As budgets for the DoD and other government agencies are reduced in 2012, different  technologies will be requested by these agencies to augment reduced workforces.  For one example, the term “Knowledge Management” is starting to appear in more RFIs and RFPs as a technology that will be widely implemented.  This term can have many meanings depending on the application and effort.  Wikipedia defines Knowledge Management  as :

“A range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences.   Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizations as processes or practices.”

Knowledge management is implemented within organizations to capture knowledge in order to move the group’s efforts forward, or, in other words, to preserve, retain, and further develop ideas in an automated manner. 

The most popular Knowledge Management tool currently being implemented is an intranet within a company as a method for exchanging data.  Intranets provide easy access to important information needed to perform daily work functions.  Another tool in use is data warehouses and knowledge retention repositories that serve as internal knowledge sources supporting corporate functions.  The existence of these repositories enables the use of automated decision support tools.  When these tools are combined with this knowledge, corporate decisions may be made automatically with little or no manual intervention.  Also, this new wealth of information has enabled smaller, innovative companies are launching new knowledge-based products and services to lead the technology forward.

However, with every technological improvement, there are impediments.  Knowledge retention creates instant access to massive amounts of data, causing chronic information overload (too much information at your fingertips).  How do you organize all of it so that it is useful?  Also, how do you filter relevant from irrelevant information (i.e. the important from the unimportant)?  These are issues that will continue to be addressed as this technology develops.

Future Knowledge Management trends include a variety of applications.  One initial trend will be the shifting of an ever-increasing amount of workflow from manual methods to automated methods.  Automated workflow will integrate access to required knowledge at will from internal sources, partners, and suppliers, reducing research time for information to support certain tasks.  Also, the use of social networks will increase the usefulness of Knowledge Management.  The analysis of work and knowledge flow through informal patterns will provide insights into “invisible” organizational structures.  Automated support of these networks will enhance the effectiveness of informal connections and increase productivity.  In addition, high-value collaboration will be increased between individual groups, departments, and business partners regardless of location or time zone.  This collaboration will improve corporate results.  Also, relevance analysis will be used to profile useful processes.  Collaborative filtering will aggregate insights and discoveries from like-minded employees, and in the future, from machines themselves

Thanks for reading.  Please post your comments and questions.   And if you have a future tech topic that you like to hear about, please let me know.  Talk to you next month –

Karen McCann, PMP, AM.APMP

Future Technology Blogger, APMP Newsletter