Posted by Martyn R Jones on November 10, 1999 at 05:01:28:

In Reply to: KM, IM, Why two not one? posted by Reilly Atkinson on October 31, 1999 at 12:26:21:

Hello Reilly

I am currently working with a Telco in the area of Information Sservices (IT/IS) to help a group of people form an Information Management team.

I envisage that the Information Management team will, in time, be involved increasingly with aspects of how the business can accrue greater benefit from knowledge and its management.

At present, we are are focussed on areas related to core Information Management from a business user perspective (business KPIs, business user requirements etc.), a process perspective (Data Warehousing), an integration perspective (ERP integration with DW etc.) and a technology perspective (OLAP technology/Business user alignment/matching).

Creating an Information Management team that in turn encourages empowerment, professionalism and constancy of purpose is, I believe, a real first step for a company towards the more difficult task of doing "real" KM.

In time, I believe that any IM organization that follows the model I have used with this and other Telcos will be prepared to move forward with initial initiatives in the area of KM, with a solid basis on which they can build new processes and a method by which they can judge the merits of KM applied to their business - whether it's KM principles, practices, technology or "something completely different".

So yes, in time I envisage that the name of the IM team will maybe change to the Knowledge Management team (which will include ongoing elements of IM). I do however think that i) some companies are not ready to discuss Knowledge in any sensible context right now ii) are not prepared to embrace it even if they have an inkling that it might be useful iii) companies need to rapidly evolve IM first in order to move forward with a coherent KM strategy and KM team process.

So, to answer your questions:

i) KM, IM, Why two not one?

ii) Why is it important to distinguish Knowledge Management from Information Management?

I currently believe (and I might be wrong) that IM will eventually be seen as part of KM and that the way to get there is by evolving a highly business focussed IM team that is linked to, but not controlled by IT/IS technologists.

Best regards,

Martyn R Jones

• km

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Follow Ups:

• Re: KM, IM, Why two not one? Reilly Atkinson 18:44:20 11/10/99 (1)
  • KM as part of IM? Martyn R Jones 05:37:09 11/16/99 (0)

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