Customer Knowledge Management in Global Software Projects
Seyedali Vaezitehrani · Chalmers Publication Library (Chalmers University of Technology) · 2013
Background -In global software projects, potential customers could be situated in another department within the same organization or in other parts of the world.In both circumstances, retrieving knowledge and useful information from customers in an appropriate approach could be crucial and challenging from different perspectives.Aim -This research is aimed to explore dynamics influencing customer knowledge management in global software projects whereby project teams and customers are not necessarily collocated, and to recognize some of the key dimensions of an effective system, designed specifically for customer knowledge management in such projects.Method -The research design for this thesis is based on an exploratory study and by conducting an on-line survey among more than 50 professionals from relevant industries.The purpose of undertaking exploratory research is primarily to investigate and to identify some of the key dimensions of customer knowledge management and to contrast empirical approaches which are currently in practice among various project teams with academic researches and literature being studied by academicians.Findings -A significant amount of information being exchanged between project teams and the customers includes discussions about technical issues and problems while there is a high capacity for exchanging knowledge in non-technical areas, in order to facilitate future collaborations.Electronic media, particularly email is the key communication method being used and as a result, lack of sufficient social interactions appears to be a key challenge in communicating with customers.Cultural and geographical differences as well as building trust, could be realized as other important challenges in this regard.Conclusions -Despite the fact that customers are among the most significant stakeholders in almost every project, it has been realized that there is a significant room for improvement when it comes to communicating with them and learning from.Key factors including but not limited to social interactions, as well as development of a trustworthy environment whereby efficient communication could be facilitated, should be considered by project management teams, in order to develop and maintain an efficient and sustainable customer knowledge management system.Overall, sufficient investments in project communication management, as well as project integration management are recommended, in order to enable such systems.