Information flows like black gold - Oil company signs onto knowledge management solution

As a major oil supplier and fuel product manufacturer with activities in 150 countries, Texaco (Harrison, NY) has information scattered and flowing like Uncle Jed had oil in Beverly Hills.

Like good ol' Jed, Texaco is trying to make the most of the situation.

"The need to share information across an organization as large and dispersed as Texaco is very strong," said Frank Lankford, senior technology leader at Texaco.

With information stored in repositories including Microsoft (Redmond, WA) Exchange, Lotus (Cambridge, MA) Notes, a corporate intranet, Oracle (Redwood Shores, CA) databases and other file systems, Texaco sought a solution that could link and organize them all.

The company turned to Fulcrum's (Ottawa) Knowledge Network. After an initial pilot, they are rolling out an application for 20,000 users.

"Fulcrum Knowledge Network's unique features gather and sort through our information, linking employees to the knowledge they need," said Lankford.

For a company with information in various places, linking it with a product like Fulcrum Knowledge Bridge "is a good answer," said analyst Tony McKinley, president of Intelligent Imaging (Berwyn, PA). "Various file types are pretty much inaccessible until a company uses a product like this."

Texaco is also deploying Fulcrum's Proactive Agent Service. It allows users to create personal search agents to monitor Knowledge Folders for new and updated information that matches user-defined criteria. Users can define each agent's delivery schedule and notification type ensuring the delivery of personalized information right to their desktops.

Texaco did a thorough investigation of various products before selecting Knowledge Network, and feedback from the company will be helpful in developing versions of the product, said Eric Goodwin, Fulcrum CEO. "We have to build a product with a vision, but we must listen to the customer as well," he said.

Fulcrum, which PC Docs (Burlington, MA) is acquiring, will continue to operate as Fulcrum, a wholly owned subsidiary of PC Docs