New ways of working: in the thick of the digital transformation and knowledge management

There is a big difference between digitalizing and digitally transforming. The former is giving digital tools to an organization, that is, acquiring powerful software to digitalize the company, while the latter involves working in a different way, knowing how to use the new software and enjoying it.

So it’s not just about buying more powerful computers, storing data in the cloud or installing a new program that does “everything.” Digital transformation means changing the mindset of managers and employees of organizations. It is a new way of working, a new way of understanding communication, professional relationships and the product offered. In short, it is to bet on a future with new working methods that take advantage of all the potential that digitalization brings.

Organizations such as MAPFRE that understand digital transformation well, and are visionaries of what is there and what is to come, know that they must deal not only with technology but also with important aspects such as employee skills, change management, company culture, agility or team reorganization.

Almost everyone, if not everyone, agrees that knowledge management is probably the main source of competitive advantage in the new digital economy in which we are immersed. This is the reason why more and more companies are investing resources in the knowledge management of their employees, and MAPFRE is a clear example of this.

For this reason, in December 2019, as part of the strategic initiative Digital Challenge, the knowledge management project at MAPFRE kicked off with a major milestone: “eureka”, MAPFRE’s first global knowledge sharing repository, in which employees are encouraged to participate and share knowledge and good practices, also with the participation of Fundación MAPFRE’s Documentation Center as a contributor to this great project.

The definition of knowledge that MAPFRE seeks to share in its knowledge repository is as follows: “the body of knowledge and experiences, both internal to MAPFRE and external, that employees can share”grouped in the 15 areas of knowledge identified:

This model allows us to:

• Identify employees who are leaders in knowledge.
• Access MAPFRE’s shared knowledge in a global space on the Intranet (called Eureka).
• Encourage interaction between employees.

Currently, any MAPFRE employee in the world can access Eureka, to locate, contribute and share knowledge, as well as to locate MAPFRE’s worldwide benchmarks in knowledge of different MAPFRE areas.

The main benefits that knowledge management at MAPFRE provides us with are as follows:

• It means that MAPFRE and employee knowledge is organized and accessible.
• It promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• It disseminates particular knowledge, that of each area or country and, of course, that of MAPFRE.
• It allows for sharing one’s experience to give it visibility.
• It is a benchmark in knowledge and allows for colleagues to support one another. Add two more bullets:
• It allows employees to share their experience, which gives them visibility.
• It identifies MAPFRE’s knowledge benchmarks so as to help other MAPFRE professionals

It is clear that, in order to participate in the digital transformation, it is necessary to have agents to help in this challenge. This is the case of the Documentation Center of Fundación MAPFRE, which is responsible for finding, acquiring and selecting reliable information in order to make quality information available to the public on topics such as insurance, risk management, social welfare, the environment and the economy, among others. Its slogan says it all: “Committed to knowledge”.