Unit-3

Knowledge Management
Introduction
Knowledge management (KM) is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and
information of an organisation.[1] It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organisational objectives
by making the best use of knowledge.[2]
An established discipline since 1991, KM includes courses taught in the fields of business administration,
information systems, management, library, and information sciences.[3][4] Other fields may contribute to KM
research, including information and media, computer science, public health and public policy.[5] Several
universities offer dedicated master's degrees in knowledge management.
Many large companies, public institutions and non-profit organisations have resources dedicated to internal KM
efforts, often as a part of their business strategy, IT, or human resource management departments.[6] Several
consulting companies provide advice regarding KM to these organisations.[6]
Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organisational objectives such as improved performance,
competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of
the organisation.[7] These efforts overlap with organisational learning and may be distinguished from that by a
greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and on encouraging the sharing of
knowledge.[2][8] KM is an enabler of organisational learning.
The Knowledge Management Process
The process of knowledge management is universal for any enterprise. Sometimes, the
resources used, such as tools and techniques, can be unique to the organizational
environment.

The Knowledge Management process has six basic steps assisted by different tools and
techniques. When these steps are followed sequentially, the data transforms into knowledge.
Step 1: Collecting
This is the most important step of the knowledge management process. If you collect the
incorrect or irrelevant data, the resulting knowledge may not be the most accurate. Therefore,
the decisions made based on such knowledge could be inaccurate as well.

There are many methods and tools used for data collection. First of all, data collection should
be a procedure in knowledge management process. These procedures should be properly
documented and followed by people involved in data collection process.

The data collection procedure defines certain data collection points. Some points may be the
summary of certain routine reports. As an example, monthly sales report and daily attendance
reports may be two good resources for data collection.

With data collection points, the data extraction techniques and tools are also defined. As an
example, the sales report may be a paper-based report where a data entry operator needs to
feed the data manually to a database whereas, the daily attendance report may be an online
report where it is directly stored in the database.

In addition to data collecting points and extraction mechanism, data storage is also defined in
this step. Most of the organizations now use a software database application for this purpose.

Step 2: Organizing
The data collected need to be organized. This organization usually happens based on certain
rules. These rules are defined by the organization.
As an example, all sales-related data can be filed together and all staff-related data could be
stored in the same database table. This type of organization helps to maintain data accurately
within a database.

If there is much data in the database, techniques such as 'normalization' can be used for
organizing and reducing the duplication.

This way, data is logically arranged and related to one another for easy retrieval. When data
passes step 2, it becomes information.

Step 3: Summarizing
In this step, the information is summarized in order to take the essence of it. The lengthy
information is presented in tabular or graphical format and stored appropriately.

For summarizing, there are many tools that can be used such as software packages, charts
(Pareto, cause-and-effect), and different techniques.

Step 4: Analyzing
At this stage, the information is analyzed in order to find the relationships, redundancies and
patterns.

An expert or an expert team should be assigned for this purpose as the experience of the
person/team plays a vital role. Usually, there are reports created after analysis of information.

Step 5: Synthesizing
At this point, information becomes knowledge. The results of analysis (usually the reports) are
combined together to derive various concepts and artefacts.
A pattern or behavior of one entity can be applied to explain another, and collectively, the
organization will have a set of knowledge elements that can be used across the organization.
This knowledge is then stored in the organizational knowledge base for further use.
Usually, the knowledge base is a software implementation that can be accessed from
anywhere through the Internet.
You can also buy such knowledge base software or download an open-source implementation
of the same for free.
Step 6: Decision Making
At this stage, the knowledge is used for decision making. As an example, when estimating a
specific type of a project or a task, the knowledge related to previous estimates can be used.
This accelerates the estimation process and adds high accuracy. This is how the organizational
knowledge management adds value and saves money in the long run.
Types of Knowledge
In the modern economy, the knowledge that it is able to harness is the organization’s
competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is realized through the full utilization of
information and data coupled with the harnessing of people’s skills and ideas as well as their
commitments and motivations. In the corporate context, knowledge is the product of
organization and systematic reasoning applied to data and information. It is the outcome of
learning that provides the organization’s only sustainable competitive advantage. As such
knowledge is an essential asset that has become more important than land, labor or capital in
today’s economy.

In general, there are two types of knowledge: tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.

Tacit knowledge is that stored in the brain of a person.

Tacit knowledge is personal. It is stored in the heads of people. It is accumulated through study
and experience. It is developed through the process of interaction with other people. Tacit
knowledge grows through the practice of trial and error and the experience of success and
failure.
Tacit knowledge, therefore, is context-specific. It is difficult to formalize, record, or articulate. It
includes subjective insights, intuitions and conjectures. As intuitive knowledge, it is difficult to
communicate and articulate. Since tacit knowledge is highly individualized, the degree and
facility by which it can be shared depends to a great extent on the ability and willingness of the
person possessing it to convey it to others

The sharing of tacit knowledge is a great challenge to many organizations. Tacit knowledge can
be shared and communicated through various activities and mechanisms. Activities include
conversations, workshops, on-the-job training and the like. Mechanisms include, among others,
the use of information technology tools such as email, groupware, instant messaging and
related technologies.
In managing tacit knowledge, the very first hurdle to most organizations is identifying the tacit
knowledge that is useful to the organization. Once relevant tacit knowledge is identified, it
becomes extremely valuable to the organization possessing it because it is a unique asset that is
difficult for other organizations to replicate. This very characteristic of being unique and hard to
replicate is what makes tacit knowledge a basis of the organization’s competitive advantage.
Accordingly, it is essential for an organization to discover, propagate and utilize the tacit
knowledge of its employees in order to optimize the use of its own intellectual capital.

