International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2016 | ISSN 2321–2705

Model for Knowledge Management Portal in Banks

M. B. Suvarchala1, Dr. V. Narasimha Rao2
1
M.B.A., M.Phil, Associate Professor, P.G. Department of Business Administration, ANR College, Gudivada,
Research Scholar, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur
2
M.Com., M.B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Professor & Director, P.G. Courses, ANR College, Gudivada, & Research Supervisor,
Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur

Abstract:- Present Knowledge era of global and competitive Concept of Portal:

business environment constantly striving for innovation as the
existing knowledge base is getting obsolete, continuously thriving A Web portal is most often a specially designed
for advancement in process improvement. The recent explosion web site that brings information together from diverse sources
of information technology has seen few but significant emerging in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its
trends, for example, mobile platform for doing business, cloud dedicated area on the page for displaying information (a
computing, technology to handle a large volume of data i.e. portlet); often, the user can configure which ones to display.
Knowledge repositories, etc. The primary thrust of this paper is Variants of portals include mashups and intranet "dashboards"
to inspect the knowledge management (KM) practices of Banks for executives and managers. The extent to which content is
and discuss the commonalties using a KM Portal in Banks. The
objective of the study is mainly to generate a model for KM
displayed in a "uniform way" may depend on the intended
Portal in Banks operating in India. user and the intended purpose, as well as the diversity of the
content. Very often design emphasis is on a certain
Keywords: Knowledge Management, portal, Collaborative "metaphor" for configuring and customizing the presentation
Workspaces, Knowledge servers, Repositories, User requests of the content and the chosen implementation framework
and/or code libraries. In addition, the role of the user in an
I. INTRODUCTION organization may determine which content can be added to
the portal or deleted from the portal configuration.
P resent Knowledge era of global and competitive business
environment constantly striving for innovation as the
existing knowledge base is getting obsolete, continuously
(wikipedia.org)
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
thriving for advancement in process improvement. Due to the
rapid shifts in the way businesses are getting conducted To compete and become successful in their own
thrown out new reality of ever shortening product and service market, organizations must now learn to manage their
life cycle for all the operations. More and more companies are intangible asset, that is “Knowledge” and this practice is
coming out with customized products and finding ways to generally known as Knowledge Management or sometimes
differentiate from competition. Similarly the same is the thing referred to as business intelligence. They have come up with a
almost occurring with the Banking Sector too. Globalization model to describe knowledge management progress and
and opening up of markets has not only increased competition presented the experiences of two commercial banks in
but also has allowed companies to operate in markets Malaysia that have succeeded in applying knowledge
previously considered forbidden. Inclusion of information management.( Hafizi Muhammad Ali and Nor Hayati Ahmad
technology as integral part of business environment has (2007) [1] ). The present days banking has undergone a drastic
ensured that companies are able to process, store and retrieve change. The past decade has been a period of intense
the huge amount of data at ever dwindling costs. economic and technological change brought about by
diffusion of Information Technology and Globalization. The
The recent explosion of information technology has on-going revolution is unprecedented in scope, content and
seen few but significant emerging trends, for example, mobile speed. Today the challenge before banks is how to develop
platform for doing business, cloud computing, technology to and share the organizational knowledge on continuous basis
handle a large volume of data .e. Knowledge repositories, etc. for business development. (Deepak Tandon (2007) [2] ). The
These fresh technologies and platforms are offering numerous classification of banking sector reforms are identified to be as
opportunities for all kinds of businesses to drive strategic promotion of competition, strengthening role of the market
advantage and stay ahead of the competition. Even the and supervision or supervisory controls, prudential measures,
Financial Institutions need to work on new plans as to legal measures and measures related to technology.
maintain flexibility and deliver customer satisfying products (Ammannaya K K, (2008) [3])
and services. Organizations should strive for connection of
people, processes, and technology hence the knowledge Knowledge Management (KM) has been in existence
management focuses on leveraging corporate knowledge and in our society ever since the discovery of language. KM to
operations. thrive its factors i.e. Cooperation, Motivation Level, Top

www.rsisinternational.org Page 90
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2016 | ISSN 2321–2705

