In the June 24, 2015 Wall Street Journal Tom Davenport wonders “Whatever Happened to Knowledge Management?” He should know. He wrote the book Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know.
Knowledge Management isn’t dead but it’s gasping for breath. In the APCQ 2015 survey on Knowledge Management Priorities only 35% of respondents said their KM program is effectively achieving goals.
Here are some of the issues driving nails in the Knowledge Management coffin:
Information is siloed. In most organizations finding relevant information requires searching across multiple information silos. It’s estimated that 90% of enterprise information is siloed and basically inaccessible.
Search is time consuming and doesn’t work all of the time. For starters there’s Google search, desktop search, intranet search, cross-enterprise search a just to name a few. It takes too long to search for and digest stored information. According to APQC research, nearly half of firms rate their enterprise search as ineffective.
In a survey of enterprise knowledge workers 40% said they found the information they needed less than 75% of the time.
Sharepoint is not the KM technology panacea. The most dominant knowledge management platform is Sharepoint. Microsoft didn’t market it as a KM platform and anyone who has used it knows it’s not the answer to helping relevant content flow.
It’s a winding road from data to intelligence
Data = facts & figures
Information = patterns in the data
Knowledge = actionable information
Intelligence = smart decisions based on knowledge
According to Gartner, more than half of business executives can’t get the insights they need.
You can have too much information but you can never have too much intelligence and that’s where Attensa can help build a more intelligent workplace.
Enter Attensa | Smart Content. Correlations. Connections.
Attensa is a cloud based topic intelligence platform. It breaks down information silos and creates a single source for highly relevant content that facilitates discovery, insights, collaboration and innovation based on the latest intelligence. It’s an intelligence delivery service that separates the signal from the noise.
The Attensa stream of relevant information connected to topics that matter allows the discovery of new business opportunities that otherwise might be missed. Information is easier to find and more actionable and that saves time and money.
Every employee, regardless of their place in the organization makes many decisions on a daily basis. Regardless of the complexity of the decision, better inputs make for better decisions and better decisions drive better execution, and innovation. Attensa connects people with the critical intelligence and information they need in the context of their projects, roles and responsibilities. The result is significantly faster knowledge distribution and decision-making.
Alignment Between Topics and Business Objectives
Attensa creates a centralized information management hub that cuts through the complexity and redundancy of working across multiple content silos. For information managers, Attensa makes it easy to align information sources and content with business objectives.
Attensa provides access to the open web and an organization’s content sources that are hidden from conventional search. Smart content streams can be created by mixing web news sources and search alerts, social, internal Sharepoint sites, premium subscriptions, and other proprietary applications and information.
Tight Topics: The Heart of Attensa.
Topics provide a meaningful context for information connecting projects, work goals and professional roles. Smart content is built on relevant documents, aggregated across information silos. Information tied to topics is easier to find and more actionable and that saves time and money.
Filtered and Refined
Topic streams can be created using simple search and refined using multi-dimensional filters based on boolen logic to create queries that deliver tightly targeted results. Attensa’s flexible filtering tools increase the chance that “all that should be known” on a specific topic is delivered. Filters can be updated easily so the most relevant information continues to be delivered as knowledge grows and information requirements shift as projects evolve.
Less is More
Aggregation coupled with tightly defined topic filters is key to cutting through information overload. One of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies uses Attensa in their R&D efforts to aggregate multiple email alerts from various sources into a single, organized briefing. Attensa reduced the number of email alerts by a ratio of up to 20:1. The client characterizes the improvement in productivity as a “massive win” for their organization.
The resulting stream of relevant information connected to topics that matter allows the discovery of new business opportunities that otherwise might be missed. Users are updated automatically enabling agile adjustments to projects based on the latest intelligence.
Intelligence Delivered | Serendipity Enabled
To be truly useful, relevant information must be shared among the team members. Not just shared but re-shared, discussed, annotated, debated, challenged, and finally, agreed-upon. People must truly connect and engage with the information that matters to them.
Attensa maximizes social interaction around topics and content by including annotation, commenting and sharing tools that make it easy to share ideas, insights and create shared intelligence.
“We did not want another destination site. We needed a solution that facilitates connections between our existing systems and enables human serendipity.” – Information Manager, Global Pharmaceutical Leader
From Analytics to Insights
Attensa attention analytics measure an individual’s historic interactions with content to better assess the value of that content, specific to the person consuming it. Attensa can predict how relevant is a piece of information based on the user’s past interactions.
Beyond the individual, attention analytics can be used to identify thought leaders and topic domain experts based on their consumption, connections and interaction with relevant content.
Analytics based on attention have many applications, such as search ranking, smart filters or recommendations. The insights gleaned from these analytics can drive significant efficiencies and process improvement. Ultimately, better information leads to better decision-making.