In any organization, tacit knowledge is the essential prerequisite for making good decisions. A
new executive not yet familiar with the organization will find it difficult to make good decisions
since he or she has yet to acquire tacit knowledge about the workings of the organization. Tacit
knowledge is therefore crucial to getting things done and creating value for the organization.
This is the essence of the “learning organization”. Management and employees need to learn
and internalize relevant knowledge through experience and action. And they need to generate
new knowledge through personal and group interactions within the organization.

Explicit knowledge is that contained in documents or other forms of storage other than the
human brain. Explicit knowledge may therefore be stored or imbedded in facilities, products,
processes, services and systems.

Explicit knowledge is codified. It is stored in documents, databases, websites, emails and the
like. It is knowledge that can be readily made available to others and transmitted or shared in
the form of systematic and formal languages.

Explicit knowledge comprises anything that can be codified, documented and archived. These
include knowledge assets such as reports, memos, business plans, drawings, patents,
trademarks, customer lists, methodologies, and the like. They represent an accumulation of the
organization’s experience kept in a form that can readily be accessed by interested parties and
replicated if desired. In many organizations these knowledge assets are stored with the help of
computers and information technology.
Explicit knowledge is not completely separate from tacit knowledge. On the other hand, the
two are mutually complementary. Without tacit knowledge it will be difficult, if not impossible,
to understand explicit knowledge. For example, a person without technical, mathematical or
scientific knowledge (tacit knowledge) will have great difficulty understanding a highly complex
mathematical formulation or chemical process flow diagram, although it may be readily
available from the organization’s library or databases (explicit knowledge).
And unless we try to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, we cannot reflect upon it,
study and discuss it, and share it within the organization - since it will remain hidden and
inaccessible inside the head of the person that has it.

Interaction between types of knowledge

Both types of knowledge can be produced as a result of interactions or innovations. They can
be the outcome of relationships or alliances. They permeate the daily functioning of
organizations and contribute to the attainment of their objectives. Both tacit and explicit
knowledge enable organizations to respond to novel situations and emerging challenges.
Personal knowledge can become organizational knowledge through the dynamic interaction
between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
This dynamic process is the essence of knowledge creation in an organization. This interaction
between the two types of knowledge brings about what is called the four modes of knowledge
conversion (Nonaka 1996).
The process of knowledge creation is based on a double spiral movement between tacit and
explicit knowledge. Below given Figure shows the four modes of knowledge conversion:
socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from
tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to
systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge).

To tacit knowledge To explicit knowledge

From tacit knowledge Socialization Externalization
From explicit knowledge Internalization Combination

Socialization is a process of creating common tacit knowledge through shared experiences. In

socialization, a field of interaction is built where individuals share experiences and space at the
same time. Through this process common unarticulated beliefs and embodied skills are created
and developed. In socialization, the tacit knowledge of one person is shared and transmitted to
another person and it becomes part of the other person’s tacit knowledge.
Externalization is a process of articulating tacit knowledge into such explicit knowledge as
concepts and/or diagrams. The process often uses metaphors, analogies, and/or sketches. This
mode is triggered by a dialogue intended to create concepts from tacit knowledge. A good
example of externalization is the process of creating a new product concept or developing a
new production process. Here the tacit knowledge in the brains of experts are articulated and
expressed as concepts or drawings, thus becoming explicit knowledge that can be further
studied and refined.
Combination is a process of assembling new and existing explicit knowledge into a systemic
knowledge. For example a researcher can assemble an array of previously existing explicit
knowledge in order to prepare a new set of specifications for a prototype of a new product. Or
an engineer can combine available drawings and design specifications to produce a new
process design or equipment. What commonly occurs is the combination of a newly created
concept with existing knowledge to produce something tangible (e.g., a new product model).
Internalization is a process of embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge or an
individual’s know-how or operational knowledge. An excellent example of this is “learning by
doing or using.” Explicit knowledge that is available as text, sound, or video facilitates the
internalization process. The use of operating manuals for various machines or equipment is a
quintessential example of explicit knowledge that is used for internalization. The instructions
are learned and become part of the person’s tacit knowledge.

Understanding Knowledge Management

The most important goal of knowledge management is ensuring that data and information is
collected and stored in such a way that makes it effective and efficient for members of the
organization to find and use the necessary data.

Types of Knowledge Managed

The most effective knowledge management systems provide a variety of information databases:
 Lesson Learned Databases - These are databases of information that are retrieved from people
who have already tackled a problem and found a solution. The term "lessons learned" is
synonymous with the popular term "best practices."
 Expertise Location - This is a database which provides a way to locate an expert or expert
information.
 Communities of Practice - These are groups of individuals who discuss problems, opportunities,
lessons learned and other information gained from users. As companies grow globally, these
communities become more geographically spread out. A good knowledge management system
provides these groups with a way to share information in what could be described as a "virtual
water cooler" approach.
Forms of Knowledge Management
When considering effective knowledge management, a variety of factors and needs must be
assessed to find the most beneficial form for the knowledge.
Knowledge management can exist in many forms, including:
 Process-driven applications
 Automated data integration
 Data capture and workflow solutions
 Purpose-built databases
 Content life cycle management
 Automated document and classification solutions
 Document, content and imagine solutions
 Secure file sharing
 Optical character recognition
 Social analytics and engagement solutions
 Integration of enterprise search
 Business intelligence
Knowledge Management System Examples
Some examples of different knowledge management systems include:
 Feedback database - A company may have a database of feedback from customers and
employees and shares this feedback with their design and research and development
departments. All members of the organization would be able to enter feedback into the
database and an integrated approach would be taken to understanding the shared information.
 Shared project files - An employee team can work collaboratively on a project. They have a
system of shared files and information that allows everyone on the team to upload and
comment on work performed by others.
 Research files - A company developing a new product conducts research on their competitors
and conducts focus groups to find out what is needed in their product or market niche. This
information is entered into a database that contains objective data on market sales potential
and indicates what assets and processes the company has in place which can be used to meet
this sales potential, meet customer needs and fill gaps within the marketplace.