Management Support and Work Culture have to play a Banks should improve the security and privacy of the
prominent role.( Chandana Gowsami (2008)[4] ). Sudden web sites, which will increase the trust of users i.e. employees
developments leading to economic downturn have resulted in as well as customers. Banks should also create features which
businesses confronting the issue of uncertainties in their are useful to users and make sure users are aware of these
environment. Banks have already invested large sums of features. Lastly, government should also play a role to support
money in technology to develop the alternative delivery banks in their efforts to increase KM portal adoption by
channels which may help in replacing the traditional branch Banks. Adoption of a structured IT governance framework
network. Another way of achieving the conflicting goals of would enable a bank to perform its business in an orderly and
customer satisfaction and reducing costs is to closely manage effective manner benefiting the stake holders and, in the
the customer experience by fine-tuning the service level and process, aid in its own survival and growth.
developing talented manpower. (Prashant Pradhan (2009) [5] ).
Hence the KM processes are needed to critically
Knowledge management is still in a formative stage, marked
review knowledge nominations and turn them into improved
by differences in terminologies, emphases and boundaries. He
knowledge, automatically find and publish knowledge to users
maintains wide-ranging views on the relationship between
according to users‟ knowledge profiles and transfer
knowledge management and computer based technology.
knowledge effectively. The day is not far off when the banks
(Sheenu Jain (2009) [6] ).
would be viewed more as technology companies offering
banking products and services. While bank branches would
III. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
continue to function, they would reorient themselves as
Many of the banks in developed countries as well as relationship centers rather than routine banking service
developing countries applying the technologies to manage providers. More technology spends are expected in the near
their knowledge. Domestic Banks as well as Foreign Banks in future on areas such as implementation of data centre,
India are provided with a new dimension to understand and expansion of Core Banking Solutions(CBS), Business
evaluate their performance and benchmark it with global Continuity Plan (BCP)/Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
standards. The goal of every organization is to manage their installations, IT Security, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI),
knowledge successfully. A firm‟s knowledge management Storage solutions such as Storage Area Network (SAN) /
strategy should reflect its internal competitive strategy. The Network Access Storage (NAS) to take care of the hundreds
strategy chosen should create value for the firm‟s customers, of terabytes of electronic data being generated, cheque
turn a profit for the firm and focus on how the firm‟s truncation solutions, compliance to regulatory standards like
employees deliver on the value, differentiation, and speed. Basel II implementations, Customer Relationship
The primary thrust of this paper is to inspect the Knowledge Management (CRM) solutions, data ware house and data
Management (KM) practices of Banks and discuss the mining tools, channel integration, global treasury,
commonalties using a KM Portal in Banks. performance monitoring tools etc. Another area of great
interest concerns the mergers and acquisitions of banks
IV. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY wherein banks with techno-synergy can combine to benefit
from the same. .
The objective of the study is:
 To identify the Commonalities of Knowledge VI. MODEL FOR KM PORTALS IN BANKS:
Management Practices in Banks
A Knowledge Portal is far more than an information
 To develop the model for KM portal in Banks
portal as it includes the practices of Knowledge Management
 To examine the benefits of KM using the Portals
in Banks as mentioned in the above sections of this paper.
 To interpret the challenges for implementation of
Further more it should contain the artificial intelligent
KM portals in Banks. software to identify the exact person who is involved in the
process of utilizing the services offered by the portal. So that
V. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN BANKS
right knowledge can be acquired from the right person and the
Basic knowledge of banks lies with the boards and right knowledge can be accessed by the right person at a right
senior managers as directed and controlled by the Central time. Many large companies have resources dedicated to KM,
Bank i.e. RBI, Ministry of Finance and the Govt. of India. often as a part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human
The same is needed to be accessed or shared or distributed Resource Management' departments. KM is a multi-billion
among the employees of the concerned Banks. The dollar world wide market.
knowledge concerned with banks include: understanding of
New technologies are rapidly emerging that act as
their operations i.e. savings, lending‟s, intermediation and risk
intelligent agents and assistants to search, summarise,
management in an active market setting characterised by
conceptualise and recognise patterns of information and
rapid economic changes. The banking culture, knowledge knowledge. KM programs are typically tied to organisational
acquisition, learning and innovation are all important aspects objectives such as improved performance, competitive
of the knowledge Management Practices in Banks.
advantage innovation, lessons learnt transfer (for example

