Knowledge Management Tools in Action

Knowledge Management can be defined as a systematic discipline and set of approaches to enable information and knowledge to grow, flow, and create value in an organization. This involves people, information, workflows, enabling tools, best practices, alliances, and communities of practice.

The 21st century business landscape is marked by increasing economic and political turbulence, a faster pace of innovation, an inter-networked organizational structure, a focus on intellectual capital, and an increasing employee churn rate. Within this context, knowledge managementis being interpreted as a critical discipline for risk management, increasing productivity, knowledge retention, and more efficient innovation.

Approximately 3.2% of corporate knowledge is incorrect or becomes obsolete every year. An estimated 4.5% of knowledge is lost or hidden due to employee turnover, information mis-management, and knowledge hoarding.

While some of these are cultural problems, others can be resolved by properly aligning content management systems, information policies, and knowledge work. The following key sets of knowledge management tools, as described in action in organizations around the world: content management, taxonomies, groupware, online communities of practice, portals, social network analysis, e-learning, storytelling, wireless platforms, innovation management tools, and inter-organizational knowledge-sharing platforms.

A growing number of companies today have instituted knowledge management systems for best practices, lessons learned, product development knowledge, customer knowledge, human resource management knowledge, and methods-based knowledge. Content teams, meta-data, knowledge maps, and a workflow contextualization can ensure effective reuse of content. Content-centric knowledge management approaches like codification focus on efficiency and effectiveness of operationally focused value chains, while collaborative strategies focus on reinvention and advancement in innovation-focused value chains.

Advanced content management systems include features for seamless exploration, authoring templates, maintaining integrity of Web pages and links, periodical review, archiving, meta-data, version control, rule-setting, indexing, audits, authorized access, administration alerts, and flexible repurposing for multiple platforms and formats.

To begin with, an organization must conduct an enterprise knowledge audit to determine internal and external knowledge leverage points. Internal and external forces come into play here, ranging from customer knowledge to business intelligence via news media, which helps organizational knowledge management initiatives via workflow design and newsfeeds. Accenture implemented a Lotus-Notes-based knowledge management system in 1992. In its early years, it was beset with problems like information overflow, duplication, and redundancies.

Today, the Knowledge Xchange system has a standardized architecture and design and is accessed by 70,000 professionals to share information on project methodologies, sales cycles, current engagements, and other client learnings. Over 3,600 databases exist, and 250 knowledge managers are responsible for reviewing the content and selecting best practices. These are synthesized into special Web sections, and expert directories and external references are provided as well.

Knowledge Management

Concepts and practices of knowledge management are soon approaching mainstream adoption, and this focuses not on fundamental definitions of knowledge and strategy, but on more practical applications of knowledge management tools and technologies in industry. Knowledge Management Tool, in a sense, are the “face and place” as well as the “nuts and bolts” of knowledge in the 21st century workspace.

“If the smart manager knows one thing, it is that knowledge management is not just about technology. But, if the smart manager knows two things, the second is that in today’s age of technology-driven communication and information production, the role technology can play to facilitate knowledge managementshould be examined”. Information and communication technologies play a key role in facilitating knowledge management in today’s globalized company, which operates in a complex web of partnerships and alliances. However, it is important to keep in mind that technology is not the panacea for a knowledge management practice, though an easy-to-use knowledge-sharing infrastructure is an important enabler.

Organization-wide access to knowledge managementarchitecture, Web-based applications, groupware, data mining tools, mobile devices, worldwide access, high performance, user friendliness, a standardized structure, and an easily administered controlling system are key requisites of the supporting knowledge management infrastructure. We realized fairly early that the knowledge management initiative has to be, of essence, peoplecentric.

Nevertheless, technology has been an important dimension in our efforts to demonstrate the multiple possibilities of knowledge management to our people, draw them to the movement, and help keep them committed. In this journey, a key lesson we have learnt is that unless people are able to see and experience the direct benefits of knowledge management, no amount of incentives, rewards or recognitions are likely to elicit sustained enthusiasm, participation and involvement”.

Knowledge management enabling tools thus play a useful facilitating role in learning organizations, especially in dealing with the “info-glut” or information overload that is plaguing most organizations that have launched an intranet, enterprise resource planning (ERP), or Business Intelligence Systems.

While amplifying existing knowledge processes, information technology(IT) tools can also create new kinds of knowledge experiences in the long run, particularly among generations of users who grow up in IT-pervasive environments. Technology enables new knowledge behaviours.

Tools that currently fall under the Knowledge managementumbrella have evolved in various phases since the 1980s, starting off with IT tools for computation and databases, followed by publishing and communication tools, and then accompanied by sophisticated platforms for collaboration, wireless delivery, search, and network modelling. From automated agents to workflow tools, knowledge management technologies span almost the entire alphabetical spectrum.

While technologies and tools should not be the sole focus of knowledge management efforts, culture and capacity building are as important. Knowledge Management Toolare finding increasing support from management in terms of being able to address some of their business pressures.

According to a new study, companies are increasingly leaning on more and better methods of assessing economic uncertainty to reach elusive growth targets. Most notably, contingency planning and knowledge management rose through the ranks, both in usage and satisfaction.