Insecure by design?

On the face of it, there isn’t a strong relationship between the concept of information security and the ideal of a ‘KM culture’. The one discipline is focused on maintaining the integrity of information and making sure that it is only seen by the right people, while the other is about persuading the staff to share knowledge more freely, making the organisation more efficient, productive and competitive.

But a deeper examination indicates a closer relationship. Take our news story on page eight, for example, about the internet-service provider that was hacked by a ‘spam gang’. The company, it transpires, was informed about a serious problem with its online e-mail system by its own customers, four days before it identified the problem.

What difference could it have made if the customer-service representatives and help-desk staff had been able – encouraged, perhaps – to share this information with technical and security staff earlier? The problem could have been dealt with more quickly and the fallout from the incident contained.

Front-line staff, equally, would have been able to see for themselves the crucial role that they play as the organisation’s ‘eyes and ears’. Likewise, our ‘Last word’ opinion article, which was penned by an identity-fraud specialist. The key to the problem of identity theft and identity fraud, is that the organisations that demand and keep our personal information do not make enough effort to keep it to themselves.

Knowledge sharing, in this context, is not necessarily good or helpful. However, the theft of information from a company normally indicates an organisational shortcoming somewhere along the line – often one that someone has seen, but not considered to be their job or their business to intervene in.

Yet a knowledge-sharing culture is all about staff sharing what they know for the greater good and that could be something as trivial as a less-than-satisfactory encounter with their own organisation as a customer, for example, or the organisation simply not measuring up to known best practices.

In the past, such people might have been thought of as awkward. But in today’s complex world, they need to be persuaded to come forward and share what they know. KM culture is in everybody’s best interests.

Graeme Burton

Editor

Features

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The drive towards e-government in the UK is reaching maturity. Worcestershire County Council is beginning to scan many vital documents, starting with its Public Rights of Way unit. By Heidi McIntosh.

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EI Workshop: Master-data management Free
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Changing an organisational culture to embrace knowledge sharing and collaboration is easier said than done.

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Coffee, camcorders, conversation and PowerPoint. A practical approach to learning and capturing knowledge in Nationwide’s Property Services Department.

Regulars

Thought leader: The treacherous path of the CKO Free
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Are your organisation’s online products and services just a little too bulky? Take a look at iTunes for inspiration. By Lynda Rathbone.

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EI Last word: The real fraud? Free
Identity fraud has been overhyped and overplayed. The truth is much more mundane – and largely out of ordinary people’s hands. By Frank Nesbitt.

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The best-run websites clearly are managed very well – Amazon, other big-name e-commerce operators and major newspaper and media groups all have very strong web offerings that are clearly underpinned by sound management practices.

Case study: Linklaters This article is for subscribers only
The road to a standalone, internal knowledge resource at international law firm Linklaters. By Matthew Parsons and CJ Anderson.

Case report: General Motors This article is for subscribers only
General Motors combines BP, LO, KM, DFSS. With all those acronyms, what’s not to like, asks IK special correspondent Jerry Ash.

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