For Genuity Europe, 2000 was a watershed year. Within a year and a half, some 12 Internet service and Web-hosting companies in nine different countries merged to form a continent-spanning network services and Web-hosting behemoth. Serving nearly 1,000 customers and running state-of-the-art data centers in Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and Stockholm, Genuity wanted to grab the entire European market for data and Internet services.

"We wanted to be a powerhouse, and we wanted to do it fast," says Aldo Pomponi, Genuity's director of knowledge management, operations, and efficiencies in Europe. But getting big fast was only part of the goal. Genuity executives were also determined to expand efficiently, which meant meshing both the operational and intellectual assets of its 12 operating companies into an integrated whole.

Enter the knowledge management system. Knowledge management is the process of organizing, classifying, categorizing, and disseminating organizational research; it includes people and information, explains David M. Goldes, president of research and consulting firm Basex. "The larger point is to make those resources both purposeful and relevant for those who need it."

Pomponi's job was no small undertaking: He had to find a way to access the brainpower of the company's 500-plus employees. Everything from network engineering tidbits for the most effective ways to string servers together to application development tips could then be shared throughout the company.

To that end, Genuity used a combination of software, business processes, and employee incentives to ensure that its resources—particularly its people—were indeed as accessible and useful as possible. In June 2001, the company unveiled its Wings system—based on software from AskMe, a provider of expertise-profiling software—which companies use to create worker profiles based on their skill sets, education, project experience, and professional interests. Genuity used AskMe software to build a database that chronicled both the skills and interests of its internal experts along with three distinct online communities: network engineering, project management relating to application development, and sales and marketing.

Now when a new network engineer in Milan needs to install a router for a customer, he can type an explanation of the problem into Wings, which then compiles a list of experts along with ratings pertaining to the quality of their answers. If the best network engineer happens to be in Stockholm—no problem. The engineer in Milan sends the question on its way and gets an answer via e-mail within 12 to 24 hours; responses may be quicker, depending on an expert's workload. Wings also stores previous answers, so a satisfactory response may already be in the system.

So far the results of Wings have been impressive. Though Pomponi declined to provide specific numbers, he did indicate that the company has realized a 300 percent return on the initial investment, measured by the time and money Genuity has saved.

Pomponi has plans to maximize Wings' capabilities even more. Currently all Genuity employees in Europe use the online knowledge-sharing system, but over the next few months, employees across the Atlantic will start using Wings. "If all goes well, this knowledge-sharing platform will serve as a bridge between ourselves and our American colleagues," says Pomponi.