The Knowledge Challenge

Knowledge is one of the most important assets of any organization. Unfortunately, very few are
able to harness this asset in a meaningful way. Even fewer are organizations that are able to
optimize the use of this important asset. In this context, it is helpful to identify two kinds of
knowledge: core knowledge and enabling knowledge.
In any organization, certain areas of knowledge are more important than others. The kind of
knowledge that is critical to the attainment of the organization’s goal and the fulfillment of its
strategy is called “core knowledge”. Because core knowledge is critical to the organization, the
management of core knowledge must be kept within the organization. It must be developed
and nurtured inside the organization.

Core knowledge alone cannot fully support an organization and make it competitive. There is
need for knowledge that can maintain the effectiveness of the organization. Such knowledge is
known as “enabling knowledge”. When combined with the core knowledge, such enabling
knowledge leads to the development of new products, processes and services. By its very
nature, the management of enabling knowledge can be outsourced.
The core and enabling knowledge in organizations are more than a pure competitive
advantage. This organizational knowledge makes possible focused and collective action. But as
important as organizational knowledge is organizational memory. A great deal of the
knowledge of the organization is created and stored at individual level. They are in the heads of
people and groups of people who work in the organization - the employees, managers and top
executives.
While much of the organizational knowledge is available as explicit knowledge, a significant
portion of core and enabling knowledge remain tacit. The willingness to share this tacit
knowledge is influenced to a large extent by the managerial approaches to identify, capture and
integrate that knowledge. These approaches include award and punishment systems and
organizational procedures for assessment of individual performance. The effective
implementation of these approaches can contribute to wider sharing of tacit knowledge within
the organization.
This is the knowledge challenge. Organizations contain vast reservoirs of untapped core
knowledge and enabling expertise. The problem is that top management usually does not know
who has what information. Few top executives are aware of where core and enabling
knowledge reside and how to enable this knowledge to flow through the organization. This is
the very purpose of knowledge management .Knowledge management addresses this problem
directly and pointedly. Thus, the importance of knowledge management !
Knowledge Assets

The term “knowledge assets” refers to the accumulated intellectual resources of your
organization. It is the knowledge possessed by your organization and its workforce in the form
of information, ideas, learning, understanding, memory, insights, cognitive and technical skills,
and capabilities. Your workforce, databases, documents, guides, policies and procedures,
software, and patents are repositories of your organization’s knowledge assets. Knowledge
assets are held not only by an organization but reside within its customers, suppliers, and
partners as well.
Knowledge assets are the “know how” that your organization has available to use, to invest,
and to grow. Building and managing its knowledge assets are key components for your
organization to create value for your stakeholders and to help sustain overall organizational
performance success.
Knowledge assets include the part of organisations intangible assets that are knowledge, such
as best practices, codified explicit knowledge, intellectual property and knowledge of the
individual members of the organisation. Organisations put investments in their knowledge
assets with the expectation that future benefits can be drawn of them. These investments
include use of any business processes or tools that increase the value of knowledge in the
organisation. Knowledge management provides organisations with the tools and processes to
manage their knowledge assets.
Knowledge asset refers to an economical view of organization's knowledge. Knowledge assets
are developed via investments with the expectation that this investment enhances potential
income earning of the organization. Examples of knowledge assets include best practices,
codified explicit knowledge and intellectual property. As part of organisation's knowledge is
embedded in people, knowledge asset inevitably overlaps with human assets and includes also
knowledge of the individual members of the organisation, see Fig 1.

Fig 1. Knowledge asset as a part of organization's intangible assets.

