A Pharmaceutical Company Employs Knowledge Management to Increase Efficiency and Collaboration

The client, one of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company, recognized the untapped value of its internal knowledge asset. The client's R&D employees are separated by geography, business units, and projects. These factors, together with the overwhelming size of the organization (100,000+ employees), has made it extremely difficult for employees to locate needed expertise outside of their own “silo”.

To explore options for information sharing, the client's senior management chartered a pilot project to explore an industry-leading knowledge management solution for multiple sub-communities. The client turned to West Pole to provide the project management and requirements analysis needed to quickly implement the proposed solution and monitor its effectiveness.

Working Around Schedules and Time Zones

The West Pole team worked with pilot communities across the country to drive effective participation levels with a minimal time commitment from client scientists. West Pole performed initial configuration tasks, freeing the client's staff to execute their daily responsibilities while the knowledge management environment was developed and deployed to the test environment. West Pole also coordinated with the software vendor to organize and deliver effective and efficient training.

Creating Unity within a Pharmaceutical Giant

Working with the client's technical team, and the internal stakeholders, West Pole successfully managed the implementation of the knowledge management solution pilot. After the launch of the pilot, three of the client's many scientific communities were enlisted to participate in using the collaboration tools and to provide their feedback. West Pole worked closely with the client to gather anecdotal and statistical feedback on the processes. The result of this effort significantly enhanced the understanding of the way corporate teams communicate, with the outcomes informing future development of an enhanced toolset.

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