The 'wonder years' of knowledge management: just because the words are not being used as often does not mean that knowledge management has faded away--it has simply matured a bit.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: Management Wise

At the Core

This article

* discusses the state of knowledge management (KM) today

* describes past and current stages of KM

* explores the future of KM

Knowledge management (KM) may not be as written about, about, or praised as the "next best thing" as much as it was a few years ago, but don't expect it to be downgraded to junk status any time soon. In fact, many experts and insiders think that KM's stock continues to rise, albeit at a slower pace.

KM is beginning to gain ground and respect in the corporate world, and it has a long life ahead of it. Despite losing much of the widespread fanfare it received five to seven years ago, KM remains a top priority for organizations worldwide that want to maintain competitiveness and increase innovation, says Carl Frappaolo, KM practice leader at Delphi Group.

"KM is no longer the fair-haired child of IT professionals and vendors ... Rather, it has taken a quiet back seat, but continues to thrive," Frappaolo asserts. "Organizations such as Ford, Best Western, the U.S. government, the Canadian government, Pfizer ... continue to grow their KM practices. Northrop and Alcoa have made recent investments in KM in an effort to maintain competitiveness and grow through innovation."

Scholarly research and professional opinion suggest that KM already has experienced a longer life than typical "fads" and many experts believe that it is not only here to stay, but is establishing itself as a new, viable aspect of management.

KM 'Wonder Years'

KM, according to CIO Magazine, "is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets." This definition sounds like something that most businesses would want to pursue, but before KM can be a true force in the corporate world, it has some growing up to do.

Jonathan B. Spira, chief analyst at Basex, a research and consulting company, says "KM is in its wonder years," referring to the period of adolescence when children grow and begin the climb into adulthood. His 2001 report "Will the Real KM Industry Please Stand Up?" suggests the KM field is largely defined by a small number of practitioners, analysts, consultants, and specialized groups. He says most companies in the KM industry don't even consider themselves in the KM business and don't use the words "knowledge management" in describing their products or mission.

In 2001, Basex surveyed the Web sites of 35 companies covered by its KM analysts and looked at how each company viewed itself with respect to KM. "In our world view ... these are all KM companies. But very few of them identify themselves that way," Spira,s report stated. In fact, of the 36 companies surveyed, only three received an "A" grade and just six received an "A minus." In other words, the research shows that just 25 percent of companies producing significant KM products see themselves as being in that market.

The KM industry is not even sure what to call itself, according to Frappaolo.

"KM is often brought in under different. names today--representing more tactical, practical applications rather than broad-scale philosophical programs," he says. "Corporate portals, EIP, expertise management, content management--these are all examples of KM being used today."

There are signs, however, that KM is evolving and growing. Michael Koenig, dean of the College of Information and Computer Science at Long Island University, says KM has gone through three distinct stages already in its short lifetime.

The first is the technology stage, which includes information technology, intellectual capital, and the Internet. It is the realization that most of what organizations possess is their intellectual capital; when the Internet came along, companies realized that it was a much better way of extracting value from that capital. "The Ernst & Youngs could find out that they had done a traffic...