Knowledge Management: Intelligence for Today’s Business World

Some may say we currently live in the Information Age, but to be accurate what we are experiencing is the Information Overload Age. Technology and businesses continue to grow and information continues to be produced at exponential levels.

Unfortunately, our ability as humans to read and use information remains constant. Just as the amount of information available to us continues to increase, the ability for humans to process this information in a timely and accurate manner decreases. Particularly in business environments, the amount of information one person is responsible for reading and analyzing can be overwhelming.

Here are some startling facts:

• Technology advances in the last twenty years have resulted in the production of enormous amounts of information. Last year alone, we generated over two gigabytes of information for every human being on earth.;

• The average computer hard drive contains 16 gigabytes of information; while in a lifetime one person can only read and process approximately four GB of information.;

• On average, a human is able to read 100 to 200 pages a day for 365 days a year and for 50 years of life. Now add network connections and Internet access and content in books, newspapers, magazines, letters and other documents and you have all the information you will ever want; yet you feel the frustrating inability to make use of it on a timely basis and transform it into valuable knowledge.;

• Most of the information we receive could be viewed as “communication noise” because with this vast amount of information only a small amount—one GB—is actually new and relevant.;

• Over the last 300,000 years, 12 exabytes of information have been generated. Within just the last two and a half years, another 12 exabytes have been generated. This year, yet another 12 exabytes will be created.;

While we cannot slow the pace of information production or the amount being added to the Internet each day, we can automate functions of the human brain and improve the way the information is processed, accessed and acted upon. Embedding intelligent solutions directly into today's existing human and IT infrastructure is the most successful way to knowledge-enable an enterprise and represents the transform of information into knowledge.

Knowledge is the basis for making important decisions and everyone needs knowledge for business and life goals. Knowledge changes the way we think, the actions and decisions we make in business, and the way we service and sell to our customers. Knowledge is the solution to our information overload dilemma.

At the most basic level knowledge begins as data. In a technology system, data is coded signals, known and transparent (ASCII, TIFF, etc.). Information is data that is organized in a logical manner. Logically organized data then becomes information that is displayed in structured or unstructured documents and information. Eighty percent of all information is unstructured. Knowledge is information that matches an individual’s specific contextual requirement. To act decisively, it is necessary to perpetually transform information into usable knowledge.

Learning is an individual’s ability to interpret information related to a specific context or use. Learning is the point at which information becomes knowledge. Learning also encompasses humankind’s ability to collect information and experiences and to classify and store them in the brain as our own very personal knowledge base. As we learn, our knowledge grows steadily.

The evolution of information management in the corporate world began traditionally in the form of electronic archiving of files, progressed to document management and then into workflow management. Data warehousing was the next phase and today, knowledge management—specifically knowledge-enabled software—is the basis for information management.

Information overload is clearly the reason why knowledge management has become such a critical issue. This applies especially to businesses that have to absorb massive amounts of information daily about customers, markets and products. Companies that have the knowledge they need have the cutting edge in their market. Knowledge is power, but extracting it from information is not an easy task, if not altogether impossible.

Knowledge enabling an enterprise is the answer to the information overload. Tools that keep important corporate information intact even after an employee leaves, or tools that allow you to organize and extract critical knowledge from massive amounts of information, give a company and its employees powerful ways to stay a step beyond its competition.

Traditional knowledge management solutions suffer from significant obstacles—the solutions necessitate a fairly dramatic change in corporate culture and process and require a great deal of IT implementation, integration, and customization. However, successfully knowledge enabling an enterprise is done by incorporating existing IT and human systems seamlessly, rapidly and easily.

For today’s business world, knowledge management tools exist that analyze, understand and respond to information with human-like intelligence, empowering people with the knowledge to make faster, more informed business decisions.

A number of companies now claim to have the best of breed in knowledge management applications, so it is essential you ask questions to evaluate their applications:

• Is this neural network technology? Software exists today that actually emulates the brain in the way it analyzes the content of a document or information object. Technology that searches on key words and phrases is no longer enough. True knowledge management software can now analyze content and context, in addition to accessing knowledge, using content-based intelligent access queries.;

• Is the technology language independent and fault tolerant? Will the technology retrieve information even if words are misspelled? The answer should be yes. The best knowledge management technology is based on pattern matching; therefore there is no language barrier.;

• Can the technology be seamlessly integrated into your existing applications? An open API architecture is key. Clearly, spending substantially on new technology should complement the existing technology investments a company already has in place.;

• Do employees have to spend weeks or months learning how to use this new technology? The answer should be no. An application should be quick and easy enough to use—otherwise its full impact may never be realized.;

• Can the technology be personalized for individual needs? Knowledge management technology today can be used to crawl through entire hard drives looking for a single bit of knowledge. Or, the same application can crawl the Internet using both push and pull technology. Anything else is not the best of breed.;

When you are looking into knowledge enabling your business, remember too that knowledge management is not just about a high-powered search engine. Many companies will try to sell you just that.

As a benchmark, when evaluating knowledge-enabled technology remember that the technology should access the knowledge hidden within personal, enterprise and public information. Neural network processing is essential and amazingly fast, which allows for rapid analysis of vast information repositories. The technology should be applicable to any process where a person is manually processing information, and can revolutionize labor-intensive processes by replacing the time and attention of the knowledge workers with a scalable and automated knowledge processing and delivery system.

Effective knowledge enablement solves a major issue for today’s businesses—information overload. Business decisions are only as good as the experience and information that fuel them. People are enabled to act and decide by the knowledge that is available to them. Effective sharing and use of knowledge can reduce employees’ mistakes, provide better quality customer interaction, facilitate implementation of best practices, keep a company’s knowledge repository in place even after an employee leaves and expedite the decision-making process.

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About SER Solutions, Inc.

SER Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, is leading the world into The Knowledge Age. The company’s learning core technology, SERbrainware™ forms the foundation for SER’s award-winning knowledge-enabled software suite, including SERdistiller™, SERiMail™, SERglobalbrain™, SERprocess™, SERsynergy™ and SER’s Call Processing System™. Over 5,000 organizations worldwide use SER’s software to maximize workplace productivity, improve business efficiency, and enhance customer service.

For additional information on knowledge management or SER, please visit SER Solutions, call SER directly at 703-948-5500 or send an email to info@ser.com.