www.rsisinternational.org Page 91
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2016 | ISSN 2321–2705

between projects) and the general development of cultivation of the channels through which knowledge flows.
collaborative practices. Knowledge Management is frequently Based on the commonalities of the KM practices in banks the
linked to the idea of the learning organisation although neither following is a „Banks Knowledge Management Portal‟
practice encompasses the other. Knowledge Management may including the key aspects placed and found to be implemented
be distinguished from Organisational Learning by a greater in the Banks among its stake holders, the same is presented in
focus on specific knowledge assets and the development and the below figure:

Knowledge Management Portal: A „knowledge portal‟ summarising and conceptualizing, Intelligent agent
should contain technologies to support the processes of virtual ware, an Intranet infrastructure for integrated email,
team communication and collaboration and software file servers, internet/intranet services.
technologies to support the process of managing knowledge.
iii. Collaborative workspaces: Within the knowledge
Furthermore, it contains intelligent agent software to identify
portal, shared work spaces can be set up for each
and automatically distribute information and knowledge
new team or project. These will become knowledge
effectively to knowledge workers based on knowledge
repositories from which new knowledge will be
profiling.
distilled regularly and systematically and shared
i. Knowledge Profiling: Within the knowledge across other teams of the Banks. Within the shared
portal, the profile of each employee should be and collaborative workspace, at least, the following
maintained and also should be updated and communication and collaboration functions could be
maintained under the aspect of personal „knowledge performed:
profile‟ which identifies his/her specific knowledge
 Shared vision and mission
needs, areas of interest and frequency of distribution.
 Specific team objectives
In the context of Bank the several profiles of
 Knowledge Plan
employees include the branch manager, senior
 Team members roles and responsibilities
officer IT, HR, loan managers, recovery officers,
 Team contract
clerical staff like cashiers etc.
 Best Knowledge Bases or Banks
ii. Knowledge Hub: Within the KM Portal of a Bank  Expert locator
there should be a centralised Knowledge Hub to  Task management
manage the processes and knowledge services that  Shared Calendar management
generate and disseminate knowledge assets. The key  Meeting management
components of a generic knowledge hub includes a  Document libraries
knowledge portal interface designed around a  Discussion forums
knowledge asset schema as a gateway to user access,  Centralised email
security and applications, a Knowledge bank,  Capturing of new learning‟s and ideas
Advanced search capabilities, collaboration services,  Peer reviews, learning reviews, after action
search and discovery services, publishing services reviews
based on user knowledge needs based on knowledge  New knowledge nominations
profiling and a knowledge map (taxonomy)
highlighting the services of a Portal like text

www.rsisinternational.org Page 92
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2016 | ISSN 2321–2705

