B. Braun Melsungen AG, one of the leading medical technology companies in Germany with over 35,000 employees in 55 countries, places the highest demands on its knowledge management system. "Sharing Expertise" is the company’s motto. B. Braun chose the finebrain ExpertFinder to facilitate the processes for linking and searching for experts across all areas and throughout all countries. During the initial project phase, the finebrain ExpertFinder was used to localize know-how and experience in the product development area. Once the system had been successfully implemented in this area, the company’s board of directors decided to adopt the ExpertFinder platform for all employees as well as the partners in the company’s portal.

The auditing and consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland has around 2,500 employees and is renowned for being a expert company par excellence. The ability to think in a networked manner and offer comprehensive solutions to complex customer queries is decisive for market success. "Connected thinking" is therefore PwC's guiding principle. The requirements that the system needed to fulfill for the company included the ability to find answers to customer queries across all departments and areas while reducing the time needed to find the right employees with the appropriate expertise. The successful implementation of the finebrain ExpertFinder is helping PwC achieve decisive competitive advantages: an increase in the efficiency of projects and project acquisitions, higher levels of team agility and collaboration, reduced redundancy and a general increase in customer loyalty and satisfaction.

"The Expert Finder is the first tool that allows employees of PwC Switzerland to present themselves clearly throughout Switzerland and across all areas. The Expert Finder’s design is a successful combination of PwC design and well-known contact platforms, such as Xing and Facebook, which has greatly facilitated utilization of the platform. The realization that the quality of entries can be provided and improved faster by the employees themselves not only led to the successful implementation of the platform, but has also resulted in fast acceptance and lively utilization.”*

* From a Social Network to a Knowledge Network: networked expertise as a success factor in companies 2.0. Planning and implementation of the ExpertFinder at PricewaterhouseCoo­pers. M. Hainzl/ S. Erni, Article for KnowTech 2008.