knowledge management
A tooi with 'InSight'
What's NewS Issue6'June 1999 "J
Last month saw the roll-out in Utrecht of InSight, one of the most important
knowledge management initiatives within Rabobank International (Rl). An
electronic working environment, InSight coordinates RI/F&A teamwork across
national bounds - and will gradually make its appearance throughout RI's food
and agribusiness network, including APFT and FAR, in the months to come.
Modular contents
Reflecting processes
Expert Locator
73
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Industry data
Special delivery
t
Cultural considerations
Emphasis on sharing
C' I Miis is an important milestone in our
X internal knowledge management
(KM) capability,' says Hans Megens,
general manager of the Netherlands
branch. 'InSight is a model for the way we
.want to systematize and structure know-
Pedge around specific business communities
within our network.' Beyond the existing
system of public folders, InSight is a
collaborative environment that embodies
our institutional understanding of the risks
and drivers affecting our F&A cliënt base.
It intuitively delivers the context-specific,
internal information which ultimately adds
value to our clients.
The initial roll-out of InSight involved a
month-long collaboration between APFT's
Patrick Guyver and Steve Parker, an
external consultant of Renaissance
Worldwide. Says Parker: 'information is
only valuable if it can be profitably applied
in a specific context. InSight is designed to
make it a lot easier to disseminate know-
markets, so that InSight can be used to
select deal teams and to deliver solutions
tailored to individual clients.
A priority guiding InSight's design has
been the attempt to rnirror a business
process so that users are presented only
with such information as they are likely to
need at any given stage of a transaction.
For instance, the screen will provide
different options during the process of
identifying business opportunities, during
the formulation of a proposal, and during
subsequent project management. An
example: while working on a proposal for
a Dutch cliënt interested in establishing a
poultry project in Brazil, an Utrecht-based
Rabobanker might gain an overview on
RI's business history with that cliënt,
including other deals under negotiation
between RI and that cliënt anywhere in the
world; data on his industry, his competi-
tors, his strategie and tactical choices; a list
of relevant decision-makers within the
Intrsy
C Global Rl
C Sector
C Country
e Company
C Project
C People
C Product
Sector j Sugor Sweeteners
Company
Search
Erik Peek
Country
Product
Brazil
Nigk Streefkerk
Project Manager
Project Manager
Global Team Head
5511 5503 7090
852 2103 2864
31 30 216 4102
i< i
Direct Fax No
31 30 216 1920
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Page 1 of 1
ledge throughout the F&A network -
which is spread over many countries and
continents - and to coordinate their work
using exactly the information they need in
any given situation.' The content of InSight
- its actual knowledge base - is partly
derived from the so-called Industry
Knowledge Manual (compiled by APFT in
collaboration with FAR, this is a reposi-
tory of all key global and country-specific
»&A sector information within RI).
nother module embodies a selected list of
RI professionals and their areas of exper
tise. A further, forthcoming module will
relate the full arsenal of RI products to our
firm. Additionally, a resource locator
makes it possible to contact the right col
league at our Sao Paulo office to help
coordinate the deal.
Move down one level to data about the
industry, and the choices change. The
screen will offer a wealth of information
concerning every phase of that sector,
broken down under various headings. For
example, under the heading 'Poultry Raw
Material Supply' users find information
about price drivers, freight costs, storage
capacity, product quality and associated
risks. Under 'Processing' there are articles
on the significance of plant location,
average yields, and important host-country
environmental considerations.
Information will be delivered to users on
subscription basis with participants
tagging their areas of interest ranging from
an entire industry down to individual
deals. For example, a Rabobanker
conducting due diligence on a cotton
N
H
industry-related financial solution might
subscribe to a continuing brief on all the
latest developments pertaining to that
industry. Members of a team could form a
virtual sub-community as they assembled
and executed a deal.
As this description suggests, InSight is
more than a system and its content. 'It
contains several building blocks, one of the
most crucial being the culture and beha-
viour of the participants themselves,'
Parker says. 'What do they do? How do
they work? Who do they interact with? At
what key points do they make high-value
decisions? The system was specifically
designed around these considerations.' As
Guyver is keen to stress, 'InSight is a
collaborative environment. It reflects a
selected community of F&A Rabobankers
and their clients and its success will depend
on the behaviour of the group itself- not
on the system per se.'
InSight is one of the most costly and
elaborate KM initiatives within Rl to date,
but like all such projects its success de-
pends on the users themselves. 'What you
get is only as good as the quality and
substance of what you contribute,' Guyver
says. 'Success depends on making a real
cultural change where the old idea that
"knowledge is power" is reconceived as
"knowledge sharing is power." People will
have to act on this mindset so the entire
InSight community is continuously nour-
ished by each individual stakeholder who
benefits from it. The aim is to dynamically
learn from any failures and rapidly lever-
age all the lessons derived from success.'
