Know-It-Alls

Marconi confronted cultural issues as well. "Business needsare different in different parts of the world," saysDemiral. "What may be normal business practice for Americansmay not be common elsewhere." In Europe, for example, thevalue of the KnowledgeBase system was not readilyaccepted. But once employees there saw that customers coulduse the system to solve some of their own problems, they goton board. Such an experience has been incorporated into howMarconi approaches KM. "We sometimes have to introduce theidea of knowledge management over time, validate it, andthen move forward," Demiral says.

To ensure that agents continue contributing new knowledge toKnowledgeBase, Marconi uses rewards. Besides bonuses,knowledge contributors receive recognition during meetingsand in a newsletter. "Rewards help feed this culture," Breitsays. "Peer pressure also plays a role. Everyone wants tocontribute because it's the right thing to do. You also haveto make sure that the system works well and that employeesuse it long enough to see it work. It has to be embedded intraining and fully integrated into daily operations so thatit just becomes part of how you do business."