Web 2.0 adoption in the corporate sector has been slow, of that there is no doubt. The reliance on traditional information management systems that are heavily process oriented is tremendous. There is very little incentive ( or so a lot of people think ) towards investing in “newer” applications and services.

However there is a slow shift in that line of thought, i read a rather interesting survey conducted by the Mckinsey group on how Web 2.0 is being adopted in large corporates. The indication being that recently there has been a noticeable increase in corporates willing to invest in these new technologies and more importantly the rewards attained as a result of this leap of faith.

On the whole i think it’s a wait and watch game, the one thing you need to understand is that implementing a Web 2.0 application is considered something of a risk as most “corporates” as most do not have the exposure or understanding to realize the benefit it could garner for them.

I’m currently involved in a large project within the company i work for to rollout a large application that encompasses most Web 2.0 features like Wikis, Blogs, Social networking and such. Something that i personally feel has become long overdue and i can already forsee the huge benefit to the employee within the organization.

A decade or so ago the office was a treasure trove of new technologies, today the world wide web gives you a better variety of tools. What organizations need to realize is that most of their employees depend on these tools and services on a daily basis and the flexibility it provides them only strengthens the argument that there are serious drawbacks to the services they have to use back at the office.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When i first started this blog a couple of months ago the focus was to get my thoughts on KM in order, and hopefully connect with like minded people across the globe. I’m happy to say I’ve accomplished both, Gridlock has given me the opportunity to put my thoughts down on paper (so to speak) and allowed me to network with a number of very smart individuals.

However, as i try to ensure that i have as much new content on my blog as possible its been a little difficult at times. Which is what prompted the inclusion of technologies , news and opinions from around the world, in the hope that this new content would add new flavor to existing topics on KM.

Now to the topic at hand. Is getting paid to Blog good or bad for the health of your blog? I personally feel that if it hurts the aim of your blog in the first place it shouldn’t be considered. Yet running a blog ( an expanding blog ) does get a little expensive over time. I came across Smorty (get paid to blog) the other day, a fellow blogger introduced me to it.

While i initially dismissed using the service on my Blog i changed my mind once i took a look at its offerings. One of the key aims of Gridlock is to write reviews on websites and products that might be of interest to readers out there and Smorty does provide that option. By choosing which of the products you write about it gives you greater control over what you allow to be featured on your site.

Another huge benefit i see personally, is the introduction to tools and solutions that i hadn’t previously heard about. Of course not all the topics might suit the purpose of your blog, but the variety allows you to judiciously pick the closest ones.

If you are a blogger and would like a revenue source that does not hurt your blog i would strongly suggest looking at Smorty. This is much more meaningful way of advertisers to reach out to their audience and for publishers to have a very strong control over what they feature in their posts.

Let me know your experiences if you’ve tried it out in the past.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

While a Blog is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas it does tend to limit the level of collaboration that can occur with readers.

With a count of 100 users ( and growing ) subscribing to the Gridlock blog i felt it was time that a forum was set up to allow these users to be able to talk to one another and post questions that are relevant to them. Hence the birth of Gridlock’s first forum ( http://forum.arjunthomas.com ), you can also get to it from the navigation bar at the top of the Blog.

As time progresses i shall try adding additional features to the forum to enable greater collaboration. For the time being, do drop in and sign up…

Send an invite out to your friends and colleagues to grow this forum, the greater the number of collaborators the more the benefit to each of you.

Gridlock, the Blog, will continue in its present state with my thoughts on KM.

Cheers,

Arjun Thomas.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

One of the biggest challenges in Knowledge Management these days is getting people involved in the process. Unlike other initiatives which use a mix of the carrot and stick approach, KM can only be promoted using the carrot.

Now the challenge is, what motivates the average users to contribute towards the system? Is it the rewards or the recognition? From what i’ve seen its a balance between both.

However, for the long term sustainability of any KM initiative there has to a be focused move from a rewards based system to one of recognition. For one, its cheaper , second and more importantly, studies done in corporates have shown that the single largest motivator amongst employees is recognition by their peers and superiors.

Knowledge Management is that perfect platform that enables even the youngest of employees’ to show case their ideas and talents on a corporate platform. It ensures that if you are good at what you do, your voice isn’t lost in the crowd. This, i feel is the biggest selling point of KM to the average employee.

The driving force behind KM implementation for an organization is a little different. Numbers speak volumes, and unless corporates see a monetary benefit towards implementing a KM initiative, chances are they’d rather invest the money somewhere else.

So, the method with which you decide to promote Knowledge Management in your organziation depends entirely on your people. Rewards will only get you so far.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When i started this blog the underlying reason was that there was a huge disparity between what i’ve read about knowledge management and the way its actually implemented in most organizations.

If you ask any KM expert about whether there is a standard method of implementing KM chances are he/she would probably say there isn’t one. It entirely depends on what your goals are and how these processes are received by your audience. At the end of the day, that is what really matters. The greatest KM Framework would still flounder if there isn’t buy-in from the grass roots level.

It has always been stated that Knowledge Management is not about technology. However from what i’ve seen in most companies (these are relatively large corporates which have their people spread all over the globe) technology seems to be the backbone of the KM initiative. Unless you have a platform that allows people to extract the information they want and allow them to contribute to the system, chances are your KM strategy will not work.

