Results tagged “wikis” from KM Edge: Where the best in Knowledge Management come together

What is it we want out of knowledge management implementations?

• We want organic growth of information, but we also want an "official version."
• We want to promote innovation and open usage, but we cannot risk exposing proprietary intellectual property.
• We want fast, intranet-based tools, but we don't want to spend money.
• We want everything in beta, but the tools still need to be stable.
• We want free-flowing information, but without negatively impacting legal, e-discovery, or litigation.
• We want integration with large legacy systems, but we also want low implementation costs.
• We want grassroots adoption, but with executive sponsorship.
• We want to increase KM effectiveness, but with little or no additional funding.

Ok, I'm sure you get the point.  I think we've all faced these tradeoffs--and many more--when undertaking KM implementations. We've preached for many years, "Integrate everything and get it out at the right time to the right users." But solving this dilemma has been elusive at best.

In Carla's latest blog post, she writes: "A year ago, I thought wikis would be the workhorses of Web 2.0, but it seems that the allure of social networking and blogging is winning out." That may be true--who am I to argue with Carla!--but I have noticed an uptick in the buzz around enterprise wikis recently.

Earlier this month, The New York Times wrote about Diplopedia, the U.S. Department of State's internal wiki, and how it's changing the way things get done at the organization. By providing specific examples of the information that can be found on Diplopedia--everything from biographies of political figures to instructions on how to get food delivered to the main State Department building--the NYT article demonstrates how a well-administered wiki can save employees time, facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge, and encourage collaboration.  

McKinsey & Co. has just released its second annual survey on Web 2.0 usage and satisfaction, "Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise: McKinsey Global Survey Results." The two big stories from this global survey of almost 2000 executives are the expanded use of Web 2.0 tools (wikis, blogs, social networking) for knowledge sharing and collaboration, and the bipolar acceptance and satisfaction with these tools.

Organizations report using these tools to manage knowledge (83 percent), foster collaboration across the company (78 percent), enhance company culture (74 percent), train (71 percent), and develop products and services (67 percent). No surprises there. But I am pleasantly surprised--and maybe a little skeptical--about the reported internal penetration. According to the survey, about one in four employees in these companies now use Web 2.0 tools, with a higher level of usage in companies that integrate the tools into workflows, launch Web 2.0 along with other initiatives, and get senior managers to act as role models. 

Jon Husband studies the impacts of IT and the Web on the design and dynamics of knowledge work and is a co-author of Making Knowledge Work--The Arrival of Web 2.0 (you can read his bio here). On March 9, Jon posted "For All Those Who Have Said Blogging Was Just A Fad... " on the FASTForward Blog. Here's an excerpt of his comments on the effect of blogs and wikis inside organizations:

The spread of the use of wikis and blogs into the world of enterprises began being considered not long after the rise of blogging as a sociological phenomenon, and made clear the different dynamics and structural impediments that would be encountered as the tools and services spread into the organizational environment. Humans spend a lot of their time communicating with each other ... always have done, and always will do so. And wikis and blogs make it easier to do so in an interlinked environment in which humans use integrated information systems, keyboards and computer screens and software to enable their communications.

Go to the FASTForward Blog to read more.