This interesting article about decision making emphasizes the close link between the treatment of internal and external information, understanding of events resulting from it, their transformation into knowledge and decision making.

From the working hypothesis of the author, that decision making can be defined as knowledge management in real time, it is crucial that organizations adopt a comprehensive KM strategy: its policy, its implementation and technological support.

Social KM and its fundamental principles give meaning here:

• Facilitate the appropriate use of information provided by people,
• by their qualification, responsible dissemination, capitalization and
• their promotion through exchanges.

Abstract : When presenting a KM strategy or project to management, it is understandable for them to ask whether the investment in the implementation of such a strategy/project will have a positive effect on the company’s performance, especially in terms of important factors like implementation costs and profitability.

What is the answer? This is difficult, but it is important to consider what you plan on achieving by implementing a KM project.

One response to the question regarding the return on KM could be that implementing a KM project would have the following significant benefits for the company:

• „„An increase in the company’s ability to innovate;
   
• An increase in labour productivity;
   
• An ability to manage the risk of losing critical knowledge; and
   
• Saving time and reducing the costs of information processing.

These benefits will be explained in the following sections...

Télécharger l'article pour lire la suite.

Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC) compared 37 companies within the Oil and Gas sector in relation to the time that their experts and engineers spent on becoming autonomous (the autonomy delay). In other words, the time required for these experts & engineers to make nonstandard technical and original decisions.

Knowledge Management makes a difference..

The outcome was that an "innovative" organization gains between 3 to 5 years of autonomy as compared to so called "traditional" companies. SBC’s conclusion was that, one of the main reasons for this outperformance was the widespread use of Knowledge Management (KM).

Knowledge Management as practiced today is a proven technology and can truly measure a Return on Investment (ROI).
Let’s term this ROI as ROK ! Return On Knowledge.

This ROK will become more and more important as organization’s implement and rely on networks centered on structured knowledge. This leads us to the fact that networks and knowledge are inseparable. Networks are a mine field of knowledge, where knowledge is created, shared, validated and reused over and over again. In other words, knowledge breathes life into these network(s), which are the basic principles of Social KM (SKM).

What will be expected of these knowledge networks?

• Record, index and classify within various Data Bases (DB) the lessons learnt and “know-how” feedback.
• Create linkages and knowledge transfer processes between learning professionals and senior knowledge holders (an example amongst many).

The value of KM lies within the network, in other terms; the value is derived from the collective network by using individuals, activities or processes as key building blocks.

Companies must take into account the impact of Knowledge Networks on their organizations. Not only are companies the guarantor of knowledge preservation (retirements, turnover, etc.), but should also take advantage of the numerous opportunities for innovation implementation.

Schlumberger Business Consulting a comparé, dans 37 entreprises du secteur Oil and Gaz, le temps nécessaire pour que leurs experts et ingénieurs deviennent autonomes (le "délai d’autonomie") ; c'est-à-dire qu’ils soient en mesure de prendre des décisions techniques non standards et originales.

Le Knowledge Management fait la différence.

Le constat est qu’une organisation "innovante" gagne entre 3 et 5 ans de délai d’autonomie par rapport à une entreprise "traditionnelle". Et SBC analyse que l’une des principales raisons de cette sur-performance est l’usage à grande échelle du Knowledge Management.

Le Knowledge Management tel qu’il se pratique aujourd’hui fait ses preuves et permet de mesurer un véritable retour sur investissement.
Appelons le ROK! … Return On Knowledge.

Et ce retour sur investissement de la gestion des connaissances sera d’autant plus important que l’organisation va mettre en place et s’appuyer sur des réseaux centrés sur la connaissance et structurés.  Car réseaux et connaissance sont inséparables ; les réseaux sont le foyer/gisement de la connaissance - où le savoir est créé, partagé, validé et réutilisé. Autrement dit les connaissances vivent dans les réseaux ; ce sont les principes de base du Social KM.

Que va-t-on attendre de ces réseaux de connaissances ?

• Enregistrer, indexer et classer en bases des leçons apprises et des retours d’expérience.
• Créer des liens et des processus de transferts de connaissances entre, par exemple, professionnels apprenants et seniors sachants, etc.

La valeur de la gestion des connaissances réside donc au sein du réseau, c'est à dire que cette valeur provient de la mise en connexion du collectif, à partir des personnes individuelles, des activités, ou des processus.

Les entreprises doivent prendre en compte l'impact qu’ont les réseaux de connaissances sur leur organisation. Ils sont non seulement les garants de la préservation de leurs savoirs (départs à la retraite, turn-over, etc.) mais favorisent également l’existence d’opportunités pour l'innovation.