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Novartis OTC leverages AskMe capabilities for knowledge management
	June 05, 2008 - Novartis is a world leader in developing medicines to prevent and cure diseases, and to promote general health and well-being. Novartis is the fourth biggest company in the pharmaceutical sector with approximately 100,000 associates in 140 countries worldwide and $28.9 billion in sales. With its R&D scientists and marketing team spread across the world Novartis was facing few challenges. One is to connect R&D scientists who were dispersed globally and second is to create a knowledgebase of best practices and lessons learned that can be shared and re-used. Novartis envisioned a virtual campus for its R&D scientists and Marketing staff where they can connect and share their know-how to solve problems. After conducting surveys and analyzing various knowledge management products in the market, Novartis employed AskMe to provide a platform which not only provides expertise management among R&D and Marketing but also enables cross-functional collaboration between them to increase innovation. Novartis engaged AskMe in January 2005 to understand the knowledge management solutions AskMe provides and how it will address these challenges in the organization. AskMe consultants worked closely with Novartis to understand and design a solution plan and rolled out a 3 month pilot project to a small group of scientists. The full scale implementation was to be decided on the feedback received by the group and value created by the system. Being capable of integrating into external resources, AskMe leveraged existing Novartis internal databases like Lotus Notes, Document Management and other intranet sites to provide a one-stop site to find information from multiple resources. The pilot group found the system very easy to use and capable of locating experts based on their expertise and know-how. The Novartis project team acknowledged value in AskMe, and in June 2005 extended the system to other R&D and Marketing groups world-wide. Today, AskMe’s knowledge base consists of more than 100,000 hours of productive work in the form of Q&A and FAQs, and more than 10,000 knowledge documents. More than 800 active Novartis employees from R&D and Marketing are using AskMe system actively. “We have our R&D scientists and Marketing experts spread across multiple countries.” according to Alberto Paredes-Diaz, Head Global Medical Affairs at Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. “Not only people, we have numerous data sources containing thousands of invaluable research papers, laboratory results, marketing strategies etc. The only way we could have made our Drug innovation and marketing process faster and efficient was to connect these people and content centrally. AskMe provided that platform.” Over the last 3 years, scientists across Novartis have been using AskMe to cross pollinate their ideas and develop new drugs with better quality and efficiency. Today, Novartis knowledgebase contains invaluable content in the form of discussions, publications, FAQ’s, best practices that are used to get information on brands, marketing activities, researches and other information. On one hand the R&D teams uses AskMe for sharing expertise and best practices to increase quality and productivity. On the other hand, marketing team uses it for sharing information on claims, approaches and ideas for generating newer and better opportunities. The cross collaboration of these teams brings out quality products with better insight into markets needs and demand. Sums up Alberto “AskMe have truly been a worthwhile investment for us. With its unique ability to find experts across the organizations to provide solutions and promote idea generation, it has taken innovation to greater level.” About AskMe Corporation AskMe Corporation is the world's leading provider of Expertise Management software solutions for Global 2000 companies. The company's flagship product, AskMe Enterprise, connects employees with problems to employees with solutions. By using AskMe Enterprise, large companies are dramatically improving the quality and speed of execution throughout their organization. AskMe's solutions been deployed by a robust list of blue chip companies that includes, Procter & Gamble, Novartis, Timken, Gerber and CNA Insurance, among others. AskMe is privately held with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. (Additional information at www.askmecorp.com)