Knowledge Management

An article recently appeared in another publication where the author stated that "Knowledge management is nothing more than a new buzzword for document management." Is knowledge management really just the latest "fad", dreamed up by consultants so they can bill more hours?

One factor leading to the fad image is that a small number of vendors have taken the "search and replace" approach to marketing their products as knowledge management products. This is where they take existing brochures and replace words like document management, information management, collaboration, imaging, workflow, text retrieval, etc and replace them with knowledge management (KM). But can you blame vendors when the KM market is predicted to grow from it's current $1.9 billion in 1998 to $6.7 billion in 2003 (Ovum Inc. research report, 1998).

When explaining a term, referencing something familiar to each party often makes it easier for the other to understand. So when knowledge management (KM) is discussed, it becomes easy to fall back on a definition of document management or imaging since they are components of knowledge management. But using document management as a synonym for KM is the same as saying a monitor is a computer system. The monitor is an important part of the computer, but there are other components required to operate efficiently (i.e. CPU, software, power, an operator, application to use it for, etc.).

So what is knowledge management anyhow?

Knowledge management is a practice that involves the capturing and sharing of an organization's information assets in addition to the experiences of their employees that can be acted upon to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. It involves the sharing of tacit (what's in our heads) and explicit (paper, computer data, transactions, microfilm, etc.) information that leads to enhanced innovation and eliminates the reinventing of the wheel with each project.

KM cannot be achieved through a single product, but must be developed through creating an organizational culture that encourages sharing, adapting the proper practices and using technology as an enabler for knowledge sharing.

So where does E-Commerce fit into the world of KM?

E-commerce is an important part of the knowledge organization puzzle. There is tremendous amount of information that is contained within each business transaction. But this information is much more that just who bought what and when. Questions such as why they bought are sometimes more important than what they bought or the amount of the transaction. If an organization can determine why each customer bought a particular item, it may be able to determine future trends or new potential markets.

To find the answer to why someone bought an item is more than just understanding the information that is housed within the physical transaction. Input from the sales person, customer service representative and the service technician needs to be made available to those that seek the information. Imagine if the product development and marketing departments had all the knowledge of the front line people (sales, customer service, maintenance, and the customers themselves) and was able to combine it with their own expertise in product planning. How dramatic would that increase future sales?

As the graphic below indicates, there are numerous pieces of the knowledge organization. The mission statement and strategic plan of the organization acts as the foundation that everything else is built upon. The company culture and executive support are the pillars that hold the organization in place and provide the framework for the tools (such as e-commerce) that facilitate communication of the explicit documents (the content) of the company. The employee knowledge (the tacit information) and their experiences rest on top of the building and utilize technology to enable greater knowledge sharing.

Figure #1 - The Knowledge Organization

Others have said knowledge management is nothing more than information management. But information is only a subset of knowledge, just as data is a subset of information. Information becomes knowledge when it is acted upon. A quote that can act as a lighthouse for navigation through the knowledge management waters is as follows:

"To conceive of knowledge as a collection of information seems to rob the concept of all its life… Knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection. It is how the user reacts to a collection of information that matters." --Churchman (1971).

We have to remember what Churchman is saying when discussing knowledge management. Technology is only a piece of the puzzle. Knowledge is not something we can display as a tool or product. It is something we work towards, but will never reach a final destination since it is impossible for an individual organization to know everything about every possible topic and experience.

In Thomas Stewart's book, " Intellectual Capital", he tells of the story of Nike being a knowledge company and not a manufacturer. At first, this may sound strange, since many think of Nike as a manufacturer of footwear. But is Nike really a manufacturer? Stewart points out that they are a research and marketing company since they don't own any factories. They use the knowledge within their company to design great sneakers and they use their tremendous marketing talent to sell products made by other companies to their specifications. Other than their corporate offices and real estate, they don't own physical assets such as factories to make the products they sell. The real value of their company is their knowledge and expertise to design and market products, not manufacture them. Their physical assets are a much smaller part of their total worth.

A Knowledge Map

Since it is impossible to store all the information within a company, particularly the tacit information of the people, knowing where to find more information that can be turned into knowledge is key. The reality is that knowledge is in the individual and not the explicit property that can be captured. Many times knowing the location of where to find more information is all someone needs.

How many times have you heard statements similar to the following: "Joe used to work for the ABC Company, so maybe he knows about their pricing structure." A knowledge map provides a "directory" of where to find the experts and information within a company. Creating a knowledge map can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. The available resources and the value that a company places on knowledge management will be a determining factor.

Although it would be ideal to have everyone in a company enter into a computer everything they know about anything that may in anyway relate to a company's business. Not only is this unrealistic, but extremely unproductive since how much of this knowledge would actually be used and when? By the time most things are identified and captured, it will be outdated and unless. So instead of capturing the information, just provide a pointer to where the information is located. The seeker can then determine if the search is worth the effort.

In most organizations, if the "competitive information file" should include a pointer or reference to other resources (i.e. Joe), more information could be gathered that could later be turned into knowledge for the seeker.

Conclusion

As can be seen, there are many pieces that are needed to evolve towards becoming a Knowledge Organization. The move from the industrial age to the knowledge age and the creation of more companies like Nike or Microsoft who rely more on brains physical factory output will be leading the charge.

Since knowledge management is a practice and knowledge never stops growing, there is no such thing as a completed KM project. A final destination will never be accomplished since new knowledge and experiences are continually added and refined and outside forces can create a change in corporate strategy. But it is those companies that lay the foundation for greater knowledge sharing now, that will be the leaders of tomorrow.

See, Knowledge Management really is much more than Document Management.

 Steve Goodfellow is President & CEO of Access Systems (www.accesskm.com), an independent consultancy in Knowledge Management education. Steve can be reached via e-mail or at 315-682-1188

E-Commerce World Magazine