Nonaka et al defines knowledge assets as "firm-specific resources that are indispensable to create
values for the firm". They divide knowledge assets into four categories: experiential knowledge
assets, conceptual knowledge assets, routine knowledge assets and systemic knowledge assets [1].
Experiential knowledge assets include know-how of individuals and routine knowledge assets the
tacit knowledge which is embedded in the daily routines of the organisation. Systemic knowledge
assets include the codified explicit knowledge of the organisation which is stored e.g. in documents
or databases. Finally, conceptual knowledge refers to explicit knowledge which is expressed in
symbolic form, including designs and brands. For more details, see table below. Nonaka et al also
connect the development of these knowledge assets into the SECI model of knowledge conversion.
However, the SECI model does not provide practical guidance on the management of knowledge
asset
Knowledge assets are the main result of the knowledge management process. The process starts
out to identify potential knowledge assets, triggers the decision whether/ how much should be
invested in making the knowledge asset available for further use and finally comprises all activities
necessary to act upon this decision.
Knowledge assets can take different forms, e.g. documented lessons learned by a team during a
specific project, design ideas, proven concepts or approaches to solve a problem, or reusable output
of a project e.g. generic project plans, templates, software parts etc.
Knowledge services can be provided either internally by a knowledge management organization or
externally to customers by a commercial knowledge service provider. A knowledge management
organization usually comprises at least the CKO Chief Knowledge Officer and several de-/central
knowledge brokers who facilitate the communication between knowledge seekers and knowledge
providers. They usually rely on technology that helps them to electronically store, structure and
retrieve knowledge assets. Recently web 2.0 and social media started to play an important role in
coporate knowledge networking.
(1) Knowledge goods, assets and services are related to the knowledge economy and knowledge
industries, and there are no unified definitions for them up to date.
(2) According to OECD (1996), the knowledge economy is the knowledge-based or knowledge-
intensive economy, and is based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge.
(3) In general, knowledge industries are the core industries of knowledge economy, and include
three parts at least. One is knowledge production,such as R&D (research & development). One is
knowledge distribution,such as education, information and cultural industries. One is knowledge
service,such as professional service (accounting, design, consult, law service,etc.), health service,
government civic service, etc.
(4) Knowledge goods are the knowledge-based or knowledge-intensive goods, such as book, paper,
technology, patent, design, data-base, etc.
(5) Knowledge assets are the knowledge-based or knowledge-intensive assets, such as intellectual
rights, intellectual captal, library, knowledge Infrastructure, etc.
(6) Knowledge service are the knowledge-based or knowledge-intensive services, such as education
service, medical service, information service, publication and medium,etc.
 Knowledge Generation

KM involves processes that facilitate the application and development of organizational

knowledge and aims to create value and to increase/sustain competitive advantage for the
organization in 3 dimensions:
 Strategic dimension – highlights the strategic importance of knowledge and its
management in a company’s strategy
 Managerial dimension – highlights organizational knowledge assessment and
management
 Operational dimension – highlights the development and usage of knowledge and
intellectual assets
KM supports and coordinates the generation, codification, transfer and application of individual
knowledge in value creation processes. There are generally 4 stages of KM processes:
1. Knowledge Creation/Generation
Companies create a great amount of data and information in their daily business activities. It would
be essential for the company to have a system of managing the newly created information so it can
be reused to solve new problems or leveraged to value-add to other business activities. For
example, high technology companies may often received a lot of feedbacks from customers on their
products. This kind of information could be very useful for the R&D team to come up with new
improved products.
Companies may find that they cannot meet their knowledge requirement from their available
knowledge assets. The gap will have to be filled either by internally developing new knowledge or
acquiring the knowledge from external sources. Knowledge creation can only be achieved in a
creative environment that encourages teamwork and the use of creative potential. If manage
successfully, the process can expand or change the company’s knowledge base to meet the
company’s current and future needs.
2. Knowledge Codification
Data and information need to be collected and analyzed in order to turn them into useful knowledge.
This is the stage where tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge and is very critical to the
success of the other two stages – application and transfer. Without documenting and codifying tacit
knowledge, its transfer for the purposes of learning and utilization, both internally and externally, will
be difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, legal protection of these valuable knowledge assets can only be done if the knowledge
has been codified. For examples, patent applications require the complete disclosures of the
inventions and trade secrets require the demonstration of safe-keeping of documented information.
The legal rights come with IP protection offers the company a distinct advantage which can be used
to derive revenues from IP licensing or exclusive rights to commercialize.
3. Knowledge Application
It is not unusual for companies to not to know how to generate value from the use of the knowledge
assets they have. It is worse when a company does not even know the kind of knowledge it has.
Knowledge Management offers a management system for the company to ensure that their
knowledge assets when created are properly documented, and that the knowledge in different
domain owners will be shared within the organization.
When knowledge assets are documented and shared, knowledge utilization will be facilitated. This is
the stage in Knowledge Management where value creation is delivered. By harnessing knowledge
from different knowledge domains and competencies across the organization, direct impacts to the
missions and goals of the company can be achieved.
4. Knowledge Transfer
One of the advantages of knowledge is that knowledge is dynamic. Knowledge can be adapted and
evolved through the processes of learning and sharing. The impact made by individual knowledge is
not as great as collective knowledge so sharing within the organization should be encouraged.
When a company has limited capability to effectively use certain knowledge, it would be worthwhile
to consider external transfer to third parties who may have the competencies to utilize the knowledge
for value creation. For example, a company may have invented a new technology but it does not
have the capability to produce products based on such invention. The technology can be licensed to
a third party who has the production facilities and the marketing and sales capability to sell the new
product. To ensure success of this technology transfer, it is essential that tacit knowledge and
procedural knowledge are converted to explicit knowledge for easy learning, adaptation and
utilization.

