Knowledge management: In perspective

Knowledge management (KM) as a corporate activity has grown rapidly over the past 15 years. Driven by consultancies working closely with IT departments to identify ways of sharing and storing corporate knowledge, it has become a key way of disseminating information within organisations.Typically utilising an IT-based system, knowledge management systems enable employees to access, share and capture specialist knowledge and processes unique to a company, and in some cases unique to particular teams or individuals. There have been some well-publicised cases, such as the repository of patent information at Dow Chemical, and the establishment of expertise search systems in companies such as Shell and BP. ­However, there have been concerns about the effectiveness of knowledge management systems, specifically around the quality and quantity of data put into the systems, as well as access to that data.