Cristian Young, the Associate VP of Insights and Knowledge Management at AT&T, shared the inspiring story of the organization's knowledge transformation journey at the Quirk's Conference in Los Angeles.
While some may view knowledge management as a nice-to-have tool, for Cristian Young, it's a key strategic management capability that effectively disseminates critical information throughout an organization's value chain. World-class knowledge should empower organizations to make better business decisions and deepen teams’ understanding of their target markets.
Collaboration Challenges in Distributed Teams
As a large organization, AT&T had a wealth of knowledge available to its marketers. However, it became clear that a more effective approach to knowledge management was necessary. One major challenge was the distributed nature of AT&T's teams. Additionally, structural issues made it difficult for stakeholders to collaborate effectively. Obtaining the necessary permissions to share information proved challenging, and homegrown tools lacked the ability to sustain feature development over time.
A robust knowledge platform was needed to empower the organization and enable employees to work more efficiently and collaboratively – a core principle that drove the launch of AT&T's insights management journey. Rather than rushing to launch a solution that might not work in the long run, the goal was to implement a sustainable, high-impact solution that drove long-term results.
Unlocking Impact at Scale with Knowledge Management
In January 2023, AT&T launched their new knowledge management platform — along with a 4-week onboarding program to help drive not only adoption, but excitement. Following the onboarding program, marketers across the organization reported various positive impacts of the new approach to knowledge management, including:
- An increase in their “culture of insights sharing.” Due to the ease of sharing on the new platform, it became increasingly common for marketers to share relevant insights as part of their day-to-day workflows.
- Ease of finding research. Marketers reported that information no longer felt “siloed,” and insights were easy to track down.
- Increased excitement about using insights to fuel strategy. The new platform sparked excitement on an individual level. Teams were “wowed” by the insights they found on the platform.
An internal champion program also helped incentivize users to keep using the platform. Cristian Young is hopeful this program will help keep up the momentum in the new culture of insights. While AT&T is still in the initial stages of their revamped knowledge management journey, this early excitement indicates long-term impact and value to come.
Explore how other leading brands are elevating insights
