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Introduction
I recently used Google to search on "knowledge management" and turned up more
than 2 million hits. A search using "KM" turned up almost 7 million hits. I
doubt there are 2 million unique KM sites, let alone 7 million, but you get the point: A
search for knowledge management (KM) web sites on the Internet will turn up more hits than
you can possibly look through. These sites range from small ones operated by individuals
with an interest in KM to the large, elaborate sites of corporations that have a vested
interest in KM. Moreover, these sites come and go, even some the larger ones.
Further, the sites that remain are often reorganized.
- Example: When I first prepared a KM Briefing Book for a client in
May of 1998, one of the largest and best KM web sites was at Stanford University.
That site, which was operated by a graduate student, is defunct now that the grad student
has moved on.
- Example: When the KM Briefing Book was first prepared, a couple
of the better KM web sites were operated by individuals. These, too, have
disappeared.
The Web reflects the fast-paced, quickly-changing nature of knowledge-based industries,
commerce, and companies. The web sites listed below should be viewed as
representative samples and as gateways on a much large world-wide web of KM sites.
Four categories of web sites are provided: General Purpose, Consulting, People-Centered
and Publications-Centered. Although they have been grouped or categorized to make
browsing easier, not one of these sites falls cleanly into a single category. There
is also some duplication with other sections of this KM site (e.g., the consultants are
listed below and on the consultants page).
General Purpose
Sites Consulting Company Sites
People-Centered
Sites Publications-Centered Sites
- The Delphi Group - Global Thought
Leaders for Business and IT. This site is home to Thomas Koulopoulos and Carl
Frappolo, the founders and principals of The Delphi Group. Originally focused on document
management and process work flows, Delphi has become one of the biggest players in the
burgeoning KM industry. A list of KM conferences can be found here, too.
- International Knowledge Management Network.
This site is located in the Netherlands. It can be difficult to navigate because the pages
switch back and forth between English and Dutch with no warning. However, it does
contain some useful information about KM training and education opportunities.
- KNOWLEDGE On-line.
This is a UK site. It offers some useful links, some not found on other
sites.
- KM Resources. This site is
hosted by Access Systems, a consulting company. However, it contains many, many KM
resources and very little in the way of self-promotion. Consequently, it has been
included here instead of on the Consultants page. Most of the links to articles are
to articles on the CIO web site. Nevertheless, they
are relevant and useful.
- Smith Weaver Smith KM Resources.
The word on this site is links, link and more links. Several categories of
links are provided and each of these contains several links. A good starting point
for the KM explorer.
- Teleos - Knowledge Business.
This is another general purpose KM web site and an extremely good one. It
provides several categories of resources (e.g., news, guides, conferences, reviews, links,
etc.). Each category operates based on parameters you set (e.g., categories of
books, or time frames for conferences and so on). The review section alone contains
61 reviews of KM related books. It is a more sophisticated web site than @BRINT but
it does not yet have the breadth of resources found on @BRINT.
- University of Southern California
Knowledge Management. Thanks to a $150 million grant from Ambassador Walter
Annenberg, USC has been able to establish a highly successful business incubator where
start-up businesses are being spawned. One by-product of this incubator is an
extensive set of KM related resources. This page provides access to those resources.
The original site for this link has been folded into USC's digital commerce center.
- University of Texas Knowledge
Management Home Page. This is one of the better known and well-traveled KM web
sites around. It has a KM FAQ (frequently asked questions), a glossary, reviews of
KM-related products and service offerings, and an extensive publications list.
Recent years have seen a surging interest in knowledge management on the part of
corporate America. This has been accompanied by a corresponding expansion in
consulting firms claiming to offer KM consulting services. Some of this can be
attributed to "jumping on the bandwagon," however, the large consulting firms
are themselves making considerable investments in knowledge management. On the face
of it this makes good sense because it would be difficult to find a company that is more
knowledge-intensive and more in need of managing and leveraging its intellectual capital
than a consulting firm. As a consequence, the web sites of some of the large
consulting firms offer a wealth of KM resources. The richest web sites are briefly
described below. Links to the sites are provided as well. All these sites are
searchable and using "knowledge management" or "intellectual capital"
(in quotes) will turn up numerous articles, papers and other resources. The Booz
Allen site also displays brief bio statements of consultants possessing expertise in
various aspects of knowledge management.
Accenture is one of the leading consulting firms with respect to knowledge management,
both in terms of offering KM services to its clients and in applying its KM know-how to
itself. The Ideas link on its home page leads to a wealth of resources. Like
many of the large consulting firms, Accenture publishes a newsletter: Outlook.
Outlook contains some useful and readable KM articles.
Booz Allen, best known as a strategy and technology consulting firm, is also known for
its investments in managing its own knowledge. Booz Allen offers two publications,
both of which contain articles and papers about knowledge management. One is a
newsletter: Insights.
The other is a well-known and highly regarded business magazine: Strategy & Business. Both are searchable
and both contain relevant KM articles. In some cases, the articles can be downloaded
in .pdf format.
E&Y is perhaps the best consulting site in terms of the quantity and quality of the
resources it makes available to visitors. E&Y operates several Knowledge Centers
and a Center for Business Knowledge. Direct links to these sites are no longer
available owing to a recent restructuring of the E&Y web site, however, the search
feature on the E&Y home page will turn up many of the previous sources. Links to some
of E&Y's other rich sources of KM-related information are provided immediately below.
