Role of Technology in Knowledge Management

There is no doubt that technology and knowledge management (KM) have long been bedfellows. However, in recent years there's been increasing criticism for KM practices becoming too technology centric. Piyus Kanti of eClerx Services asks Chris Collison (www.chriscollison.com) what according to him is the appropriate role of technology in KM. Chris starts off by saying that for quite some time now he and other KM practitioners have been of the opinion that technology should be an enabler, and not a driver. He points out that the shift towards social media in the last few years has helped technology become something more than an enabler, a disruptor (in a positive way) if you will. And while technology has radically enhanced the level of connectivity, Chris fears that discussions of KM 2.0 tend to imply that all that constitutes first generation KM is now irrelevant and that all that's needed now is the enterprise 2.0 toolkit.

Chris also makes an interesting observation around quantizing KM as 1.0, 2.0 and so on, according to Chris, this is perhaps a tad stifling because what happens when a firm needs KM 1.7, i.e. a combination of traditional KM tools plus some social media options - the quantization then suggests that the firm would need to go one way or the other. Chris wraps up the mini-interview by noting that there will always be technology for storing documents, for developing content, for discussing and co-creating content, but technology is shifting towards increasing connections, that is, technology is now leaning more towards functioning as a connector rather than a collector.

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• KM
• Knowledge
• Management
• Technology
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• Chris
• Collison
• eClerx
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[brismike65]

Now this is amazing, this is the first time I have seen a critical review of KM and technology. It is still assumed that all knowledge should just be put on machines! Does not work that way 100%. Thanks for your views.