where the product availability should be more specific should be recognized. There is the system of participation of the people with different opinions which they have in the organization. The well established process has the success. The proper awareness is given to the employees about implementation of new project. Employees are motivated where they have doubt about the overall development in the implementation of the strategy. The implementation has the monitoring that are been provided. The continuous way of communication about the new methodology and the different kind of the analysis is conveyed. Reward system has the role to view the quality assessment in a better way. The objectives are to be conveyed in the manner so as to make them understand how it may suit the organizational needs.
A good base which has a lending hand from the top leader ship the technical persons and the staff which consists of the communication, incentive and the other reward system should be considered well in advance before the knowledge management implementation.
Time table for the implementation of Knowledge management steps in STC
This part is suitable for identifying the time required for the completion of the knowledge management implementation. It takes several months to complete the process. Proper knowledge management is a key factor of every organization. Knowledge management is useful to reduce problem and offer value added services to the customers. Knowledge management process implementation is a step by step process. The time required to complete the new ideas is recorded and it is helpful for their future reference. Knowledge management in STC will help to improve its quality of service and the customers are attracted towards the services offered by the company and thus it leads to increase in sales and profit.
Adapting new methods made some complications inside the company because workers of the firms are not aware of the new implementation technique and it is not shure that they can adjust with these new concepts which are introduced in an organization. If the modifications are done in the technical department like, implementing some hardware part to improve the network performance of STC, need extra budget. Also, various modifications are made to improve the storage capacity of the memory chips used in the mobile phones. STC provide various offers for its prepaid and post paid connections. They have separate business offices for their different services. The internet service of STC is utilizing the Wi-fi technology. STC’s communication “network will provide travellers with fixed and low cost rates for calls during their stay at these countries and based on the Company’s transparent approach customers will receive a message explaining the roaming rates as well as the preferred roaming network in these respective countries.” (Ammari 2008).
Budget required for implementing KM
“The noun budget is one that is used my nearly every individual and corporation on a daily basis.” (Budget n.d).
Financial constraint is the major factor. The funding on the knowledge plan has to be well focused because the organization is going to make some changes by implementing KM. The organization can spend about 6-12% for the implementation of the knowledge plan. The financial constraints for each company is significant as the implementation of the procedure should not be vague. It has to be clear and specific.
The budgetary analysis done by the project manager during the initial testing is just an overall idea which gives manipulated figures. This cost analysis is done by considering certain areas:
- The resources needed.
- The quality and the quantity of the resources needed.
- The efforts that are calculated during the implementation.
- The Availability of the resources.
The effort estimation
The effort can be calculated by the quality of the work performed, size of the plan, project duration, and the time taken for the completion.
Performance Indicator of KM
Performance indicators are essential for an organization for indicating the performance of the employees in the organization. Knowledge management plan helps an organization in indicating the performance by implementation of various techniques by giving suggestions based on the knowledge of the members in a firm. It helps in indicating the performance in the business in a predetermined manner. In STC, performance indicator helps in identifying various requirements of the company which are essential for its development. It is a good measure which helps in attaining the organizational objectives. Company can get new customers in the telecom sector when they identify the service performance of the company. Performance indicator adopted by the company considering the knowledge management helps to reduce the turnover rate of the employees. Segmenting the members is possible based on their skills. The effect of implementing KM plan in an organization is identified with the help of performance indicators. How the implementation of KM influences the revenue of a firm is noticed, if it is high we can understand that KM works in an efficient way. The major revenues of STC are coming from its wireless segments. Because wireless technology are easy for handling and it is simple.
So, the business organizations give more care for the wire line segment services. Also the time taken to avoid the mistake is reduced; it is a result of good KM. The increase in the innovative ideas is also a result of good KM implementation. By analysing the response from the employees is also an indicator of how the KM will affect the organization. Positive responses from the works are the sign of good KM implementation.
Recommendations
There should be a proper communication between the employees and the head of the organisation regarding the knowledge management plan, its needs and it is beneficial to their organisation.
The participation of the employees in the implementation of the knowledge management should be compulsory.
A thorough research on the historic data and the current scenario should be conducted prior to the communication among the employees.
Conclusion
A good KM plan is considered as an asset of every organization, which helps make a position in competitive environment. For the proper implementation of knowledge management requires several months. KM in STC took nearly five months to complete. The budget required for KM is also noted and it will not cause any bad effect on the financial state of the company. Implementation of KM will help STC to make its own position in the global telecommunication services.
Reference
Ammari, SS 2008, Saudi telecom launches unified international roaming in 30 countries worldwide, AME Info.com: The Ultimate Middle East Business Resource. Web.
Budget n.d., Project Management Knowledge: The Ultimate Resource of Project Managers. 2009. Web.
Jashapara, A 2004, Knowledge management: an integrated approach: description, Pearson Education Schweiz. Web.
KM planning and implementation: deliverables 2002, David Skyrme Associates. Web.
Knowledge management report 2009, Oppapers.com: Research Papers and Essays for All. Web.
Malhotra, Y 2000, Knowledge management and new organization forms: A frame work for business model innovation. Information Resources Management Model, 13(1). P. 22. Web.
Overview 2009, STC. Web.
Robertson, J 2004, Developing a knowledge management strategy, Step Two Designs. Web.