Finding Information – A core component of knowledge management
Oberbank AG, Austria
The Oberbank is a regional bank based in Linz, with a staff of about 2,000. Oberbank is a company in the heart Europe with branches in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
The bank belongs to the 3 Bank Group (3 Banken Gruppe) and its primary goal is to preserve autonomy and independence. The Oberbank focuses on high quality corporate and private consulting and draws upon many years of experience in this area.
Task
Analyzing, understanding and optimal retrieval of information are at the very heart of comprehensive knowledge management. The Oberbank is intensively involved with the issue of knowledge management and the goal of making hidden stored knowledge accessible within the framework of access rights.
One central gateway to and key source of knowledge is the intranet. Therefore, the Oberbank decided to further enhance the intranet as an information platform and to make even more information from other data sources available using a powerful search tool.
A major challenge in this endeavor was the varied page structure on the intranet, due to the fact that various editorial teams in several different countries are responsible for generating the extensive and prolific intranet content.
Solution
After testing the products of two manufacturers, Oberbank decided on the Mindbreeze InSpire solution. Mindbreeze fits seamlessly into the existing infrastructure and was configured from the outset by the IT professionals at Oberbank.
Implementing Mindbreeze InSpire allows the staff to utilize the intranet as an information platform and to search information from Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia without alternating between different user interfaces.
The displayed results are then sorted by country. Using filters provided dynamically, the search hits can be limited or broadened very simply. Additionally, the intranet has now become an invaluable contact search tool, making it easy to search for all the staff members. Employee details such as telephone number, e-mail address and photo are elegantly displayed, and sending an email or initiating a phone call can be done directly from the search result.
In addition, the extranet of WÜSTENROT was incorporated as a search information source.
Implementation
One of the foremost prerequisites for the implementation of Mindbreeze InSpire was that it be integrated in Oberbank’s employee portal. In this way, the Intranet can serve as an information platform in which all essential information is immediately available. From an IT perspective, a seamless integration in the existing infrastructure was requested. Mindbreeze InSpire fulfilled both requirements.
The appliance is supplied as a preconfigured solution and integrated into the IT. The connection between Mindbreeze and the data sources is established by means of connectors. This very time-saving method meant that work such as integrating and adapting the search queries was completed in half of the estimated time. Thus, the order was completed 100% on time and within budget. Configurations were quickly and simply adopted in operative use.
Target Achievement
Oberbank has been utilizing Mindbreeze InSpire successfully since June 2014. Employees now have all relevant information immediately at their fingertips. This also includes the employee portal and the extranet pages of WÜSTENROT, enabling search in current contracts and provisions.
Facts
- Intuitive User Interface
- 32,000 queries within the first four months
- 2,000 employees
- Short implementation time
- Search possibilities in overlapping data sources, cross-national or country-specific search results (five countries)