Knowledge Management Essay

The be after of this look for is to resultant the questions from the Tata Consultancy run (India) case study on pages 253-255 of Jashapara (2011)The discussion includes advice regarding a strategicalalal bail bond with lake herring. Two of the key elements of this case study which are discussed are describing the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an start out to acquaintance commission and the amendments that are made to take place these weaknesses.In the discussion, strategic alliance is explained by exposition and examples are provided as well to justify. The advice to familiarity centering issues has been discussed. The planning and concepts are communicated and a detailed answer is compose to discuss facts with the use of external sources and these drive home been referenced.Towards the end after all the points been considered, improvements with the linking to knowledge management have been advised.ContentsIntroduction3Background3Objectives3 Scope4Strategic alliances with cisco4Current weaknesses in TATA operate5Improvement on the weaknesses6Conclusion8References9IntroductionBackgroundTata Consultancy Services is an IT run, chore solutions and outsourcing government that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other staunch hatful match. Tata Consultancy Services is a leading global IT go, business solutions, and outsourcing ac guild with offices in 35 countries and ripening at over 30 percent in revenue terms for the outlive couple of years. wizard key challenge arising out of the rapid growth in people intensive business much(prenominal) as TCS has been ever-increasing demands on the IT alkali. (www.tcs.com) lake herring Systems is a large corporation that produces computer profiting products and serve. The Linksys brand of consumer networking products is in addition an possess subsidiary of Cisco Systems. (http//compnetworking. nigh.com) Cisco (NASDAQ CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information nearly Cisco can be found at http//www.cisco.com.It was decided by TCS that to expand their allegiances, they were to make a strategic alliance with Cisco without harming the long-term and short-term goals of each high society. The aim of this essay is to provide a practical approach with clear guidance for TCS and decision makers in TCS. It shows how KM can enable an ecesis to respond effectively to the changing business background and bring home the bacon its strategic goals.ObjectivesThe TCS-Cisco confederacy has been active since 2003. This partnership condensees on go-to-market activities for a barf of Cisco technologies, including the next generation datacenters (Cisco Unified Computing Systems), advanced networking, hostage and collaboration. It also focuses on evolveing replicable go-to-market business solutions leveraging cutting-edge Cisco technologies like UCS, and TCS strengths in IT finishing services, IT infrastructure services and domain expertise in key industry verticals. (http//www.tcs.com)ScopeIncludes discussion of advice regarding a strategic alliance with Cisco Discussion includes explanation of strategic alliance and points are raised in relation to knowledge management. Continues to talk about the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services approach to knowledge management. This portion is helped by many examples from external resources. Finally solutions on how these weaknesses can be improved are been mentioned. more(prenominal)over this section is supported by many examples and the examples have been referenced.Strategic alliances with CiscoStrategic alliance is an pact for cooperation among two or more independent firms to work together toward common objectives. (http//www.businessdictionary.com) It is a preparation mingled with two companies that have decided to share resources to undertake a specific, mutu ally beneficial project. A strategic alliance is less involved and less permanent than a joint venture, in which two companies typically pool resources to create a separate business entity. In a strategic alliance, each company maintains its autonomy while gaining a young opportunity.A strategic alliance could help a company develop a more effective process, expand into a new market or develop an benefit over a competitor, among other possibilities. (http//www.investopedia.com) Investopedia explains Strategic AllianceFor example, an oil and natural gas company might form a strategic alliance with a research laboratory to develop more commercially viable recovery processes. A clothing retailer might form a strategic alliance with a single clothing manufacturer to ensure consistent quality and sizing. A major website could form a strategic alliance with an analytics company to improveits marketing efforts. (http//www.investopedia.com) Knowledge focus can make a significant differe nce between ongoing or successful ventures of any organization in a world of accelerating change. Knowledge Management provides the ability to connect and cooperate labyrinthian ideas efficiently and can be beneficial even to expand when using strategic alliances.To make Knowledge Management work in an organization it must be grounded in the realities of the business posits and drivers, and aligned to the slant of organizational objectives, which this case TCS requires for the expansion of their organization. It should non be seen as an optional or marginal occupation but as part of the organizational essential need, embedded in their business process, which is highly applicable in their solutions.Current weaknesses in TATA servicesStrategic alliance can cause major problems if not handled properly. As part of the start of the alliance, TCS have to incorporate Ciscos Data Centre technologies, with TCS industry-leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. The pract ice will focus on helping customers develop next-generation virtualized data centers and achieve greater working(a) and energy might. