Update from Stephanie
Hi, Sorry I haven’t posted anything in so long, I guess I have been busy with a project and business development and I actually fit some vacation in for the first time in 3.5 years. Why don’t I tell you about a couple of things I’m working on? I am going to be doing a course at the iSchool at the University of Toronto on March 2, 2012. The course is called How to Align People, Process, and Technology for Knowledge Management Success and is based on my Ark Group report from last year. An automated checklist to assess where to get started with your knowledge management initiative. This is still in development, but we’re expecting to release it in the next few months. We’ll be beta-testing it in a few weeks and already have some small organizations lined-up for that phase. I’ll share more about this initiative in the future. I’ve also seen a couple of technology platforms that are quite interesting, not that KM is about the technology, but knowledge is social and these are two social knowledge management platforms. The first is Vedalis and the second is SpeechBobble, and if you consider that knowledge management is about connecting people to … Continue reading
Knowledge Management Training and Technology
This past week I attended the CKM training in Toronto, hosted by the Knowledge Management Institute and Knowledge Management Institute Canada. I attended, not because I felt I needed training (although I don’t have enough ego to think that I know it all, I have been doing KM for 12+ years, and certainly know a lot) but because I was curious to hear about their model and their approach. KMI has trained over 4,000 people worldwide over the last 10 years so they are onto something. Just to backtrack for a minute, I come to KM from a technology perspective, because that is how I first came to KM. The processes and people part of KM are absolutely necessary and critical, and are the hardest part of KM, but technology enables it all, and poorly designed and implemented KM technology is the death knell for KM in a lot of organizations. Okay, so back to my training. I did training with APQC when I was first getting going with KM when I was at Hewlett Packard, it was what was available to me at the time. It talked about the phases of KM implementation and how to mature KM in the … Continue reading
Benefits of Knowledge Management Consulting
Someone just asked me what the benefits of my consulting are, I liked my answer so much I had to put it someplace where other people would see it (okay, I’m patting myself on the back). The benefits of the consulting that I do is the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge workers through the alignment of supporting technology to their business processes.
Knoco May Newsletter
The Knoco May newsletter on business focused KM is out, http://lnkd.in/9rwyPS. Lots of practical information on implementing KM, there’s an archive of previous newsletters here http://www.knoco.com/knowledge-management-news.htm
Aligning People, Process and Technology in KM, published
Ark Group has published my report, Aligning People, Process and Technology in KM. The Executive Summary and a sample chapter are on their website http://www.ikmagazine.com/xq/asp/pubid.5694CBB6-DAAF-4082-85BB-8F8D5AE6C6A5/qx/Publication.htm
Upcoming Ark Group Report: Navigating the Knowledge Management Technology Maze
As those of you who have spoken to me in the last 6 months will know, I have been busy writing a report for Ark Group, it will be published later in the spring, here’s a sneak-peak of what I’ve been working on and why I haven’t posted anything on this blog for so many months. Navigating the Knowledge Management Technology Maze Knowledge Management may be a familiar term to many, but how many individuals actually understand the technology side of KM? What do all the platforms do, why one is better suited to particular business needs and objectives than another? The vendors aren’t going to tell you, they want you to buy their platform and customize it. What are the benefits that choosing the right KM technology platform can bring to a business? Many will think of the selection process as strictly technology focused, but there are a plethora of human, organisational, leadership and process elements that must also be taken into account. Selecting the right technology and implementing it successfully are key to realising the true benefits of KM. In a climate of severe competition, limited resources and pressure on performance and profitability, organisations would do well to … Continue reading
Business-IT Alignment
Okay, so this isn’t a post about Knowledge Management, but it’s an issue that reared it’s ugly head recently in a KM context, so I’m going to blog about it. What happens when IT loses sight of the user? You might hear comments like, “it’s only one more click,” or “your configuration isn’t supported, and we won’t give you one that is (so suck it up and live with it).” Two things I have heard that have made my blood boil, because I was being asked to do something and IT, in my opinion, was making it as difficult as possible for me to do that. IT, in my opinion, is supposed to support the business, enable users to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, not make it so difficult that users don’t do what’s been asked of them. This is why there is often such a combative relationship between business and IT. Business wants quick, efficient, effective ways of meeting the organization’s objectives, and IT wants to maximize standardization? reduce cost? do what’s easiest for them? There has to be a middle ground where business needs are met and standards and costs are not disregarded, it just might … Continue reading
Knoco.ca
Just a quick blog post to let everyone know that I am now the Canadian Franchisee for Knoco Ltd., www.knoco.com. Knoco is a Knowledge Management consultancy based in the U.K. and with franchises in South Africa, USA, India, and Indonesia, as well as training partners in Spain. They offer KM people and process consulting, and training. I am excited by the opportunities that this expansion in my network and services will bring. You will see some changes to my website over the next while, although my Missing Puzzle Piece Consulting branding will remain unchanged and I will continue to do the business-IT alignment work in the KM domain that I have always done.
Canada 3.0, continuing the theme
I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week (June 8-9) at Canada 3.0 www.canada30.uwaterloo.ca, which was an amazing experience. Sitting in a room with 1000 people who want to see Canada move forward and be a leader in the digital media space was energizing and motivating and if you’ve spoken to me in the last few days you know that I can’t say enough good things about my experience there and that I want to get involved and help move this forward.