Knowledge Storage
Why do we need to care about storage?
 Average information worker spends over an hour and a half on email each day, which is 20% of
their work time
 Employees get 50% - 75% of their relevant information directly from other people
 More than 80% of enterprise’s digitized information reside in individual hard drives and personal
files Source: Information Worker Productivity Council Research, (2004), and “The Knowledge
Worker Investment Paradox” Gartner Research, (2002).
Options on Knowledge Storage
• file system storage:
• Local
• Network directories and folders
• Databases
• e-mail
• websites (intranet and external).
Approach on Knowledge Storage
• Structured
• Storage-wise
• Easy to locate
• Document-wise
• Easy to understand
• Un Structured
• Storage-wise
• Flexibility on storing new type of knowledge

KM Tools
In this section, I present an overview of the IT-based tools and systems that can help knowledge
management (KM) fulfill its goals.
The scope of this section is to provide the reader with an overview of the types of KM tools available
on the market today and to gain an understanding of what their role is in the KM process. This is the
most important step, since there are literally thousands of options to choose from. However, in the
future, I intend to also take a look at some actual KM tools and present a few reviews.
To recap, I have dealt with KM tools throughout the section on tactical management initiatives,
outlining its role in knowledge discovery, organization, sharing, etc. In the section on knowledge
management strategy, I presented an article on knowledge management systems implementation,
where I stated that IT based tools, for the most part, fall into one of the following categories (adapted
from Gupta and Sharma 2005, in Bali et al 2009):
 Groupware systems & KM 2.0
 The intranet and extranet
 Data warehousing,data mining, & OLAP
 Decision Support Systems
 Content management systems
 Document management systems
 Artificial intelligence tools
 Simulation tools
 Semantic networks
For now, in the subsections that follow, I will discuss the first six KM tool categories on this list, as
well as any other (sub)categories that may be relevant. Simulation tools is too broad a category for
the scope of this site, and artificial intelligence systems are of questionable usefulness and are
outside my area of expertise. However, in the (not too near) future, I do plan to add a segment on
semantic networks and artificial intelligence.

A quick note on artificial intelligence: While there was much excitement about this a few years ago,
to my understanding, it has not lived up to its expectations (yet). Expert systems for example,
designed to capture human decision-making and to make the correct decisions in certain
circumstances, have not been so successful due to constantly changing requirements (Botha et al
2008). For more on this, research topics such as neural networks, intelligent decision support
systems, and expert systems.
Again, I would like to remind the reader that KM is about managing people, culture, and
organizational practices & structures. However, in conjunction with sound practice, KM tools are
invaluable at providing support to KM initiatives and at facilitating interaction, exchange of ideas,
locating experts, and storing knowledge in both structured and unstructured forms. While it can be
said that these tools were not absolutely necessary when KM peaked at the turn of the last century,
today they are a necessary competitive advantage within knowledge sharing.
If IT is used right - as a supporting and enhancing mechanism for sound, existing KM practices - it
can be a very valuable tool indeed.

Knowledge Utilization
Different types of Knowledge Management Initiatives

Knowledge Management initiatives are taken by organizations and practitioners’ worldwide, which
reveal how these companies create value from their intangible assets. The initiatives are in the external
structure, the internal structure and the competence of the people.

Examples of these initiatives are as follows :

12.1 External Structure initiatives: Gain Information and Knowledge from Customers, Example:
Netscape, USA, Close links via the Net to opinion leaders among customers, who are encouraged to
report problems enable it to create new generations of software at a fast pace.

12.2 Internal Structure Initiatives: Build Knowledge Sharing Culture, Example: 3M, USA. With 60,000
products of their own innovation process, this company has an organization that balances between
creativity and conservatism. 3M’s values encourage learning and risk taking, but managers are required
to link continuous learning to revenues.

12.3 Competence Initiatives: Create Careers based on Knowledge Management. Examples; IBM USA and
most Japanese large companies. Dual careers, Employees are encouraged to switch between
professional and managerial jobs, in order to gain more holistic knowledge about the company.[3]
Bhattacharya and Chaudhury

Knowledge Management and its Utilisation

13. Knowledge Management Initiatives in India

The KM Initiatives has started in different sectors of the economy. They may be categorized as follows:

(i) Initiatives at the Corporate level;

(ii) Initiatives at the R& D level;

(iii) Initiatives at the NGO level;

(iv) Financial Institution level initiatives

(v) Initiatives at the Academic Institution level

A few examples of the above-mentioned categories are as follows:

13.1 Initiatives at the Corporate level

13.1.1Infosys Knowledge shop

As far as an Indian organization is concerned, knowledge management as it is known today, has been
practiced by Infosys way before the term was coined. They started off with a body of knowledge (BOK)-
a set of documents that captures in a structured form, the experiences and insights of the people that

worked on different projects. Today their body of knowledge (BOK) covers not only issues relating to
software development and tools, but also fields like travel tips, loans, leave along with other Infy
Intranet web applications, online library catalogue, HR as well as Admin issues at the knowledge shop.
[2]

13.1.2TCS

Tata Consultancy Service has developed its knowledge management solution from its intranet. The
company slowly developed all its internal processes and gathered a lot of information. Considering its
multi locational operations, it decided to consolidate on the company-wide knowledge to make it
available across all its branches. This led to the idea of developing a knowledge repository on top of all
intranets. TCS has built its knowledge management system using a Lotus Domino Server. TCS’s
knowledge management solution was conceptualized sometime in 1995. It has taken them an
equivalent of 25 man-years to complete this project.[2]

13.1.3 ONGC

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation has set up a task force to implement knowledge management system and
practices. A pilot project has already been set up to explore and experiment, expand and support and
institutionalize KM. The most important issues for companies here is to ensure that they focus the
synergy of data and information processing capacity of IT and the creative and innovative capacity of
their human members. Advanced information technologies can increasingly accomplish programmable
tasks traditionally done by humans. If a procedure can be programmed, it can be delegated to IT in one
form or another. The information & control systems in organizations are intended to achieve the
‘programming’ for optimization and efficiency. The human brain is required to ensure checks and
balances needed to continuously update the organizational processes so that such “Programmes” are in
alignment with the dynastically changing external environment.[2]

