Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 40 a result. The Board Portal was further enhanced as BMO developed an app to deliver continuing education to the directors on governance topics and trends. In the case of our electronic billing project, we were faced with a change that required in-depth management, so we publicized the change repeatedly to generate excitement and receptiveness. We led multiple rounds of demonstrations, focus group sessions, championship competitions within teams, etc. Piggy- backing off the excitement around the TyMetrix implementation, we also introduced other learning aids such as Office 2010 tip sheets and a new simplified in-house online professional development (PD) registration process. KEEP COMMUNICATING Introducing new technologies and process changes requires that we communicate with users regularly and reinforce best practices by providing helpful aids. We use our LCCG portal to give easy access to informational resources and to house important information such as our organizational charts and internal standards. We also leverage PD programs to provide regular awareness updates. Our objective is to give every member of LCCG ready access to relevant and up-to-date information. INNOVATION ANEW While the KM journey within BMO's LCCG has included some curves in the road, it's been satisfying and exhilarating to see our "innovation virus" spread. LCCG recently held an innovation-inspired team challenge and received more than 40 submissions. While we awarded the top three initiatives, what's most important is that all the projects submitted are in play and improving our effectiveness as a group. Innovation has truly come alive at BMO! Evolving our e-discovery practices has been a longer journey. With an increased focus on regulatory governance, we recognized the importance of implementing an in-house e-discovery team. By internalizing e-discovery tools, we centralized and automated our litigation hold process. Our e-discovery team also works with our IT group to collect and preserve internal electronic evidence, and the team oversee document review by external counsel (including the management of LPO support for tiered review). Being in tune with our corporate culture helped us springboard initiatives for innovative ideas. We believe our workforce is energized by a corporate culture that embraces change and where they see their ideas become reality. TIME FOR CHANGE Being innovative and creating change must begin with a willingness to self-assess, to expose an area of potential need, such as risk, exposure or an efficiency gap. Good change management can lead to a better understanding of your current state, allowing you to tap into the potential ideas for improvements. Our success came by looking for some low-hanging fruit — projects with minimal disruption and maximum affect. We prioritized and strategically timed the introduction of each change. Our BMO Board Portal project was one such initiative. Of our entire project portfolio, this portal impacted the fewest people, but we knew it could yield significant improvements to reduce the production of 25 binders every quarter. We timed the rollout to be close to a quarterly board meeting to give the directors an immediate experience with the electronic materials on their tablet computers. We also started with a board committee, so we could focus on a small group of users. Subsequent rollouts were substantially smoother as arrangements, we drove better management of external legal spending. In this way, we achieved an ideal intersection between risk management and cost containment through a series of successful and innovative projects. CORPORATE CULTURE COUNTS Over the past few years, BMO has improved productivity by embracing a paperless work environment. LCCG's contribution to this initiative included revolutionizing the way we support the materials for BMO's board of directors. We eliminated 25 binders of documents per meeting and replaced them with a secure BMO Board Portal that houses electronic documents. This project was a great success in large part because it was completed in a remarkably short time frame (fewer than five weeks from initiating a contract with Diligent Boardbooks to the go-live date!). About the Author Heather Kwak joined the BMO's Legal, Corporate and Compliance Group (LCCG) in 2010. Trained in international and U.S. law, Heather's interest in knowledge management peaked in 2012 when she began supporting the transformative initiatives introduced by the organization's Chief Knowledge Officer, Jolie Lin. Heather is now the KM Information Governance and Records Manager. She is accountable for records management across LCCG and policies and procedure related to document and matter management. Heather also thoroughly enjoys change management. Contact her at heather.kwak@bmo.com. Being in tune with our corporate culture helped us identify areas for improvement and offered a springboard for innovative ideas. DISTINGUISHED PEER AWARDS WINNER CASE STUDIES

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