Cnik - Knowledge, Intranet, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Glasgow

What is Knowledge?

Knowledge Management was all the rage a few years ago but the phrase is now not so fashionable; so is it still beneficial and what is its applicability to a small or medium sized business? Knowledge is really the difference between you and your competitors in the work you do, it is your competitive advantage, and it is contained in the heads of the people within your business.

So what is the difference between Knowledge and Information? There are a number of different explanations by the various experts in the different fields of study but in the simplest form Information is an assembled form or translation of data that can be written down and does not need a person present to remain as it is, it can be duplicated, emailed or read by equipment or persons that do not understand its meaning. Knowledge needs a person present in order for it to exist; it is the sum of information, experience and practice; it cannot always be explained and it cannot necessarily be written down.

If we take car driving as an example: You can soak up all the information you want before getting behind the wheel, you can read books on driving skill, the highway code, talk to experienced drivers, watch your parents, and play at driving on a games console but when you first get behind the wheel, can you drive? The knowledge of how to drive comes from that information combined with the practice and experience of actually driving. When, years later, something jumps out on you and you somehow avoid them by steering, braking and controlling the car all in one movement, and you think "how on earth did I avoid that". That is Knowledge working for you.

So can we Manage Knowledge? Some theorists would say not, however most believe there are methods that can be used to create an environment where Knowledge could be created, grown, stored, used, transferred and retained. We cannot force Knowledge Transfer to take place although we can put processes and systems in place to enhance the environment in which knowledge is brought into an organisation, how it is created within the organisation, how it is transferred within the organisation, and how it is retained within the organisation. If knowledge is vital to anorganisation then its' management must be approached as a vital business priority.

Communication is one of the fundamental parts of managing knowledge within a business; without good communications there is no point going any further with a knowledge management initiative. Some of the tools that can be used to aid communications within the business and therefore aid the creation of an environment where knowledge could be managed are listed below. Each will reach some of the members of the business but each person has their own preferred method of communicating so it is likely that a range of methods will be needed to reach as many staff as possible. Cnik can help you with considering, preparing, planning, implementing and reviewing any of these basic tools or any more detailed consideration of a Knowledge Management initiative. Please contact Cnik for further information.

Intranets
Staff Directory (Who's who?)
Staff Newsletter
Knowledge Bank / Transfer / Retention / Exchange
Document Management

Intranets

Intranets are becoming a standard feature with most organisations especially when the organisation has more than one location or different offices within the same location. An Intranet is essentially a communications tool that is accessed via a web browser over the company network and can be used as a central place to find or start looking for information. The implementation of an Intranet can be completed at very low cost especially if your organisation is already using Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 which both come with a built-in Intranet capability using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The technology isn't particularly important to the success of an Intranet as long as the information is relevant, well formatted, regularly updated, easily updated and easily accessed.

Staff Directory

A staff directory forms part of a knowledge management system in that it enables searching and finding of staff with particular knowledge, experiences, skills or interests. If the staff directory is populated with relevant details about the experiences, qualifications and interests of staff members then other staff looking for someone with a certain set of attributes or knowledge can search the staff directory to find them. It communicates the information to the person looking for it. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) is one of the products that can provide this functionality and it can be implemented as part of an Intranet or Portal.

Staff Newsletter

A staff newsletter can form an important part of a company's information strategy. Many organisations will think a printed newsletter as old school but depending on the structure of a particular organisation a newsletter can still be very beneficial. Particularly where there are staff members that log onto PCs rarely or only to conduct brief functions on a computer, a regular company newsletter can aid both a feeling of membership and involvement with the organisation. Newsletters are also often taken out of the office and read on the train home or taken home and read by family members and this can be an asset to an organisation. Much of the information in a newsletter can be similar to the general communications part of an Intranet but written at a different level of detail or with different time based focus. Cnik can assist an organisation with the assembly, editing and distribution of a company newsletter so please contact us for more information.

Knowledge Bank / Transfer / Retention / Exchange

These subjects are often thought to be the same or similar with their terms being used interchangeably by some people. They are of course quite different subjects although they are all part of a integrated knowledge management system. Often these are the more difficult tasks to achieve, and indeed many experts in the theoretical knowledge management field dispute that they can be achieved in a beneficial way by most business although we believe valuable and worth while steps can be taken in each subject. One of the available tools for trying to cultivate a Knowledge Bank which also assists with Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Retention, and Knowledge Exchange, is the 'Wiki' feature in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). It functions on a similar principle to the popular Wikipedia Internet service which is like an encyclopaedia but can be added to online by any contributor with entries being approved by peer review. A contributor creates a entry on a particular subject and other members of staff can then revue the entry and add details or suggest amendments to the entry. Over a period of time with good management a bank of knowledge is built up that is qualified and added to by the experts within the organisation, thus making that knowledge available to other current members of staff or new members of staff. Cnik can assist with setting up this facility and implementing MOSS 2007.

Document Management

A Document Management system can be seen as part of a knowledge system. Written documents provide and communicate information and have often been developed using the expert knowledge of the author. Policies and procedures developed, reviewed, authorised and published within an organisation will be developed using the experiences and knowledge of the team that produces them. They will be an information source to the reader and will not contain knowledge but once combined with the experiences of the reader, can assist in the creation of knowledge within the user. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) both provide Document Management functionality as part of their core capabilities.

Knowledge is the difference between you and your competitors; it is the uniqueness of the training, education, and above all the thoughts and experiences of your staff.