This is because the average employee in the organization is so focused on his job that anything above and beyond is considered an effort. Though, dont expect people to come running just because you have built a system. There has to be a benefit to the employee, this can either be in the form of making his job easier to do, or providing an incentive for him to contribute to the system.

There are exceptions however, the whole open source community is built on a knowledge management model. The initiatives here aren’t driven by incentives - and while there were skeptics, at the end of the day these have showed us that knowledge management can sustain itself in the long run.

I’ve tried to put down the basics of KM in the form of strategies that you might want to use to create an underlying framework to tackle an initiative like this. You can read those articles here.

The bottom line is, regardless of what technology you use, at the end of the day you need to get your people the right information at the right time, with as little effort as possible.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As with every business venture , unless there is a solid case built on the ROI chances are the initiative wouldn’t get the backing of the executive team. It’s a numbers game, and without a clear indication of some benefit, in terms of a dollar figure, it get more and more difficult to justify the costs.

Now the reason i started up this post is to get an idea of how companies , if at all, calculate the ROI on a knowledge management initiative. Based on my experience, figuring out where the knowledge is and getting it to flow is tough enough, adding a number value to it seems next to impossible . Sure , there have been methods where people have attempted to calculate it. But the question of a methodology robust enough to calculate the ROI of a KM intiative doesn’t seem to be here as yet, then again i could be wrong.

So, if any of you have managed to implement an accurate ROI calculation in a KM environment i’d love to hear about it. Do leave a comment , against this post so other people can get involved in this discussion.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Over the past few posts we’ve talked about a variety of subjects, Strategies to implement KM , How to run communities of practice, the effect of blogs on KM and so on. The most common question however is not how to implement KM but when. I thought I’d put together a few thought on when you should start think of looking at a Knowledge Management initiative for your organization.

So when is your company ready to start a KM initiative? If any of the following statements are true then its probably time for just that.

• A number of people have already started exploring the benefits of implementing KM in your organization.
• Someone has a personal stake in developing KM.
• KM has emerged as a topic of interest in your organization.
• The organization has a high-level vision of pursuing and implementing KM.

Right, now you’ve figured out that its time to implement KM in your organization, but how do you go about doing it?

The only way an initiative like this is going to gain traction is if people see a clear benefit to what they are already trying to accomplish. The main aim of any Knowledge Management initiative should be to make a person’s job easier, not more difficult.

The first step is to de-mystify KM, do not use complicated terms and strategies to define what it is, rather use simple definitions and examples that provide a clear, tangible picture of what its all about.

The second step involved finding people who are really interested in pursuing KM activities. Launching an initiative amongst this group of people will most definitely ensure a much higher success rate. Recruiting well respected and influential people in your company is a very smart way to promote the value of the initiative to the rest of your organization.

The third step involved looking for opportunities to implement KM. Use groups you feel can benefit with an KM initiative. Target low hanging fruit, market any win you have with the initiative however small , as it can be used as a platform to promote other initiatives as well.

The last step involves creating a technology framework that can support the initiative. While KM is not just about technology it does form a large part of it, without the technology infrastructure it might be difficult to sustain many initiatives.

The biggest road block to any KM initiative is culture, ignoring it is the single biggest mistake many people commit while rolling out KM initiatives. Most importantly - Do NOT sell an enterprise level KM solution without the evidences to back up your initiatives.

While these are just some of the thoughts on how you get started, you will find dozens of smaller ways to improve on it once you get started. Remember, start small and work your way up.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

My last post introduced you to Wiki’s in Sharepoint 2007 ( MOSS 2007 ). I have since had the time to explore this feature in greater detail, and to be honest was very impressed by what i discovered. I was a little apprehensive about the wiki feature for the simple reason that being part of the Sharepoint platform might have encouraged over-engineering. However aside for the rich text editor ( which makes the process of adding content that much easier ) the basic layout and functionality of the wiki hasn’t changed. So if you are a contributor on Wikipedia you needn’t worry.

The major benefit for corporates of having Wiki as a part of the new Sharepoint Portal is two-fold. The first obviously is that now corporates have the ability to tap into and facilitate the creation of information using tacit knowledge. The second is making use of Sharepoint features like security controls allows them to impose a greater level of control that doesn’t exist in wiki’s like Wikipedia ( a thought that scares them half to death i’m sure ).

So what does Sharepoint allow you to do with the wiki?

• Wiki pages can be created under any group or library , if for example you have a particularly interesting post on your Blog ( Another new feature of MOSS 2007 ) you could spin this off into a Wiki and have other people collaborate on it.
• Permissions can be set at a page level, which means you can restrict which pages other users have access to within the wiki structure ( something i haven’t heard off in most other wiki’s )
• You can also add Meta-data to your wiki pages, as with any other document library. So you can showcase pictures ( for eg ).
• You can also set e-mail alerts on your Wiki pages.

It also offers other features than we’ve come to expect from all Wiki’s :

• Interlinking / Creating new pages using double brackets ( [[ ]] ).
• History tracking of the document. The added advantage here is that being incorporated on the Sharepoint platform you can actually pull the persons contact information of the exchange server.
• Lastly, versioning and reverts of wiki pages.

If you are interested in the product i’d suggest downloading a free version and experimenting with it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!