Information System Implementation vs. Knowledge Management Solution Implementation
- Omer Ben Yehuda
- Jul 1, 2005
- 5 min read
Written in collaboration with Dr. Moriah Levy
There is a saying: "A good product sells itself." However, this perception is not true in all cases. Like most work solutions, information systems are effective tools for upgrading the work environment but require significant training and implementation activities.
Two main reasons why information systems don't sell themselves are:
The new information system is not always intuitive, and operational/procedural training is needed.
The system symbolizes changing old habits; for most of us, it is difficult, and we need help implementing them.
Information system training/implementation requires several steps:
General training for the entire target audience - active engagement with the target population detailing the tool's structure, how to use it, expectations, and new work processes. Effective tools: face-to-face training, hands-on experience, user guide, explanatory booklets, e-learning.
Personal mentoring of key people in the target audience - one-on-one training with key people and "knowledge junctions" focusing on practical operation and direct experience.
Maintaining a presence in the target audience environment - "walking around" in the field and broadcasting availability to users for questions. Actively approaching occasional users to verify they are managing with the tool.
Phone calls to key people and occasional users - asking questions such as: Are you using the tool? What was the last activity you performed, and when? Are you satisfied with the tool?
Remote monitoring - covertly performing proactive checks on the level of tool usage in two ways: "browsing" the tool and checking content currency using statistical analysis tools.
Neutralizing old/conflicting work processes - most of us prefer to use familiar work processes. Given the opportunity to return to them, we will. Users need help to stop using their old work habits.
So, what's different about implementing a knowledge management solution?
In a knowledge management solution, in addition to the process described above, we need to consider two more factors of significant weight and importance that add to the complexity of implementation:
Knowledge management solutions include, beyond changing work habits, dealing with inhibiting factors (which exist much less, if at all, in regular information systems):
Cultural fear of change.
Fear of competition and individual fear of losing power when sharing knowledge.
Generation gaps.
Unclear benefits from sharing - "What will I get out of this?"
"No time" - knowledge sharing is not perceived as part of the job.
Employee identification with their unit rather than the entire organization.
Irregular knowledge sharing is due to work habits, organizational structure, and contributors' fear of exploitation.
Low positioning in the organizational hierarchy of the subject for which the knowledge management solution was established.
Therefore, implementation must consider these issues through a graduated implementation program. The recommended method includes three stages: First, a knowledge management pilot will be conducted to demonstrate the need and stimulate users' appetite for knowledge management. Then, a medium-sized knowledge management project will be executed to create awareness and habits for the new lifestyle. Finally, launching a complete knowledge solution will be a new way of life for the organization.
It's not always possible to initiate classic training/implementation processes for knowledge management solutions. Therefore, marketing is required:
Sometimes, the target audience is too broad, and classic training/implementation is unsuitable. Even if we did train, one-time training is insufficient. On the other hand, the technology is simple and reminiscent of the Internet, where users learn by themselves. Therefore, we want to rely on the tool to "teach its users" how to work with it while we market it and convince the target audience of its advantages and benefits.
Main marketing methods:
Rational persuasion: Proving to users that the new tool is an improvement over existing tools and that using it will benefit them and their environment (explanation by letter, examples in meetings, face-to-face explanation).
Direct experience: Exposing users to the new tool for active experimentation and to witness "through their fingers" its advantages and innovation. This can be done through usage competitions (not necessarily to measure output but to accustom people and expose them to the tool).
Direct marketing: Just as external advertising companies try to associate products with psychological feelings (clothes with popularity, alcoholic beverages with sex, cars with status), this can also be done for marketing the new tool: slogan, logo, conducting an enjoyable and routine-breaking experiential activity that symbolically demonstrates the product's advantages (and links it to pleasure).
Serial advertising: Flooding the work environment with messages about the new tool: signs, slogans, mentioning the tool in every meeting, grand launch, booklets, newsletters, bulletins, catalogs, advertisements, and greeting cards.
Constructive competition: If content experts are afraid to share knowledge, we create an atmosphere where those who have contributed knowledge are praised, highlighting how much each expert has contributed. If units are supposed to build their sub-sites with relevant knowledge, we ensure that department A builds one, and immediately, its competing department in the organization will ask to join (there is always a peer department that sees any department we choose as a competitor). It's amazing how well this method works in organizations in Israel.
Additionally, we recommend a special implementation method - customized implementation:
Rationale: Even after regular training and implementation, people still struggle with or oppose the tool. Method: Working with each group manager to build an implementation framework specifically tailored for them. The customized framework is not built from a blank page but from a range of options; each manager chooses what suits their subgroup, with the possibility to add innovative ideas. Advantages: Usually, the group implementation programs are 80% similar to each other, but we gained two things along the way:
The remaining 20% indeed produced a more suitable framework for the group, improving the implementation success.
More importantly, the group manager prints and signs the implementation plan. It's theirs, not ours (the knowledge management team). The manager's commitment to implementing the program is several orders of magnitude higher. And let's not forget that management commitment is a key to successful implementation. (For more details on the Customized Implementation method).
The bottom line: Implementation and marketing are sensitive and complex topics. There are no "well-known" models and no school solutions. However, there is a difference between regular activity in "Straightforward" information systems and the implementation and marketing in a knowledge management environment. Guidelines and principles (like those described above) have proven effective. The implementation process requires planning and creativity in advance and patience in actual work. The larger the solution and the more it requires a change in thinking throughout the organization, the more the activity must be gradual, persuasive, and patient.
Good luck!
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