iv. User requests: Within the knowledge portal, it is  Enables Banks to offer 24 X 7 X 365 service with
very useful to have a facility and underlying process much lesser manpower.
to enter any „Urgent Request‟ into the portal and  Removes drudgery of employees and massively
receive back any responses from across the deploys customer interfacing and interaction.
organisation. Rather than needing to know „who  Allows different branches to share information or
might know‟ the request is entered blindly and knowledge with impressive networks.
responses will be made if it is known in the  Helps in developing a philosophy to provide new
organisation and people are willing to support and range of financial products and services at minimal
respond to this activity. This is a very effective way costs.
of better leveraging the knowledge across the  Centralized automations with improved services and
organisation. lowered costs of service providers
 Assists multi-delivery channels like ATMs, Net-
v. Document Libraries (Data Repositories): The
Banking, mobile-banking, and telephone banking
document library is typically the location where all
thus driving down cost per transaction
documents are stored. The library should be context
 Enables central control point which provides good
relative and allow the ease of control over any
coordination among employees
document type. Many organisations now employ an
 Helps the banks not only to differentiate their
Electronic Document and Records Management
products or services from others but acts as a
System (EDRMS) for this requirements but the
business success factor.
integration of the EDRMS with all other relevant
information and knowledge sources is imperative.
VIII. CHALLENGES TO THE BANKS:
vi. Knowledge Bases (Knowledge Repositories):For
 In Sourcing Vs Outsourcing: Technology and
each key knowledge area identified, there needs to be
innovation is a collective responsibility of the
a Knowledge Base. A Knowledge Base contains
management team and most definitely that of the
both structured and unstructured discussion forums,
CEO of the bank. The institutional agility and growth
rich „knowledge objects‟ that have been designed for
parameters are largely driven by alternatives of in
the efficient and effective transfer of knowledge
sourcing versus outsourcing infrastructure-managed
using multimedia, video, audio, embedded
services, which are not so critical to day-to-day
communications theory (eg storytelling).
management.
vii. Knowledge Servers: In order to foster knowledge  Costs and Benefits of Investment on Technology:
networking across the entire organisation and support The banks‟ need to articulate clear vision as the life
knowledge processes for creating, retaining, cycle of the technological products is becoming
leveraging, reusing, measuring and optimising the shorter, banks have to consider the costs of huge
use of the organisational knowledge assets, a investments made in the hardware and software vis-
centralised knowledge server is required that will: à-vis their expected benefits.
 Fool-Proof mechanism for Migrating to new system:
 manage the communications and collaboration
The technological up-gradation necessitated by
between networks of people
obsolescence in due course would call for fool-proof
 enable the access, creation and sharing of mechanism for migration to the new system to ensure
knowledge between them complete data integrity.
 Outsourcing Risks and Service level Agreements:
There is, however, no empirical evidence that The risks arising out of outsourcing need to be
information-technology acceptance models established in suitably mitigated through proper selection of
Banks of developed countries can apply equally well to less-
vendors, comprehensive agreement etc,. Dependency
developed countries without some modification to account for
on
the different context. Same is the case with the Model for KM
 Security: Security is a major issue in a technology-
portals in one Bank can be applied equally well with other
based, networked environment. As per a study
Banks without making modifications as per their relevance. conducted by the Research International, 81% of the
surveyed business units agreed that information/data
VII. BENEFITS OF MANAGING KNOWLEDGE USING is a key business asset and 86% perceived impact of
KM PORTALS IN BANKS crisis caused by failure of systems etc. as drastic. An
The benefits of KM using technology in banks can be insecure system can expose a bank to serious
categories into four areas like customer experience operational, regulatory and reputational risks.
management, opportunity management, internal operations
management and risk management. The details of how it is IX. CONCLUSION
benefiting are as given below:

www.rsisinternational.org Page 93
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2016 | ISSN 2321–2705

