knowledge isolated within each individual tally and mapped out the 6,000 contents.

CASE FILE THE BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI,LTD

or work place. Mr. Ito notes, "that greatly By doing so, valuable information that had
deteriorated work efficiency for the organi- been scattered randomly on Notes databas-

Accelerating Customer-Oriented Banking zation as a whole," and elaborates as fol-

lows.
es could be managed systematically and
collectively in KnowledgeMarket.

with Knowledge Management "Many banks do not document the proc-

esses that lead up to closing a deal with the
customer. That means that know-how such
One of KnowledgeMarket's characteris-
tic functions is its ability to track user be-
havior and visualize the distribution of in-
as how to interact with the customer, what formation. This makes it possible to see in
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. information to obtain and what proposals real time who viewed postings when. Also,
to make to successfully conclude the deal users can attach to the posting comments
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. (BTM) is undertaking its Project OPEN, a work reform effort to has not been formulated into tangible evaluating its contents. Mr. Ito finds that
speed up response to customer needs through timely and proper decision-making by frontline knowledge. Needless to say, this type of this tracking function contributes greatly
employees. BTM chose REALCOM's KnowledgeMarket as the knowledge exchange platform for knowledge is most useful to our frontline to improved information creation and trans-
its transformation into a customer-oriented organization. employees. So, for Project OPEN we need- mittal processes.
ed a system that transforms that valuable "In the past, our head office staff tended
information into explicit knowledge and to feel that their job was done once they
shares it across branches and organizations created materials and posted them to Notes. Masayuki Ito, deputy general manager of general
Knowledge
䇭 Management as a The bank is now striving to reform its deci- sales branches would be taken away and planning office
sion-making and work processes from a necessary information would be shared smoothly." But head office staff are supposed to sup-
Foundation for Work Reform That being the case, the bank decided to port branch sales, so their task is not com-
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
centralized concentration of authority into openly.
Since the latter half of the 1990's, press- a decentralized and autonomous organiza- Project OPEN aims to create an IT plat- utilize KnowledgeMarket to manage plete until the intended recipients have re-
ed to write off nonperforming loans inherit- tion. It aims to respond to customer needs form that supports such an open organiza- knowledge in coexistence with the email ceived, understood and evaluated the opment, and employees are actively shar-
ed from the bubble economy, Japan's ma- quickly. The bank launched Project OPEN tion and to improve the productivity and and schedule management functions of information. KnowledgeMarket's tracking ing knowledge. Further, the establishment
jor financial institutions have been on the in 2003 to champion the reform's principal creativity of the bank's workers. REAL- Notes that are so familiar to its employees. functions reminds head office staff of that in February 2004 of the first MTFG Plaza,
defensive, busy consolidating and cutting elements. COM's KnowledgeMarket was adopted as responsibility and creates an opportunity an outlet merging the services of BTM
back. The fact that BTM, having been per- the infrastructure to handle the knowledge Improving the Knowledge to re-evaluate and reform the day-to-day with those of Mitsubishi Trust and Bank-
Among Japan's mega-banks, BTM was ceived as top-down and bureaucratic, management aspect of the project. Sharing Process work of preparing materials." (Mr. Ito) ing Corporation and Mitsubishi Securities,
first to see the light at the end of the bad- would choose "open" for its reform slogan According to Masayuki Ito, deputy gener- The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is pro- has created a community that transcends
debt tunnel and the only bank to maintain illustrates its strong commitment to change. al manager of BTM's general planning de- The introduction of KnowledgeMarket at moting and utilizing knowledge manage- the framework of existing organizations,
an offensive stance as it realigned its The bank foresees a workplace where all partment, "Now that we're over the hump BTM began by transferring the Notes- ment to reach all its employees. Already, linking MTFG Plaza staff to the bank's
group to increase management efficiency. employees can express themselves openly of nonperforming loans, our next objective based information sharing space to the all bank employees are registered and par- head office.
In February 2004, it set the lofty goal to be- without fear of failure, where top manage- is to accelerate the customer-oriented busi- KnowledgeMarket community. With the ticipating in its Retail Customer Communi- The bank successfully completed the
come one of the world's top 10 financial in- ment can communicate its vision openly ness. To do that, we must openly share cooperation of its branches and divisions, ty and Corporate Customer Community on first step in its efforts to transfer all exist-
stitutions in terms of market capitalization and get open and frank feedback in return. best practices and know-how from sales the bank first narrowed down approximate- KnowledgeMarket. The bank has also ing knowledge into KnowledgeMarket and
within 3 years. Barriers between the head office and the staff with the best customer knowledge ly 90,000 contents to 6,000. Next, it creat- launched communities for departments, have it take root among its employees.
and utilize the knowledge to sharpen our ed a matrix positioning product categories specific job responsibilities and cross-or- Now, BTM enjoys a community where suc-
business capabilities. Put in another way, vertically and work process phases horizon- ganizational projects such as product devel- cesses, know-how and Q&As about 'the
CASE STUDY OVERVIEW knowledge management that reaches the processes leading up to successful deals'
entire organization should be the driving are shared openly among frontline employ-
Purpose of knowledge management ees.
force in becoming customer-oriented."
Organize and consolidate information (best practices, etc.) that had been An illustration of BTM's knowledge management system
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is estab-
scattered across branches and departments
Exchange information between the command center (head office) and the
Reforming the Knowledge lishing an unrivaled position as an integrat-
Q&A Projects Know-Who ed financial institution, using Knowledge-
frontlines (branches and sales offices) Sharing Infrastructure Q&A Community Bulletin Expert
Q&A Market as a springboard to customer-

Company-wide portal
Create a forum for intellectual collaboration to create new products and board list
services For BTM, KnowledgeMarket is not the Administration Community
Library
oriented reform. 䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭䇭
Improve frontline operations productivity and problem-resolution and first effort to share knowledge. From long Corporate Customer Community Various sales information
Internal control information
decision-making capabilities ago, the bank has striven to share informa- Retail Customer Community Intradepartmental information
Uncover and share knowledge and wisdom possessed by each employee tion needed to perform job responsibilities USER'S PROFI
PROFILE
LE
Lotus Notes
using Lotus Notes. Company name:
Benefits from knowledge management Existing
But since each branch or department information assets The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.
Improved frontline efficiency by consolidating and systematizing useful managed information on its respective Electronic document Capital: 785.9 billion yen (as of March 31, 2002)
information/know-how Notes database, information was dispersed database Employees: 18,258 (as of March 31, 2002)
Links
More efficient and active information flow via cross-organizational knowledge over individual databases. That made it dif-
Standard Areas of business:
operation manuals
communities ficult to search across the organization for
Financial services (retail, corporate, asset
More interaction among main branches, branch offices and departments management, investment bank, global services, etc.)
needed information or for personnel with Links to query subjects Notices and Places of operation:
More efficient information transmittal via visible information distribution correspondence
useful know-how. Moreover, there was al- Japan: 267 branches, 26 banking offices, 2 agencies.
utilizing data-tracking functions utilizing data-tracking functions Overseas: 75 branches and offices.
most no interactive cross-organizational
Query subjects Total assets:
Number of users communication on the Notes system. Other internal
systems 80,718.3 billion yen (as of March 31, 2002)
All bank employees in Japan (16,000) Failure to rectify this system leaves URL: http://www.btm.co.jp/

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