13.2 R&D level initiatives

13.2.1National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL)

National Aerospace Laboratories has already taken the steps to create the basic infrastructure required
for KM systems, including the establishment of a campus-wide communication network, development
of a super computer based on parallel computing techniques, and creation of facilities for providing
advanced information services to the research scientists and engineers.[2]

13.2.2 IGCAR

In Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakam the IT scenario covers a wide range of computer
facilities including a campus-wide network. KM applications of the center cover hospital management,
walkthrough, purchase management, material management, Library management & services and
Training [2]

13.3 Financial Institution level Initiatives:

13.3.1 ICICI Knowledge Park

ICICI is trying out the concept of developing a “Knowledge Network” that would enable collaboration
between “research and industry”. It would be operated on the principles of a “non-profit” organization;
the project envisages development of 10 blocks of laboratories in five phases. The park has taken up a
unique project called “Knowledge Network”, which in phases will have components such as database of
networked institutions, online access to libraries and databases, facilities for negotiation and project
execution, and information on the park tenants. To begin with work has started on a “virtual library”
project, which will be completed in three years. This will be a database of scientists, experts and key
research institutions in India. A search engine will enable seamless access into member institutions. If a
tenant of the park has a problem, knowledge network can help find a solution. It could well be in the
way to becoming a preferred destination to conduct ‘business driven research’ or ‘collaboration
between research and industry’ where the finest scientific minds will come together to drive
business.[2]

13.3.2 Export-Import Bank of India

They have established a KM system; which has helped them in solving loan related problems. EXIM Bank
has established a learning culture system. They have established an expert system.[6].

13.4 Initiatives at the NGO Level:

13.4.1TERI

The Energy and Resource Institute has developed a comprehensive knowledge management system to
organize its research outcomes centrally and provide a single window access to research outcomes
centrally and provide a single window access to researchers as a gateway at their desktops that provide
facility to browse and search various forms of digital resources

Knowledge Management Technologies

Knowledge Management Technologies are information technologies that can be used to facilitate
knowledge management. Knowledge Management Technologies are intrinsically no different from
information technologies, but they can focus on knowledge management rather than information
processing.

Knowledge Management Technologies also support knowledge management systems and benefit
from the knowledge management infrastructure, especially the information technology infrastructure.
KM technologies constitute a key component of KM systems.

Technologies that support KM include artificial intelligence (AI) technologies including those used for
knowledge acquisition and case-based reasoning systems, electronic discussion groups, computer-
based simulations, databases, decision support systems, enterprise resource planning systems,
expert systems, management information systems, expertise locator systems, videoconferencing,
and information repositories including best practices databases and lessons learned systems. KM
technologies also include the emergent Web 2.0 technologies, such as wikis and blog (Becerra-
Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2010).

Knowledge Management Mechanisms and Technologies work together and affect each other. You
can follow the following video-clips to learn more about how information technology influence
knowledge management:

Knowledge Management requires technologies to support the new strategies, processes, methods
and techniques to better create, disseminate, share and apply the best knowledge, anytime and
anyplace, across the team, across teams, across the organisation and across several organisations,
especially its clients, customers, partners, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
The key technologies are communication and collaboration technologies that are web based for
internet and intranet usage, as well as mobile technologies such as PDA’s, PC’s, telephone and
videoconferencing. New technologies are rapidly emerging that act as intelligent agents and
assistants to search, summarise, conceptualise and recognise patterns of information and
knowledge.
For an effective KM initiative across the organisation, there needs to be in place, at least:

 Knowledge Portal
There is often confusion between the terms ‘information portal’ and ‘knowledge portal’. An
information portal is often described as a gateway to information to enable the user to have
one, more simplified way of navigating towards the desired information. However a
‘knowledge portal’ is far more than an information portal because, as well as information
navigation and access, it contains within it software technologies to, at least, support the
processes of virtual team communication and collaboration and software technologies to
support the 9 step process of managing knowledge. Furthermore, it contains intelligent agent
software to identify and automatically distribute information and knowledge effectively to
knowledge workers based on knowledge profiling.
 Knowledge Profiles
Within the knowledge portal, each knowledge worker can update and maintain a personal
‘knowledge profile’ which identifies his/her specific knowledge needs, areas of interest and
frequency of distribution.
 Collaborative workspaces
Within the knowledge portal, shared work spaces can be set up for each new team or
project. These will become knowledge repositories from which new knowledge will be
distilled regularly and systematically and shared across other teams in the organisation.
Within the shared and collaborative workspace, at least, the following communication and
collaboration functions could be performed:
 ▪ Shared vision and mission ▪ Specific team objectives ▪ Knowledge Plan ▪ Team members
roles and responsibilities ▪ Team contract ▪ Best Knowledge Bases or Banks ▪ Expert locator
▪ Task management ▪ Shared Calendar management ▪ Meeting management ▪ Document
libraries ▪ Discussion forums ▪ Centralised email ▪ Capturing of new learnings and ideas ▪
Peer reviews, learning reviews, after action reviews ▪ New knowledge nominations
 Urgent requests
Within the knowledge portal, it is very useful to have a facility and underlying process to
enter any ‘Urgent Request’ into the portal and receive back any responses from across the
organisation. Rather than needing to know ‘who might know’ the request is entered blindly
and responses will be made if it is known in the organisation and people are willing to
support and respond to this activity. This is a very effective way of better leveraging the
knowledge across the organisation.
 Document Libraries
The document library is typically the location where all documents are stored. The library
should be context relative and allow the ease of control over any document type. Many
organisations now employ an Electronic Document and Records Management System
(EDRMS) for this requirements but the integration of the EDRMS with all other relevant
information and knowledge sources is imperative.

