TUKWILA, Wash. — Hank Church is in exclusive company. Not many credit union people can say their title is "manager of knowledge management."
But, then again, not many credit unions put as much focus on technical innovation and internal collaboration as fast-growing BECU, now a $7.2 billion institution serving more than 470,000 members with more than 150 branches and ATM locations and about 900 employees. Church is in charge of a three-person department he says was formed in mid-2006 "initially as the keeper of the knowledge base. We then became the enhancers of the knowledge base and now we are working towards becoming an integral part of our organization's overall strategic planning." With an IT shop long known for its do-it-yourself attitude, BECU had been using a knowledge base created internally several years ago to provide forms and other product information to front-line staff across its burgeoning branch network.
Having outgrown that, the credit union turned to Talisma, an international provider of knowledge- and customer-interaction management solutions based in nearby Bellevue.
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Working with Talisma, whose client list includes such heavyweights as Microsoft, America Online, Dell and eBay, Church and his staff have deployed an internal knowledge-sharing solution and now are turning their eye towards eventually using the same technology to improve direct member service through all the credit union's delivery channels. "We also are increasingly moving toward fostering and soliciting sharing opportunities so we can get into people's heads and share what's there with each other and with our members," Church said. Leveraging institutional knowledge from people doing their jobs every day is a key part of that process, Church said. Personal interaction in such settings as brown-bag lunches as well as online gathering of data and suggestions are all part of that process.
Church said the CU recently purchased another Talisma product, an online collaboration module that will help that process along. The process of integrating the knowledge base and BECU's intranet also is under way.
About half the credit union's workforce now actively uses the knowledge base, which sees 45,000 to 50,000 views a month. There are 60 to70 "content owners" including front-line staff and managers–who are responsible for keeping content updated. Church says he expects that number to grow as technical issues involving the credit union's Active Directory system are resolved. –[email protected]
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