The key aspects in the portal are included for the Knowledge Management Practices, Vol. 7, Sep. 2006, Deepak
Tandon, Knowledge Management in Indian Banks, JIMS 8M,
communication and collaboration technologies that are web
April-June, 2007. Pp. 23-27.
based for internet and intranet usage, mobile technologies [2]. Deepak Tandon, Knowledge Management in Indian Banks, JIMS
such as PDA‟s, PC‟s, telephone and videoconferencing for an 8M, April-June, 2007. Pp. 23-27.
effective KM initiative across the Banks. There are several [3]. Ammannaya K K, Transformation in Indian Banking Post Reform
Developments and Challenges Ahead, The Indian Banker, Vol.III
factors that drive companies to follow technologies viz.
No.10, October 2008. Pp. 28-31.
Internet and intranet effectively. The drivers are willingness [4]. Chandana Goswami, Knowledge Management in India: A Case
to cannibalize, entrepreneurial drivers, management support, Study of an Indian Bank, The Journal of Nepalese Business
and market pressure. Technology has enabled the banks to Studies, Vol.5, No.1, Dec.2008.
[5]. Prashant Pradhan, Business Strategies for Banks How to emerge
conceive deliver, manage and integrate their products in line
Stronger from Financial Crisis, The Indian Banker, Vol. IV, No.1.
with the customers' need. For which a Bank should January 2009 Pp. 36-38.
incorporate Knowledge Management Portal specifically [6]. Sheenu Jain, Modern Knowledge Management & Computer Based
among its information and communication technologies to Technology: The insperable phenomenon Global Business Review
10:2, 2009, Pp: 159-171
enhance its business value and attain the competitive edge.
[7]. Sharma J. D., Knowledge Management in Banks, The
To meet the challenge of integrating data and Management Accountant, Nov. 2012. pp. 1340 -1346.
[8]. A.Subbiah & S Jeyakumar, Knowledge Management in Banking
transactional and/or operational information the bank has to Sector: A New Concept, Vinimaya, Vol. XXX, No. 4, 2009-10.
present one view to the employees and perform the operations Pp. 40-53.
well. So, firstly employees are required to become [9]. Bhosale Satish Tanaji, Benefits of Knowledge Management
knowledgeable about products or services to support changing System for Banking Sector, International Journal of Computer
Science and Communication Vol. 3, No. 1, January-June 2012, pp.
business needs. Secondly, the rapidly changing market 133-137.
requires more sharing and analysis of information from [10]. Narasimha Rao V, Technology Management in Banks: An
multiple sources. Finally, growing regulatory demands require empirical study with special reference to State Bank of India,
more dissemination and comprehension of controls. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, Feb., 2013 Pp.5-14.
[11]. Suvarchala M.B., Knowledge Management in Commercial Banks-
A study of the State Bank of India, SSIJMAR, vol.2, No.3, May-
X. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SCOPE FOR June, 2013.
FURTHER RESEARCH [12]. Santosh Ranganath N, Tulasi Rao G, Knowledge Management
Practices in Indian Banking Sector, International Journal of
The present study is completely based on secondary Innovative Research and Practices, vol.1, issue 9, Sep. 2013,
data. Hence a study can be conducted which can generate [13]. [Rizwan Qaiser Danish, Affaf Asghar, Sumera Asghar, Factors of
Knowledge Management in Banking Sector of Pakistan, Journal of
primary data from various banks of the Indian Banking Sector Management Information System and E-commerce Vol. 1, No. 1;
to get a picture of actual status of initiatives that have been June 2014.
undertaken. Besides, this study can be extended by future [14]. Engr. (Mrs.) Lois Onyejere Nwobodo, Prof. H.C.Inyiama,
researchers by conducting a comparative analysis about the Modeling a Knowledge Management System for Banking
Industry, IJERT, Vol. 3, issue 6, June 2014 Pp. 2092 -2100.
sectors that are better performers in implementing the [15]. Ozlem Yaşar Uğurlu1, Duygu Kızıldağ, A Comparative Analysis
Knowledge Portals. Furthermore an empirical study can be of Knowledge Management in Banking Sector An Empirical
undertaken to understand the factors behind the adoption of Research, European Journal of Business and Management
Knowledge Management Portals with the application of www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online)
Vol.5, No.16, 2013
specific tools and techniques by the Indian Banks and [16]. Engr. (Mrs.) Lois Onyejere Nwobodo, Prof. H.C.Inyiama,
stakeholders respectively. Modeling a Knowledge Management System for Banking
Industry, IJERT, Vol. 3, issue 6, June 2014 Pp. 2092 -2100.
REFERENCES [17]. P.Aranganathan, J.Lakshmi, Knowledge Management in Indian
Information Technology (IT) organizations, pg.1-6
[18]. http://www.webopedia.com
[1]. Hafizi Muhamad Ali, Nor Hayati Ahmad, Knowledge [19]. https://en.wikipedia.org.
Management in Malaysian Banks: A New Paradigm, Journal of

www.rsisinternational.org Page 94