Charting a better knowledge output

The marketing team at a leading IT magazine were at their wits end, in deciding

how to reach their target audience, to promote their special edition. The

edition was about educating the readers about the emerging networking

technologies. But then, the problem was, not all of their readers would be

interested in networking technologies and it would be a huge task to send

individual mailers to their 2 lakh something subscribers, informing them about

their program and decoding their responses.






Though the magazine had a huge database with complete information on their
subscribers profile, they did not have enough knowledge about their customers’

most preferred read. After a thorough discussion, they decided to implement KM

solutions and use the ‘Knowledge analysis’ tool for detailed view of their

subscribers. This helped them to filter their subscriber database and list those

who suited their target profiles to the maximum. The rest, as anticipated, was a

huge success.






What we need to understand here is the clear demarcation between information and
knowledge. While Information is cluttered, unstructured and ephermal sometimes,

knowledge is often structured, detailed and is continuos. Each and every work

group requires information resources and their subsequent management, which

could vary from, as in the above case subscription knowledge to customer profile

such as their areas of interest, income profile, etc.






However, as known even the best laid plans can go awry, enterprises have seen
that, despite adhering to strong best-practices and approaches, the KM

implementations have gone awry or failed. The reason could vary from being over

ambitious to improper utilisation of skills and reluctance to cultural change.

Many experts also attribute the failure to lack of leadership, for any new

beginning demands motivation driven by the top management.

An opinion shared by Microsoft (India), marketing manger, Pankaj Ukey,

"One flaw which most organizations tend to have while implementing KM

system is that they often neglect to ask what knowledge to manage and towards

what end. Every functional staff can lay claim to the KM activities but no one

claims the big question: Why?" Thus it is pertinent for the enterprises to

know and analyze these kinds of information, so that they can arrange a fast,

cheap and effective way of reaching their customers.

Analysis and planning phase



According to a white paper by Georgia Institute of Technology, a suitable
knowledge analysis depends upon two key things:

1. The right kind of data in the knowledge map: A knowledge map is
   
   essentially an inventory or directory which lists the knowledge asset items
   
   (objects) of an enterprise, which usually refers to documents, instruction
   
   manuals, computer programs, and the people in general. One has to ensure
   
   that the data in the map is updated constantly or otherwise the information
   
   would be obsolete.
   
   
2. That these data are accurate and current.

Concurs QAI India Sr. Consultant for knowledge management, A. Rajgopal,

"The analysis phase is more towards understanding the given scenario where
one needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the system through KM,

analyze the infrastructure, people, process, political consequences of the

systems before design of any KM system."






A plan is then worked out on what kind of system has to be designed, to what
extent the processes are to be defined or the level of technology spread that is

required to cover the stake holders of the KM system and so on.

Wipro Infotech, chief knowledge and technology officer, Dr. Anurag Srivastav,

explains that planning initiatives will involve:

• Identifying challenges and opportunities
• Understanding the enterprise structure involving people, business
  
  processes, knowledge assets and culture.
• Classifying the raw information into knowledge (explicit, tacit)
• Data mining the key information required to filter unnecessary data.
• Converting the knowledge gained into a clear concise document or as FAQs
  
  and place those in a central repositary which can be accessed by all those
  
  who require.

He says, "Infact, at Wipro, we follow certain focussed

steps to keep tab of under-utilised knowledge and KEEP(Knowledge Enhancement,

Extraction and Practice) is one such framework where our work group identifies

all the important information required by the business processes and are stored,

accessed at the central repositary".

Well, as Goethe once said " Knowing is not enough, we must apply.

Willing is not enough, we must do". In brief, enterprises have to

evaluate knowledge building measures, audit existing competencies and plan for

future knowledge development. As KM matures and becomes a commonplace, knowledge

becomes an asset that finds it’s way into an organization’s books, much like

financial assets. The growth of these assets represents an important aspect in

the functioning of an organization.