denotes premium content | Aug 22 2008 Inside Knowledge Magazine /Knowledge Management Magazine Archive
Volume 8 Issue 10
Editor's letter
Welcome to the July/August edition of Inside Knowledge. As most of you will now be aware, after five years working in various capacities with the magazine, Simon Lelic has moved on to pastures new. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for all his hard work and to wish him the very best in all his future endeavours.
As this month’s cover story illustrates, knowledge management could finally be making its way into the boardroom. Our
This month’s KM Toolkit puts the use of instant messaging technology under the spotlight. For end users, the advantages of IM over other communications and knowledge-sharing mediums are clear. But, because of IM’s origins as a consumer medium, it is still treated with suspicion by many IT managers, who cite common problems such as a lack of corporate control over the medium and the risk of security breaches. For the low down, turn to page 34.
John Keeble, meanwhile, who has led KM programmes at two vastly different and challenging organisations, reflects on his achievements and the challenges he has faced at Aon, and offers advice on how to turn theories into practice.
On page 30, our focus shifts to Patti Anklam’s four-part masterclass, which covers the benefits, limitations and practical implementation of social-network analysis in an organisational context.
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me at jschofield@ark-group.com.
Jason Schofield
Managing Editor
Features
Case study: DVLA
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the UK was established in the 1970s with a responsibility for managing the centralised vehicle and driver registers. Since that time the responsibilities have grown, and in addition to managing the large databases, the agency issues 7 million driving licences, 9 million registration certificates and responds to more than 24 million enquiries from the police and customers on driver licensing and vehicle registration issues each year. Amongst other activities, it is responsible for the collection of £4.9bn in vehicle excise duty on behalf of the treasury and helps ensure the public is protected from untaxed, uninsured and unsafe driving. The DVLA has one of the most successful “wider markets” initiatives in government with the Sale of Marks scheme resulting in sales of 220,000 registration marks each year.
Case study: Ernst & Young
Many organisations are currently grappling with making decisions about taxonomies – determining if they are needed, what they should be used for, why they are important and how to create, implement and maintain them.
KM comes to the boardroom
Governance can no longer be defined as choosing and monitoring the CEO. Nor can today’s governing boards rely solely on the knowledge fed to them by their senior executives. Governing in complex organisations engaged in rapidly changing local and global environments begs for governing boards to relentlessly pursue knowledge to build an understanding of their businesses, related industry sectors, the economy and society at large in order to make the strategic decisions that will ensure their success and longevity.
The knowledge: John Keeble
Taking a pragmatic approach to knowledge management, John Keeble has led KM programmes at two vastly different and challenging organisations. As he reflects on his achievements and the challenges he has faced, he offers advice to his peers on gaining buy-in at all levels and knowing how to turn theories into practice. By Sandra Higgison
Regulars
KnowledgeWorks: KMM in governance
In too many executive suites for too long the unofficial mantra of board management has been to treat board members like mushrooms – that is, keep them in the dark and feed them excrement. And for too long, boards of directors have been content to hire executives with implicit instructions to do just that.
KM toolkit: Instant messaging
Until 2004, picture library company Getty Images did not officially support the use of instant messaging (IM) in the workplace. But user feedback and desktop software audits soon demonstrated what the IT department already suspected: employee usage of IM, an internet-based person-to-person communications tool, was thriving. Not only that, but employees were able to provide a solid case for using IM, built on legitimate business needs. Photographers in the field, for example, used IM to communicate with the picture desk and IT workers used IM to co-ordinate technical development, quality assurance and support tasks.
Trend tracker: Communicate
A core element of knowledge management is communication. You need to communicate to pass on knowledge. But in a world that is increasingly dominated by IT, people increasingly confuse communication with messaging.
Knowledge advisory centre
What does a customer-centric approach to delivering business solutions look like? Does it mean giving your customer exactly the product solution they want based on your manufacturing capabilities? Does it mean fast turnaround on a quote? Does it mean more efficient delivery of services? Does it mean transmitting information about the customer to all relevant touchpoints in the organisation? Does it mean freeing up your sales force from time-consuming quotes so that they can collaborate on the “unanticipated solution” to a problem the customer is grappling with?
Thought leader
Most companies today suffer not from a lack of knowledge, but from an inability to effectively deploy all available knowledge and expertise relevant to their business, resulting in less than full potential performance. But all the knowledge you require to run your business (and more) exists. The 360-degree Knowledge Management Model introduced here will help you deploy KM more effectively and raise your business performance to its full potential.
