Insider's View
I know. Therefore we are.
By Subhasis B, Head - Product Management
We live in a world where the World Wide Web has come to dominate almost every facet of our existence, in addition to being the single largest repository of information ever in the history of man. Portals like Yahoo, Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook, apart from changing the way we live, work and play, have evolved to become the chroniclers of our age, or as one cultural anthropologist put it, living repositories of human desires. Never before have so many people been enabled to share and exchange information and knowledge on a scale as now.
In the midst of all this chatter about the knowledge revolution and such, what does an enterprise do when it has to figure out an effective Knowledge Management strategy for its business needs?
For any knowledge enterprise, data security occupies the top position in its list of concerns, especially when it links directly to their business objectives. In the earlier days, organizations looking for secure modes of managing their domain knowledge adopted email based frameworks that enabled users to share and exchange business information and data within their spheres of influence. This approach eventually became a liability in case of a resignation or lateral movement of an employee within the organization. As a result, the employees’ unique domain knowledge remained locked up in his mailbox, and inaccessible to others in the organization. Essentially, what any knowledge driven enterprise needs is a framework within its corporate network that allows for easy and secure storage, sharing and accessing of business data and information.
Most enterprises today have adopted Knowledge Management tools as part of their business practices as part of their corporate intranets, benefits of which are evident in their productivity figures. Issues that prop up can be traced back to employee attitudes and approach, rather than the tools or the knowledge managers themselves. Enterprises that have successfully implemented efficient Knowledge Management Frameworks are distinguishable on the basis of attributes such as:
- Knowledge friendly culture
- Sponsorship and participation from the senior management
- Clear guidelines of the knowledge sharing practices
- Clarity of purpose and guidelines
- Multiple channels for knowledge transfer
- Motivational practices for more participation
- Mechanisms to measure the knowledge exchange
- Strategies to reuse the captured knowledge
As a final thought, Enterprise Knowledge Management essentially began with the creation of electronic systems to map and store the intellectual capital of an organization, with efficient search and retrieval interfaces for its employees. However, for an organisation to be truly perceived as a Knowledge Enterprise, it is necessary that its knowledge initiatives be focused on building efficient relationships and collaborations among its employees. Efforts that will facilitate improved contributions and increased productivity by creating a workforce that’s more aware of its role in the Enterprise.
About the author
Subhasis B, Head - Product Management
Subhasis has more than 15 years’ experience in Sales & Marketing. He has played key roles in various organizations in Corporate Sales, Account Management and Profit Centre Operations.
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