Knowledge Management

 
As businesses increasingly become knowledge-based, their most valuable assets become more and more intangible, instead of being physical assets, such as plant and machinery. The most valuable assets of modern companies is likely to be based on IP such as:
 
  • Customer relationships
  • Customer knowledge
  • Business process methodologies
  • Niche market domain knowledge
  • Software
  • Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Copyrights
  • Trade secrets
  • Supplier relationships
  • Certifications
  • Slick systems
  • Relevant experience
  • Knowledge bases
 
Typically much of this IP is not codified or documented, it is held in employees' brains. If it is documented, it is typically held in disparate systems and documents in a very ad-hoc manner.
 
This is plainly not an ideal way to manage and safeguard a company's most valuable assets.
 
Knowledge Management systems enable an organisation to manage this information in a structured logical manner.
 

Metadata

 
By adding metadata to all types of documents (including e-mail) Knowledge Management brings structure to the data. This metadata can be added automatically, such as which customer the document relates to; some may be added manually, but because the categories may be defined system-wide, this is much more reliable and consistent than folders on a file share. Also folders are one dimensional, in Knowledge Management there is no limit to the number of dimensions that may be used.
 

Example of metadata's power

 
Consider a firm of solicitors which handles multiple types of legal work: criminal, contract, employment, property, etc.
A legal executive working on the conveyancing of a property for a customer would probably file the final contract document as follows:

Traditional File Share :

G:\Customers\Joe Bloggs\ Final Contract 123 Cardiff Rd.docx

Knowledge Worker / Knowledge Store - possible metadata tags:

  • Customer Surname: Bloggs
  • Customer 1st Name: Joe
  • Customer ID: JBLOGGS01 (Link to much more info, birthday address etc)
  • Property Address Post Code: CF23 5AW
  • Property Address Street, No: Cardiff Rd, 123
  • Property Address Town: Cardiff
  • Completion date: 21/03/07
  • Partner responsible: Mr Big Cheese
  • Completed by: Junior Joe
  • Bank ID: HSBC
  • Vendor ID: TDHARRY01
  • Surveyor ID: TLAIR03
  • Mortgage Lender ID: NROCK
  • Mortgage Number: 3213213213
  • Deposit Value: 20,000.00
  • Property Value: 220,000.00
  • Partner Time: 01.50
  • Legal Executive Time: 06.30
  • Secretarial Time: 02.30
  • Fees Value: 2,525.00
  • Disbursements Value: 457.23
 
 
Thinking about the above is it hopefully patently obvious that organising documents with metadata attached is a far more powerful method, than using a flat file structure.
 
In the above metadata example, it is possible for the legal firm to far more easily find, share and analyse information, as well as bring structure and value to the information so that it becomes company knowledge.