E&Y's Center for Business Innovation
publishes periodically a journal titled Perspectives. It
contains some useful KM articles.
E&Y's Virtual Library, part
of a portion of its web site titled "Managing the Knowledge Organization," makes
available dozens of papers dealing with various aspects of knowledge management. All
can be downloaded in .pdf format.
It is worth noting also that two of the prominent names in the field of knowledge
management -- Tom Davenport and Laurence Prusak -- were instrumental in E&Y's early KM
efforts and both were associated with E&Y's Center for Business Innovation in Boston.
IBM's KM web site clearly focuses on setting forth IBM's KM service offerings.
However, it also provides access to a number of articles, papers and presentations.
These are all downloadable. Laurence Prusak, the Executive Director of IBM's
Knowledge Management Institute, is a well-known figure in the knowledge management field.
KPMG doesn't provide as much in the way of KM resources as the other consulting firms
but what it does provide is pretty good. The KPMG Knowledge
Management Fact Sheet is a concise summary of what KM is all about and how KPMG is
addressing it, both internally and with its clients. (Note: This is a PDF file and it
might take a minute or two to load.)
McKinsey is widely considered one of the leading consulting firms in the world.
Many consider it to be the best. As with the other consulting web sites, a search
using "knowledge management" will turn up relevant materials. However,
the main reason to visit this site is that it offers access to one of the best business
publications in the world: The McKinsey Quarterly.
All issues since 1993 are available and contain several articles related to knowledge
management. All can be downloaded in .pdf format. Registration is required but
it's free.
PWC Global is the result of the merger of Price Waterhouse with Coopers & Lybrand.
Both were leaders with respect to knowledge management and their merger strengthens
their standing. As with the other sites, a search using "knowledge
management" turns up some interesting articles and papers. One of the better
ones on the PWC Global site is titled "Easing
into Knowledge Management." It provides a very readable overview of the
issues associated with knowledge management.
Clearly, not all consulting firms are listed above. The focus here has been on
maximizing the return on any investment of your time and energy spent visiting a web site.
We have tried to point you to sites where there are abundant and relevant resources
that are easily accessed and/or downloadable for later use.
If you are interested in visiting the web sites of consulting firms in addition to
those listed above, there is an excellent web site at Ohio State University devoted
entirely to consultants and consulting firms: Directory of Management
Consulting Firms
- David Skyrme Associates: Knowledge Connections.
David Skyrme is a well-known figure in KM circles and a close associate of Debra
Amidon, another well-known KM figure. David also publishes a KM newsletter, which
can be subscribed to from his web site. Here, too, is the benchmarking report
referenced on the Benchmarking page as well as other resources. All told, it is well
worth visiting.
- Nick Bontis and the
Institute for Intellectual Capital Research. This, according to Nick Bontis, is
the "Official Intellectual Capital Home Page." It is noteworthy and useful
for its focus on intellectual capital or IC as it is now becoming known. Of
particular interest are the resources and links, including the e-mail addresses of
prominent figures in the KM and IC communities.
- Ted Lumley's Home Page. This
is a collection of essays by Ted Lumley. Many are pertinent to knowledge management.
All represent serious thinking on the subject tackled. You won't find any
quick answers on this site but you will find a great deal of critical thinking. If
you want your thinking about KM stimulated, this is a good site to visit.
- APQC - American Productivity & Quality Center Home
Page. APQC is the focal point for benchmarking studies in general and KM
benchmarking in particular. It offers many resources to those interested in KM,
especially to employees of its member companies, one of which is Warner Lambert. As
an employee of Warner Lambert, you can register and gain free access to the APQC
resources.
- Computerworld Magazine.
Although of a decidedly technical bent, Computerworld Magazine offers a sizable
resource in terms of its archived articles about KM. From the home page, click on
the Resource Center and then search on "knowledge management."
- InfoWorld Magazine. Also of a
decidedly technical bent, InfoWorld Magazine also provides access to an archive
of its articles about knowledge management. InfoWorld and Computerworld are both
excellent resources for looking into KM vendors with an information technology
orientation.
- International Knowledge Management Newsletter.
This site is located in the United Kingdom. It is not as rich as some of the
other KM web sites, however, it does provide some useful links, especially to information
about measuring the economic value of intellectual capital.
- KM Review. This is a United Kingdom site,
home to Melcrum publishing and KM Review, a leading publication about knowledge
management. It also provides links to other useful KM resources, including
conferences..
- KMWorld. This, too, is a publication about
KM; however, KMWorld is an online magazine. It is quite "newsy"
and tends to focus on vendor activity. That aside, it, like many other KM web sites,
offers lots of useful resources and many links to other sites, including conferences..
- Knowledge Inc. Knowledge Inc. is a
monthly executive newsletter about KM and IC (intellectual capital). It offers some
useful links and its monthly offering is informative. The man-behind-the-scenes is
Britton Manasco, one of an increasing number of KM entrepreneurs.
- Knowledge Transfer International. This web site
is noteworthy mainly because it provides access to a very interesting, if limited, set of
issues of KM Metazine, an online magazine or "e-zine" about knowledge
management.
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