RoadMap to Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management considered by many as a fad, an overhyped term, an area that they can chose to be laid back on in today’s knowledge powered Global Economy.

Rather it’s imperative to recognize the true value of knowledge in order to

Build a sustainable, long term growth model for your organization
Improve productivity and profitability by eliminating/ minimizing the need to reinvent or locate existing knowledge sources
Capture knowledge preferably at point of origination
Share knowledge in an easy, convenient and quick manner – through a Search enabled for “Need to Know” basis
Sharing of best practices, templates and standards
Enable clustering/ formation of groups/ communities Subject Matter Knowledge Workers
Enable Customer problem resolutions in shortest possible timeframes

Irrespective of where you are with respect to your organization’s Knowledge Management initiative, it’s high time to embark on an initiative to take your organization Knowledge Management to the next level.

Where should I start ? The first question that crosses any mind !

Identity KM Objectives

List Business Problems
Resources/ Knowledge required to address these Business Problems
Create a Priority List to address these Business Problems

Create a KM Plan and Top Management Buy-in

An Initial KM Plan
Top Management buy in through discussions/ presentations
Identify Core Team
Define strategy and Approach (preferably a Phased Approach)

Prepare your People

Introductory Awareness Programs
Buy in across all people of a department/ business unit/ division/ organization as per the Phased Approach defined
Prepare for Collaborative Knowledge Sharing
Get their commitment for contribution to understanding Knowledge gaps and requirements

Build the Solution

Define/ Identify detailed solution requirements
Buy a Product/ Technology platform or a Custom solution to meet the needs

Implement the Solution

Define Taxonomy
Capture existing documents/ knowledge sources along with necessary metadata and categories as per defined Taxonomy
Make standards and templates available
Pilot Release for identified users/ core team

Roll Out

Requisite Training and handholding
Institute a system to recognize , reward and incentivize Knowledge sharers/ contributors
A Dashboard visible to all to see progress

Ongoing

Review the experience , implementation and plan further phases
Bring in further departments/ divisions or Business Units to the KM Initiative
Identify further requirements/ gap areas and incorporate as part of KM Plan

Last but not the least any Knowledge Management System has to align and tie itself very closely to Key Business Drivers and have tangible and measureable metrics that enable ROI Increase, Productivity Increase and Cost Reduction.

Conclusion : Successful Implementation of a Knowledge Management Initiative will require a balance between People and People orientation, Technology , Content and Content Processes. Yet if one were to grade the importance if each of these for success

1 – People and People orientation
2 – Content and Content Processes
3 - Technology

RoadMap to Knowledge Management

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