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses for IT services. whizz of the main concerns was over the alignment of short term and long term goals of both organizations and the value of strategic alliance in the current downturn in global markets. Most staff will need training to adjust to the new systems.The two companies want to cooperatively come up with and supply discipline engineering science service solutions to clients that will help their businesses build next-generation data centers by taking advantage of the network as a platform. The two companies are spread out in a wide range of countries and due to this there are a lot of communication issues. Tata Consultancy plans to build a new technology practice focused on Ciscos industry-leading data center networking and securit y solutions. The companies also denote the formation of a Cisco Technology Lab at the TCS campus in Chennai, India. These all add up to additional costs but have to be done to train staff intothe new systems Cisco and TCS have to develop solutions that meet the infrastructure and network requirements of global corporations.Both companies have to invest in skills tuition and training labs to provide an end-to-end solution to meet customer requirements. As part of the new practice, TCS will incorporate Ciscos Data Centre 3.0 technologies, with TCS industry-leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. The practice will focus on helping customers develop next-generation virtualized data centers and achieve greater operational and energy efficiency. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses for IT services. Customers are demanding greater dynamism from their IT infrastructure and application environment to address current challenges and to capitalize on opportunities whenever and wherever they emerge, said Mr. N Chandrasekaran, hirer operating officer and executive director of TCS. This strategic alliance will take advantage of Ciscos industry-leading data center networking solutions and TCS global network delivery model to help our customers increase the efficiency and agility of their IT operations. (http//blog.topitconsultant.com)Also some concerns were about improving operational efficiency and productivity, enable business agility, and improve enterprise knowledge.Improvement on the weaknessesThe two organizations came up with a lot of strategies, that is plan of action that transmit the two organizations resources so that it can effectively differentiate itself from competitors, accomplish distinctive goals, and achieve higher performance. Managers develop strategies based on the organizations strengths and weaknesses, and evaluation of opportunities and threats. The Managers primarily make decisions about the firms activities, and the development and allocation of resources devoted to these.The TCS-Cisco strategic alliance enables end-to-end IT infrastructure services, unify with assurance services, and IT application services enabling seamless system integration of Cisco products. Cisco and TCS planto develop go-to-market solutions that meet the infrastructure and network requirements of global corporations. Both companies will invest in skills development and training labs to provide an end-to-end solution to meet customer requirements. Cisco has recognized the low-cost advantage of operating in India as well as high pool technology talent and expertise. Tata consultancy services already provide IT consultancy services to a large amount of countries.The company offers some of the most complex applications and next generation IT infrastructures in the world. Tata consultancy services in-depth knowledge of different business domains combined with its t echnological skills makes it a a very competent organization. One major improvement is that they use various strategies to improve knowledge management they use three main strategies or as they call it the three pillars of knowledge management, which are people, process and technology. In terms of people one of the key values is learning and sharing.The company has introduced three initiatives to promote a greater learning culture. First is the proactive employee engagement program which allows elderly managers to have face to face meetings with employees across various functions and grades. The other initiative has promoted a share complaint grow culture and and encouraged individuals to advance their own ideas and resolve ideas at local level. Finally the last initiative was professional excellence role enhancement ownership culture personal growth employee and learning.Tata consultancy services has another training hub in addition to others as well to further train new recruits in different aspects of software engineering, quality systems and different technologies which is a major improvement. The training included soft-skills development much(prenominal) as leadership and teamwork. The trainers were drawn from different parts of the business with significant subject expertise and experience. Tata consultancy services have also made training centers overseas in line with its global expansion. Also Tata consultancy services have developed a number of ICT interventions to increase knowledge sharing. Some of the main improvements to help with the strategic alliance are to advance knowledge, learning, and skills development.ConclusionThe purpose of this essay was to answer the questions from the Tata Consultancy Services (India) case study. The essay started by mentioning a short description of the history of the two companies. The discussion included advice regarding a strategic alliance with Cisco. Two of the key elements of this case study which were dis cussed. The current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an approach to knowledge management and the improvements that are made to eliminate these weaknesses have been mentionedIn the discussion, strategic alliance was explained by explanation and examples provided as well to justify. The advice to knowledge management issues has been discussed. The planning and concepts are communicated and a detailed answer is written to discuss facts with the use of external sources and these have been referenced. Towards the end after all the points been considered, improvements with the linking to knowledge management have been advised.As per the objectives of this essay, the current weaknesses in Tata Consultancy Services with an approach to knowledge management and the improvements that are made to eliminate these weaknesses are discussed.References. 2013. . ONLINE Available athttp//www.tcs.com/resources/Pages/filterResults.aspx?topic=Services_Consulting&type=Case%20Study. Accessed 1 6 April 2013. Cisco Systems About Cisco Systems Networking. 2013. Cisco Systems About Cisco Systems Networking. ONLINE Available athttp//compnetworking.about.com/od/cisconetworking/p/cisco-systems.htm. Accessed 16 April 2013. IT Consultants Blog at TopITconsultant.com . 2013. IT Consultants Blog at TopITconsultant.com . ONLINE Available athttp//blog.topitconsultant.com/category/TATA-Consultancy-Services.aspx. Accessed 09 May 2013. Mohammad Masrurul, M 2012, An Overview of Strategic Alliance warlike Advantages in Alliance Constellations, Advances In Management, 5, 12, pp. 22-31, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 9