▪ Knowledge Server and services

Knowledge management (KM) technology can be categorised:

 Groupware—Software that facilitates collaboration and sharing of organisational information.

Such applications provide tools for threaded discussions, document sharing, organisation-wide
uniform email, and other collaboration-related features.
 Workflow systems—Systems that allow the representation of processes associated with the
creation, use and maintenance of organisational knowledge, such as the process to create and
utilise forms and documents.
 Content management and document management systems—Software systems that automate
the process of creating web content and/or documents. Roles such as editors, graphic
designers, writers and producers can be explicitly modeled along with the tasks in the process
and validation criteria. Commercial vendors started either to support documents or to support
web content but as the Internet grew these functions merged and vendors now perform both
functions.
 Enterprise portals—Software that aggregates information across the entire organisation or for
groups such as project teams.
 eLearning—Software that enables organisations to create customised training and education.
This can include lesson plans, monitoring progress and online classes.
 Planning and scheduling software—Software that automates schedule creation and
maintenance. The planning aspect can integrate with project management software.[22]
 Telepresence—Software that enables individuals to have virtual "face-to-face" meetings without
assembling at one location. Videoconferencing is the most obvious example.
These categories overlap. Workflow, for example, is a significant aspect of a content or document
management systems, most of which have tools for developing enterprise portals.

In order to foster knowledge networking across the entire organisation and support knowledge
processes for creating, retaining, leveraging, reusing, measuring and optimising the use of the
organisational knowledge assets, a centralised knowledge server is required that will:
▪ manage the communications and collaboration between networks of people
▪ enable the access, creation and sharing of knowledge between them
The centralised knowledge server will manage the processes and knowledge services that generate
and disseminate knowledge assets.
The key components of a generic knowledge server are:
 a knowledge portal interface designed around a knowledge asset schema (see KM
consulting section) as a gateway to user access, security and applications
 Knowledge banks
 Advanced search capabilities ▪ collaboration services ▪ search and discovery services ▪
publishing services based on user knowledge needs and knowledge profiling ▪ a knowledge
map (taxonomy) ▪ knowledge repository for information and process management ▪ Text
summarising and conceptualising ▪ Intelligent agentware ▪ an Intranet infrastructure for
integrated email, file servers, internet/intranet services
 Knowledge Bases (Banks)
 For each key knowledge area identified, there needs to be a Knowledge Base.
 A Knowledge Base contains:

 both structured and unstructured discussion forums

 rich ‘knowledge objects’ that have been designed for the efficient and effective transfer of
knowledge using multimedia, video, audio
 embedded communications theory (eg storytelling)

KM processes to:
  critically review knowledge nominations and turn them into improved knowledge
 automatically find and publish knowledge to users according to users knowledge profiles
 transfer knowledge effectively

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Emerging issues in Business Intelligence

1. Business Intelligence Is Costly

Spending plans and assets have always been tight, particularly for small businesses. This is not
true anymore with the arrival of SSBI stages. The cost of conveying BI is an essential worry
among SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises). SMEs are debilitated by the restrictive
expenses of gaining the correct programming. Today, a few stages make SSBI open to small
businesses without expecting anybody to spend a significant amount of money. Likewise,
constrained assets mean searching for qualified experts. For a small business, you should pick BI
merchants that offer adaptable arrangements with insignificant TCO. These impediments are
exacerbated by stress over costly framework speculations expected from BI programming. With
the ascent of SSBI stages, cost doesn't need to be a business intelligence challenge.

2. Absence of Execution and Training

Many times, organizations have all-around enunciated necessities, a sound BI system, and a
decent apparatus arrangement, but still need specialized abilities. Another factor that has
influenced SMEs to get some distance from BI is the apparent requirement for broad training.
The reasons for the absence of execution frequently are different and fluctuated, similar to its
cures. This has required extra training in data administration applications. Associations should
spotlight understanding their assets, why a BI service is required, and the advantages of a BI
solution. Maybe the main training you require is getting comfortable with the visual interface
after you pick the correct BI stage. Associations should spend shrewdly on progressing training
so that clients see how to utilize the framework. This should not be an issue since better spry BI
stages offer a greatly usable, point-and-snap interface.

3. Absence of BI Impact (Low Use)

Administration will ask why there is no change in business after adopting BI and might feel that
business estimations of BI speculations are not caught. Incoherent BI hones and fizzles all-
inclusive reception and is a key business intelligence challenge. This shows that the organization
isn't using the BI service as a standard with worldwide norms and best practices. It's basic to
pick up the purchase from all partners at an early stage in the process to get everybody in
agreement. This is because administrators are misty on how their organization could profit
from BI. To do this, you'll need to build up an arrangement of business prerequisites and
objectives. Administration will be unable to utilize data in the framework and may not know
that it even exists. There might be pushback. At a small business, a data culture may not exist
yet. They may even force the subsidizing and spend that money elsewhere. Divisions might be
demoralized by an absence of time, data insight, and assets, and being far from choosing a BI
solution. They may not see that the costs exceed the advantages.

