Applications

©   Fred Nickols  2000

1. Call Centers. Making customer questions and complaints as well as appropriate responses to these questions and complaints available to customer service representatives via intelligent terminals on a real-time basis. As individuals craft new responses to complaints or uncover new problems, these can be made available to all almost immediately.
2. Communities of Practice (CoPs).  These usually small and typically informal groups are the chief means by which tacit know-how is communicated.  More important, they are also the chief means by which much organizational knowledge is created.  For these reasons, many companies are seeking to encourage and support the formation of CoPs.
3. Competitive Intelligence Databases. Capturing business intelligence and using software to examine, analyze, sort, and route ("push") or make available ("pull") selected information to targeted users.
4. Corporate Electronic Library. Moving libraries on-line facilitates and broadens access. Only one person can access a book or other printed documents; the number of people who can access an electronic version is not nearly so limited. In this way, access to knowledge is enhanced.
5. Corporate University. Some companies, notably Motorola, are responding to the need for speed in knowledge diffusion by establishing their own universities for that purpose. The educational establishment is seen by many as moving too slowly on this front.
6. Customer Intelligence Databases. At HP, an "electronic sales partner" provides technical product information, sales presentations, sales and marketing tactics and customer account information to the field sales force. A similar database was used internally for HP trainers.
7. Data Mining. Search protocol software for finding patterns in extremely large databases, especially of customer or supplier transaction data. These patterns then suggest new approaches, needs or problems.
8. Data Warehouses. A central repository for a company’s transaction data.
9. Distance Learning. Many companies are setting up distance learning facilities using intranets and the Internet. These support continuing learning on the part of employees.
10. Document Sharing. Team-based work situations where document sharing is important (e.g., proposal writing). Sharing also fosters better and broader understanding throughout the team.
11. Document Handling. Moving around documents and information extracted from documents without having to resort to physically moving paper (e.g., using imaging and scanning to route loan or insurance applications to loan officers or underwriters).
12. Expert Networks. Using videoconferencing, BPX (British Petroleum’s exploration unit) is able to tie together networks of experts for use in solving problems all around the world. These kinds of networks can also be supported via simple e-mail and slightly more complex discussion lists on company intranets.
13. Help Desk. Similar to the Call Center example above. Again, the idea is to get current, relevant information quickly to the people who can use it.
14. Patent Leasing. Dow Chemical is leveraging its knowledge base by leasing patents.
15. "Pull" Applications. Knowledge and information is accessed as required (e.g., the search of a company’s best practices database for marketing ideas).
16. "Push" Applications. Captured knowledge and information is automatically distributed to recipients (e.g., automated analyses of competitor intelligence).
17. Reuse of Engineering Designs. Hughes is having great luck with this. A similar innovation is occurring at Educational Testing Service where item "templates" are short-circuiting test item development time. Test developer knowledge is being captured in the form of the template, not individual effort.
18. Sharing of Best Practices. Similar to the reuse of engineering designs above, but focused on practices, not designs.
19. Technical Thesaurus. Teltech, a Minneapolis company, creates and updates daily a database of technical terms. Why? Customers and Teltech’s experts don’t always use the same terms. The Thesaurus is beginning to bridge that gap.
20. Tracking Purchase Patterns. Amazon.com, the web-based bookseller watches very closely who buys what. If people who buy book A are also buying books B and C, when customer Smith orders any of the three books, the other two will be recommended also.
21. Visualization. As more and more data are being subjected to storage and analysis, presenting the findings of searches in ways that are immediately helpful calls for innovation in presentation. Many companies are experimenting with visualization software, some of which present the results of database searches in 3-D format (see the InfoWeek articles by Justin Hibbard referenced in the KM Articles section).
22. War Games. War games and scenarios are being used as a means of flushing out and capturing tacit knowledge.

Consultant Karl-Erik Sveiby has compiled a list of 40 KnowledgeManagement Applications.

Beyond these applications lie the companies who co-created or make best use of them - the exemplars.

Go to KM Exemplars

Fred Nickols may be reached by e-mail at nickols@att.net.

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This page last updated on September 5, 2004