Tags Strategy, Data management, Know-how, Collaboration

Share and share again

If you knew who knew what in your company, you’d have a much better business. For Stuart Keeble at NetInfo, a disciplined approach to knowledge management is key, as Stuart Rock discovers.

What does your organisation actually know? Answer: rather more than you think it does. And there’s the rub, because that knowledge isn’t being put to the most effective use. Sure, you know what’s happening. Your business has grown. It now employs scores, often hundreds of people, all squirreling away valuable know-how, facts and experience in vast numbers of emails and files with names recognisable only to those who write them.

But because of the random fashion in which it’s being held, there isn’t a chance of getting to it simply and effectively. Instead, your employees continue to engage in that most exhilarating of tasks: wheel reinvention. Companies rarely think about how they classify information so that they can find it again. They certainly don’t think about it when they start up. And that creates big headaches when they become larger, more complex organisations. It’s not just about internal know-how. A lack of structure in the ways that knowledge and business methods are stored can act as major restraints on winning new business, managing projects effectively and growth prospects in general.

“Capturing information is not the challenge,” says Stuart Keeble, ebusiness director at NetInfo, “but capturing it so that you can use it again is.” And he should know, as NetInfo has grown dramatically and profitably over the past few years by practising what it preaches.

So what steps should a growing business take? First, acknowledge that this is not just a technology issue. It’s partly one of management and culture. For example, people keep information in their email systems rather than sharing it. It’s a “default” behaviour that has the side-benefit of enhancing an individual’s perceived value. But it’s clearly a bad thing for information to be locked in emails.

Imposing a structured system of managing information requirements can mean individuals relinquishing what they see as their power and influence. But a change of behaviour has to come from the top. It requires senior management to be as disciplined as everybody else.

Second, however, be clear about the technology issues that are at stake. Here, Keeble is optimistic: “I think that a fundamental change is occurring. In the past, the IT industry has over-promised about its capabilities and company managers have become sceptical. But now the technology really can deliver.” Company directors should make a conscious decision on their overall technology approach. There is a clear choice, observes Keeble. “Either you are happy with a single-service supplier, or you can configure the business to work with open standards.” It’s a critical decision, he says.

And, as NetInfo has seen for itself, if a business is going to grow via partnership with other companies, its ability to share information in a speedy and standardised form will play a significant part in its success.

Third, impose some sensible disciplines. Plenty of companies, particularly those that have grown by acquisition or have started subsidiary operations in other countries, have witnessed dozens of inconsistent websites sprout up. These will need to be consolidated, to ensure their brand and messages are consistently communicated to the public. Having a focused, disciplined approach doesn’t just apply to burgeoning websites.

At NetInfo, Keeble and his colleagues have spent considerable time and energy tracking the time spent by its consultants and linking this information into its project management system as well as its extranet. Being better integrated has freed up the company – “If you have disparate or individual systems, you can spend so much time rationalising discrepancies that you add substantial overheads to your management reporting,” he observes.

Integrated information also means that NetInfo is getting better at qualifying its business leads. It has a better process for understanding whether it should pitch for potential new business – improving success in this area can mean the difference between profit and loss.

Fourth, recognise that the need for structure does not need to compromise empowerment and initiative-taking. Employees can perform plenty of tasks from their desktop or laptop, but that doesn’t mean they need to consolidate all the information themselves. “You can deploy software to link users,” says Keeble. This underpins the concept of a portal, using middleware that integrates and brings staff together, accessing information from diverse sources.

This structured approach to know-how will yield many advantages, Keeble notes: “Administrative efficiency is one important win. The portal creates a central hub. This means that a company can build its directory of users, security permissions, user names, search facilities, the style in which applications are produced – all in one style. It need only perform these tasks once. For a new application roll-out, that means no retraining, no deployment costs, no separate policies.” If your business is regularly rolling out new applications each year in order to keep pace with the changing environment, then it’s likely it will reap the benefits of a portal.

Ultimately, the more you know about what your business knows, the more effective and efficient your company could be. As Keeble points out, information on its own is useless – unless you can do something with it.

NetInfo: In Brief

NetInfo is one of the founding partners of the Portal Partnership, a consortium of IBM Premier Partners. The objective is simple: to collaborate with like-minded companies in order to provide combined solutions for clients. It began in 2004 – with a project relating to document management for CrossRail – “and we all got on fine,” says Keeble. “Our Portal partner was technically proficient; there was no finger-pointing; and the customer was happy. It wasn’t nearly as traumatic as we thought.”

Over 25 per cent of NetInfo’s business is now related to the Portal Partnership. “It has shifted our business dramatically,” says Keeble. But as NetInfo’s life becomes more closely linked to the Portal Partnership, new questions arise – such as how other partners store their information.

“We have got to move towards better integration,” observes Keeble. “We have got a system that works organisation we were, but now we’re changing. There is no magic to this it’s about discipline and focused “We’re at an advantage insofar are IT literate organisations. We understand issues that can trip up many companies, such as firewall permissions and shared file libraries. But at a business level, to agree processes and methodologies. At present, we have five ways of doing and we are heading towards the common goal of collaborative working.”

Printer Friendly Email This Article