4. Unstructured Data of Business Intelligence

Businesses may put resources into enormous data investigation but can't finish the assignments
in time. Entrepreneurs are swinging to imaginative BI devices to address this business
intelligence issue. They may result in individuals investing hours in cleaning and organizing the
data first and after that, utilizing the BI service. These instruments can undoubtedly blend
distinctive datasets on-the-fly without the need to rebuild databases or set up a data
distribution center. A BI service could be stacked with programmed ETL abilities to process
datasets that should be rebuilt. This permits small businesses to interface all their data sources,
see past the numbers, find new connections, and recognize patterns to remove the mystery
from critical business choices.

5. Deployment and Installation

An excruciating BI service establishment and organization would be hard to keep up.
Associations rush to gauge money-related measurements; yet, lamentably, they regularly stop
there. Indeed, even a spontaneous and hurried solution would be regularly unsuccessful. While
these measurements are essential, they are frequently estimated toward the end of the year or
quarter and are responsive in nature. They can recognize business issues and instead of hoping
to tackle every business issue at the same time, they can attempt to organize particular results
they need to accomplish. By and by, they are essential to gauge and take account of; however,
SMEs should screen more. They can fathom the issues sequentially until the point that they
have incrementally tackled all of the issues on the rundown and afterward consider executing a
BI service. This is the place a far-reaching BI design adds to an association's prosperity. It is
imperative that an extensive variety of fitting KPIs are utilized to gauge advance and execution.

6.Lack of BI strategy

Organizations should proactively define the problems they trying to solve. Only then
they will be able to identify the right Business Intelligence solution that will suit their
requirements. This is because once BI is implemented, executives should know the pros
and cons of the solution they are using and how the solution could add value to them.
Hence devising a strategy before adopting a solution is very important as confusion may
lead to the failure of the adoption. Attempting BI without the fundamental
preconditions for success in place is likely to be frustrating, painful, costly, and destined
to fail.

A good practice would be to go for assessment and review the existing business
processes. This will help to gather critical requirements necessary for laying out a proper
roadmap and devise overall Business Intelligence and Data Management strategy. This
should be followed by a Proof of Concept (PoC) to validate the solution and create a
business case.

7.Business Intelligence when you don’t know how to code

Now a days, executives find it difficult to access the right data at right time. And even if they do
find what they’re looking for, data formats are typically so complex and unstructured it’s hard
to find out meaningful and relevant data. Now unless they are using Excel extensively, they
probably would not get much satisfaction (or value) from their BI system.

A good practice would be to replace Excel Sheets with intuitive dashboards to make data more
engaging, meaningful and eventually very powerful. Hence for this a BI Solution should provide
the ability to create advanced filters and calculations all without coding. A self-service business
intelligence solution enables executives to create customized reports in no time with little
involvement of IT once the entire solution is implemented.

8.Lack of training & execution

Many a times, companies might have well-articulated requirements, a sound BI strategy, and a
good tool solution, but lack technical skills like designing, building, maintaining, and supporting
BI applications. This results in BI applications to run slowly, break frequently, deliver uncertain
results and eventually leading to rising cost of using the BI solution. The causes of lack of
execution often are multiple and varied, as are its remedies.

Organizations should more focus on helping to understand their resources why is a BI solution
needed and the benefits of a BI Solution as well. Resources should be in line with the executives
on the gains that they can get by the use of their newly adopted BI Technology. Organizations
should spend wisely on providing ongoing training, so that users understand how to use the
system.

9.Lack of BI impact (Low utilization)

Management might always wonder why there is no change in business results attributable to BI
and might feel that business value of BI investments not captured. This indicates that the
organization is not utilizing the BI solution at par with global standards and best practices. This
is because executives are unclear on how their company could benefit from BI. Management
may not be able to use information in the system and even may not be aware that it even exist.
As a result, they are not satisfied with what investments in BI have yielded the organization,
and therefore are reluctant to approve any additional funding for BI. They might even pull the
funding, and spend that budget somewhere else.
What should matter to executive is how they use data and how accessible the data is in order
to do something with it. It’s time for business intelligence implementations to stop relying on
dull, uninspired pivot tables and spreadsheets and start presenting data in compelling visuals
that are easy to understand and loaded with insight.

In such case, Executives and the BI Solution they are using to stop relying on spread sheets and
start using actual BI to present the data intuitively. This will enable BI to unlock the full value of
the data it gathers and deliver the desired ROI.

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10.Business Intelligence with unstructured data

Most of the times data is unstructured for BI to analyze. This lead to a problem when users
need to perform simple BI Processes. Businesses may invest in big data analytics but cannot
complete the tasks in time. They may result to people spending hours on cleaning and
structuring the data first and then using the BI solution.

A BI solution which could be loaded with automatic ETL capabilities to process data sets that
need to be restructured will be a real solution here. This will enable users to create a single
source as well as a front-end with data visualization capabilities. Ideally, the back-end of the
solution would be able to manipulate the data for it to be analyzed in the front-end. Hence, the
front-end will then allow users to visualize data in dashboards, reports and graphs.

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semi-structured, and structured data. To know how this can help your business, click here

11.Installation and deployment

A painful BI solution installation and deployment would be difficult to maintain. Even an

unplanned & rushed deployment would be unsuccessful so often. Doing this may leave users
void with time to understand the system and develop the skills using the solution effectively.

Executives can take a step by step approach to implement a BI solution. They can make a list
identifying business problems and rather than expecting to solve every business problem all at
once, they can try to prioritize specific outcomes they want to achieve. They can solve the
issues consecutively until they have incrementally solved all the problems on the list and then
think of implementing a BI solution