Will KM Alter Information Managers' Roles?

• Author: PHILLIPS, JOHN T.

Knowledge management (KM) concepts and technologies have tremendous potential for increasing enterprise productivity and ensuring the effectiveness of information resources. KM concepts maximize the use of intellectual assets to engender creative ideas and foster productive business activities. KM technologies maximize the use of documents, data, computers, networks, and individual subject experts as information resources to accomplish organizational goals. When both KM concepts and technologies combine into an integrated approach to information resources management, organizations can become more creative, productive, and successful.

However, KM concepts and technologies are just beginning to develop. Methodologies for capturing intellectual assets into knowledge bases vary widely with KM practitioners. Software tools for creating searchable repositories of enterprise memory and experiences are limited, and the few companies that do specialize in KM systems have widely varying approaches to systems implementation and integration. The stark reality is that many corporate executives, information technology (IT) personnel, and information management (IM) professionals are not really sure what KM offers or how they should embrace it.

First, they must understand how KM is different from previous attempts at managing information resources. Second, they must define their roles and responsibilities in the newly forming enterprise activities. Do their job responsibilities change, or does the need for their services completely disappear? How should they prepare to meet these new initiatives? Change can be threatening and debilitating or exciting and rejuvenating. As always, how organizations and individuals respond to challenges dictates success or failure.

E-commerce, business-to-business (B2B)data interchange, IT outsourcing, and KM-based product development efforts are becoming accepted components of successful enterprise competitive strategies. IM professionals must carve out new niches that build upon their professional skills and experiences to add value to these new business processes.

KM Maturing in Concepts and Techniques

KM is many things to many people. There is considerable debate within the IT consulting industry regarding the overall validity of some KM concepts and the differentiation of KM from other previously popular IT management philosophies. In the last decade, concepts such as total quality management (TQM), information strategic planning (ISP), decision support systems (DSS), management information systems (MIS), business process re-engineering (BPR), and information resources management (IRM) have all influenced the role of information systems (IS) and IM professionals.

This alphabet soup of acronyms and faddish concepts has seldom enjoyed long-term credibility with executive management. Their attitude toward these overlapping, well-intentioned, and partially successful initiatives can often be summed up with two questions: "Where is the return on investment (ROI)?" and "What actual difference will KM make in my organization?"

The Delphi Group (www.delphi group.com) is a strong supporter of KM and the value that it can add to organizations. The company produces materials on the value of KM and sponsors seminars that illustrate methods and techniques for ensuring that KM projects succeed. According to Frappaolo and Capshaw (1999), "The intersection of business practice, organizational culture, and technology comprising a knowledge management solution sets KM apart from other information/ document management initiatives."

The single most unique aspect of KM is that it includes organizational experience and knowledge found in practices and culture, which...