1. IT & Organisational Knowledge
Management
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) IT/HRD Seminar 2005
Organised by NTT MSC Sdn Bhd
Manimohan,
Manager, Academic Quality
Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation (formerly APIIT)
email address: mani@apiit.edu.my

2. Overview
Organisational concerns
Value in modern organisations
From Data to Value
Knowledge Management
Organisational Knowledge
Information & Knowledge Management
IT, Automation & Knowledge Management
Infrastructure & Infostructure
Knowledge Management & e-learning
Manimohan 2005
Slide 2 (of 25)

3. Organisational Concerns Today
Globalisation & Open Markets
Rapid, discontinuous Technology Change
Little Brand Loyalty
New marketing & distribution models
Manimohan 2005
Slide 3 (of 25)

4. Organisational Survival
Organisational Survival & Growth
 Building/maintaining Market Share
 Coping with shrinking Margins
 Product/Service Differentiation
 Pressure to reduce Time to Market
 Need for Flexibility & Agility
Manimohan 2005
Slide 4 (of 25)

5. Historical perspective of VALUE
Value over the Ages
Hunter-Gatherer – Speed & Strength
Agricultural Age – Land & Water
Industrial Age – Labour & Automation
Information Age – Data & Analysis
Knowledge Age – Synthesis & Creation
Manimohan 2005
Slide 5 (of 25)

6. Information & Knowledge constitute VALUE
Information & Knowledge are the key to
organisational strength and indeed, its very
survival today
A primary concern of today therefore is:
How can an organisation locate, create, collect,
organise, store, analyse, enhance, increase and
leverage knowledge?
Manimohan 2005
Slide 6 (of 25)

7. What value data?
A collection of data is not information
A collection of information is not knowledge
A collection of knowledge is not wisdom
A collection of wisdom is not truth
Fleming, Neil. Coping with a Revolution: Will the Internet Change Learning?,
Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand
Manimohan 2005
Slide 7 (of 25)

8. From Data to Value
context independence
Value $$$
wisdom
understanding principles
knowledge
understanding patterns
information
understanding relations
data understanding
From: Gene Bellinger (2004)
Hence the interest in “Knowledge Management”
Manimohan 2005
Slide 8 (of 25)

9. Knowledge Management – A definition
"Knowledge Management refers to the critical issues of organizational
adaptation, survival and competence against discontinuous
environmental change. Essentially it embodies organizational processes
that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing
capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative
capacity of human beings.“
Definition proposed by Dr. Yogesh Malhotra, the founding chairman and chief knowledge architect of
the New York based research and advisory firm BRINT Institute, LLC (http://www.brint.com/press).
Manimohan 2005
Slide 9 (of 25)

10. What is Organisational Knowledge?
Organisational Knowledge Sources:
Policies & Processes
Transactional Data
Market & Customer Knowledge
Human Skills & Knowledge
Manimohan 2005
Slide 10 (of 25)

11. Information & Knowledge ‘management’?
Policies & Processes
Policy Documents; Operating Manuals
 Often created without user participation - compliance
 Most often manually maintained
 Control and Maintenance Issues
 Access is always a problem for people who need it most
Manimohan 2005
Slide 11 (of 25)

12. Information & Knowledge ‘management’?
Transactional Data
Accounting Systems; Data Warehouses
 Mostly automated today
 Not always consolidated
 Often in different systems & formats
 Consolidation & Analysis difficult
 Data Warehousing & Mining expensive & time consuming
 Analysis, if available is historical and exclusive to few
Manimohan 2005
Slide 12 (of 25)

13. Information & Knowledge ‘management’?
Market & Customer Knowledge
Sales Records; Salespeople’s personal knowledge
 Probably automated today
 Consolidation & Trend Analysis may be available
 Data Warehousing & Mining expensive & time consuming
 Analysis, if available is historical and exclusive to few
Manimohan 2005
Slide 13 (of 25)

14. Information & Knowledge ‘management’?
Human Skills & Knowledge (Intellectual Capital)
Employees’ internalised knowledge & skills
 Most often not recorded in any formal manner
 Training is just repeated for new employees
 Exceptions/modifications/improvements not captured
 Access across organisation is virtually non-existent
 Tendency to ‘walk out of the door’
Manimohan 2005
Slide 14 (of 25)

15. Organisational Knowledge Requirements
Strategic Management
Analysis & Long-Term Planning
 Requires Strategic Knowledge & Wisdom
Tactical Management
Short-term planning & execution
 Requires Information & Knowledge
Operational Activities
Day to Day execution
 Requires Skills & Data at hand
Manimohan 2005
Slide 15 (of 25)

16. Power of Information & Knowledge
Knowledge is Power (?)
The mere possession of knowledge is of no
practical use
Knowledge is Power only to the extent that it can
be accessed and applied to a specific problem or
situation
Knowledge is of maximum use when it can be
leveraged and brought to bear effectively for
organisational purposes
Manimohan 2005
Slide 16 (of 25)

17. IT & Automation = Knowledge Management ?
Merely investing in IT and Systems does not
bring about successful organisational affects
Fundamental understanding of the
organisation’s people and their needs is
paramount
Integrated means of accessing knowledge for
working, communication, coordination &
collaboration
Manimohan 2005
Slide 17 (of 25)

18. IT & Automation = Knowledge Management ?
What is usually available is Infrastructure
The nuts and bolts – HW; SW; Systems;
Networks
What is not considered is Infostructure
Who needs to know what, when , where and
how?
Manimohan 2005
Slide 18 (of 25)

19. Islands of Information
Sales Research
Marketing
?
Design &
Engineering
Finance
General
Management Manufacturing
Information & Knowledge Management Infostructure
Manimohan 2005
Slide 19 (of 25)

20. IT & Organisational Activity
People and Tasks
Infostructure
Communication
Analysis Access &
Databases & Collaboration
Tools ‘e-learning’
Tools
Infrastructure
Operating Network &
Hardware Applications
Systems Communications
Manimohan 2005
Slide 20 (of 25)

21. Knowledge Access & e-learning
A definition of e-learning:
"The use of technologies to create, distribute and
deliver valuable data, information, learning and
knowledge to improve on-the-job and
organisational performance and individual
development.“ - Lance Dublin
Manimohan 2005
Slide 21 (of 25)

22. Knowledge Management & e-learning work together
Knowledge Management is about creating,
capturing, collecting, storing, and making accessible
organisational data, information, knowledge
e-Learning is about creating both formal and informal
learning solutions
Providing learning:
 just-in-time
 on-demand
 bite-sized pieces
Manimohan 2005
Slide 22 (of 25)

23. Its about people!
Organisational policy & will
Leveraging knowledge by empowerment
Positive attitude to capturing, organising and
making accessible organisational knowledge
Culture of capturing & sharing
Innovation & flexibility for users
Manimohan 2005
Slide 23 (of 25)

24. Its not about Technology!
Manimohan 2005
Slide 24 (of 25)

25. Thank you for your attention
Q&A
mani@apiit.edu.my
Manimohan 2005
Slide 25 (of 25)