Knowledge Management, Interim Summary

And this time, an interim summary of the field's development —a snapshot of the past and present, while attempting to learn about the future.

Past:

First wave - discovering the "knowledge" asset and understanding the importance of managing it. Main activity: knowledge sharing between people, whether formally (knowledge communities) or informally (seating areas, coffee, etc.).
The Intranet wave - bringing computing into the celebration. From a state where computing was not involved at all, transitioning to a state where computing, and particularly an "intranet" solution, is everything. Like the first stage, which had no computing at all, this stage, too, which was saturated with computing, did not achieve great success.
The Integration wave - introducing the insight that knowledge management combines culture, processes, and computing. Sobering up from magic solutions.
The Enterprise Portal wave is still in its early stages and has not yet reached its full potential. Increasingly, organizations recognize that organizing data, information, and knowledge is a vital component of effective knowledge management. Many organizations are watching the development of EIP (Enterprise Information Portal) tools and investing most of their knowledge management efforts in this direction. In our opinion... a bit too much.

Technologies to support knowledge management mostly exist. Technologies that present themselves as knowledge management solutions are even more prevalent.
Studies show that approximately 80% of all large companies worldwide are involved in various stages of knowledge management projects. In Israel, the situation is not as optimistic, with an estimate of about 20%-25%.
A Bain & Co. study shows that in 1999, 18% of all companies that implemented knowledge management tools stopped the process, which is double the data received regarding other tools on the market. The main reason is that managing everything, rather than just valuable knowledge, leads to a lack of focus and no clear goal; therefore, there is a dispersion of the process (according to the KM manager at IBM).

Studies indicate that between 1999 and 2004, the knowledge management technology market is expected to grow from $515 million to $3.5 billion, and the knowledge management services market is projected to increase from $2.6 billion to $8.8 billion.
Our assessment: It will take time for organizations they implement knowledge management that truly succeeds and truly helps the organization achieve its business goals. The wonderful capabilities of the enterprise portal lead to excessive focus on technology, rather than its implementation. Until organizations internalize that knowledge management must be JOB-RELATED, it will take more time. The road is long, but it seems that the direction is ultimately positive.