Ortis Laboratories specialize in the development, production and marketing of herbal food supplements.

The quest for a knowledge sharing tool was motivated by the desire to find a system to centralize and disseminate the different results of market intelligence in the most homogeneous way.
Indeed, the definition, organization and management of key knowledge related to different themes and contexts make it possible to ensure the company’s continuity and its collective memory.

Platform implementation objectives

• relevant knowledge centralization
• increased collaboration (reduction of silos),
• facilitating access to business information.

The entire organization (+100 users) is involved and can contribute in different spaces. Each space has at least one administrator in charge of defining knowledge management processes and structuring information in a relevant way.
The shared content focuses on market intelligence results (competitive, regulatory, ingredients, suppliers), the impact of press and advertising campaigns, business documents (transport rates, project analysis, meeting reports, safety data sheets) and the scientific library.

Limitations, resistance and barriers

Establishing such a system, including the necessary changes in working methods, is not always easy. The barriers indeed exist and the knowledge management team must constantly communicate and disseminate good practices and benefits. At the same time, the role of this team is also to explain what the platform does not do, for example: project management. All this is only the reflection of a beautiful adventure where the human remains happily in the center of the journey, with its ups and downs!

Launch and benefits

The project started in October 2014 with a general reflection on the objectives and the training to set up for future users. The pilot phase began shortly after. During this period, various training materials were developed and the decision to transfer the scientific articles database was taken. In May 2015, the platform went into production and in September 2015, a Steering Committee was set up to coordinate knowledge management in a global way. In August 2016, product sheets of competing products were created in the form of collections and are now fed by field delegates in order to develop a better sales pitch. Sales representatives can now quickly post photos of products on the shelves to share best practices.
Communication took place particularly around training with animations divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Meanwhile, meetings were organized to identify needs related to knowledge management. The project team continues to identify and target uses that the platform could address and make them a central point in the company’s communication and knowledge management.
Thanks to the tool appropriation and good timing, the platform was able to bring the following benefits to users: centralized content, interesting information flows, collections bringing together up-to-date knowledge bubbles, collaborative work on documents, updates from the field using smartphones.
Finally, the platform is also useful for gathering documents proving ORTIS ability to quickly restart its activity in the case of an accident (fire for example). This especially promotes a good relationship with insurance companies.