judith meskill - soc.media.rocks

The following is an excerpt from a Business Wire press released yesterday on Knowledge Management: Managing Intellectual Assets Helps Reduce Costs.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2004--To efficiently manage intellectual assets, leading companies embed knowledge management activities in their corporate strategy. According to a study by research and consulting firm Best Practices, LLC, identifying and sharing internal best practices enables organizations to gain market position and drive long-term growth. While some companies lay off employees to cut costs in a slow economy, leading companies utilize employees' valuable knowledge reduce expenses.
 
"Knowledge Management of Internal Best Practices," available at Benchmarking Report: Knowledge Management of Internal Best Practices (where you can download a free excerpt), reveals the importance of employing effective management of intellectual capital technique. Examples from the study include:
-- A leading chemical company outlined a specific procedure for the implementation of its knowledge management system. The system bolstered profits immediately: the company saved more than $1 million within the first 18 months after implementing its six-step system.
 
-- One benchmarked company determined that an increasing percentage of companies' assets are intangible, approximately 62% for industrial organizations. Managing ideas, concepts, best practices and talents of employees is critical to both near-term competitive advantage and to the preparation for future success.

Judging by the number of news stories and press releases that I have been finding in my news filter--it seems that the 'knowledge management' concept is still quite alive.
 
In a press release today: Frost & Sullivan Presents Its 2004 Customer Value Enhancement Award for the Security Industry to Lenel Systems International. Here's an excerpt:
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 2004--Market and growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan has named Lenel Systems International the recipient of its 2004 Customer Value Enhancement Award, in recognition of Lenel's achievements in the integrated security systems industry. The award was presented at the Customer Value Enhancement Awards Banquet in Boston, Mass., on July 14.
 
...Historically, security systems have been proprietary, hardware-focused and highly specialized in scope. Lenel has transformed the market by creating a solution that brings all the diverse components of the security environment together into a single, seamlessly integrated system, using open architecture design standards and offering centralized administration and management. Lenel's flagship OnGuard(R) Total Security Knowledge Management Solution(TM) is a comprehensive yet ever-expanding suite of applications encompassing facility access control, IP digital video surveillance and management, intrusion detection, alarm monitoring, employee ID management systems, identity/credential management, smart card applications, integration of a full set of biometric devices, physical asset management, visitor management and integration with third-party systems.

In a press release today: THINQ Strengthens Aerospace/Defense Market Leadership Position.
BALTIMORE, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- THINQ Learning Solutions, Inc. today announced that it has added General Dynamics to its aerospace/defense client roster, which includes Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and others. THINQ is the clear, preferred learning technology provider for the aerospace/defense industry, working closely with its customers to ensure that their employees and partners are equipped with workforce development tools that streamline knowledge management, enhance productivity and allow them to deliver against their business goals.
 
So, what do you THINQ? I wonder how many LMS solutions each one of these aerospace/defense giants use in each of their organizations?

Tomorrow I fly off to Nice, France to deliver the keynote address at a conference there, and to take a few days of vacation.
 
As I was performing catch-up posting on my 'knowledge notes' this evening, I noticed that today was quite a newsy day on all things 'knowledge management'.
 
From:
 
Holme Roberts & Owen LLP Expanding Its Knowledge Management Capabilities With LexisNexis(R) Total Search;
to an exclusive, invitation only panel on Building the 21st Century Searchable Organization at The Forbes Magazine Galleries with Dr. Larry Harris, Chairman and Chief Scientist, EasyAsk Inc., Michael Smith, VP & GM of Operations, Forbes.com, and Dr. Bill Ives, IT consultant;
to Groove Networks' announcement of their launch of Groove Virtual Office v3.0 For Secure Cross-Agency Communications In Public Sector;
to Cassidy Cataloguing Services' selection of STAR for CassidyCat Online Public Access Catalog, Serials, and Acquisitions;
to Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre's enhancement of their Knowledge Management Capabilities With LexisNexis(R) Portal, Powered by Plumtree;
all in all a busy knowledge management news day.
 
About eight months ago Seb Paquet asked me if I could break my multi-storied posts out into individual posts. Gee Seb, I haven't done a multi-storied post here on knowledge notes in quite some time. Hope you don't mind this one... (-:=.

If I had an acre for every mention of 'seamless' in press releases, product descriptions, and/or software 'market'-techtures -- (In this press release alone: "Tools Seamlessly Integrate", "provide seamless communication", "clients become true-believers when they see how seamless", "make collaboration seamless") -- I would have a fairly large piece of property by now... (-:=
 
PRESS RELEASE: MedValue's Web-based Collaboration Tools Seamlessly Integrate Medical Billing Companies with India Operations
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) July 9, 2004 -- MedValue, the leading provider of offshore billing talent and services to America's Medical Billing companies, announced the rollout of its groundbreaking MedValue Workflow Management System (WMS), a proprietary web-based management tool designed to provide seamless communication, knowledge management, management reporting and issues tracking between its client's US-based Staff and MedValue's India operations...

In another press release today--ZyLAB Hosts Federal Government User Day July 27th 'Knowledge Management Solutions Under 25K!'
WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- ZyLAB, a leader in providing affordable Knowledge Management (KM) solutions to agencies throughout the Federal government, is hosting its annual Federal government user day at the Ronald Reagan building on July 27th from 8:30 a.m. to noon. This event provides existing and potential ZyLAB government customers with demonstrations on the latest affordable KM solutions -- solutions under 25K!
Schedule:
8:30 am - 9:30 am: Continental breakfast
10:00 am - noon: Individual product demonstrations to
include:
 
-- Case management solutions
-- Knowledge Management Visualization solutions
-- Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook e-mail archiving
solutions
-- Document Management System
-- FOIA solutions
-- E-Clearance solutions
-- DoD 5015.2 Records Management solutions
 
WHEN: July 27th 8:30 am - Noon
 
WHERE: Ronald Reagan Building, Hemisphere A
The Federal Triangle metro stop (blue and orange lines)
 
REGISTER: Judy Oelschlager at judy@zylab.com or 866-995-2262

In a Business Wire yesterday--Kanisa Issues Patent for Core Knowledge Management Automation Technology; Patented Technology Automates Knowledge Management Through Process-Based Auto-Classification and Tagging
CUPERTINO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- July 5, 2004 -- Kanisa Inc., the leading provider of knowledge-empowered customer service applications, announced today it has been issued U.S. Patent # 6,711,585 entitled "System and method for implementing a knowledge management system" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
 
The patent, awarded to Kanisa for its knowledge management technology, protects its multi-dimensional representation of knowledge, enabling effective searching for knowledge within a complex information space.
 
The newly patented technique classifies knowledge objects such as documents, web pages, products, people, organizations, products, and links to applications into multiple distinct taxonomies. This allows for a rich multi-dimensional search and enables the full context of the query to affect the relevancy of results.

Cathleen Moore, for InfoWorld, writes--KM tools put users in control.
The two products that Ms. Moore writes about are Near-Time's Flow and Learning Management Solutions' KnowledgeWorkshop (which I posted about last week).
Does 'peer-to-peer content managment' = 'personal knowledge management'?

William Welsh writes for Washington Technology--KeyLogic captures two EPA contracts.
Mr. Welsh writes: "KeyLogic Systems Inc. has won two contracts totaling $6.1 million from the Environmental Protection Agency, the company announced today.
 
...Under a two-year, $2 million contract, KeyLogic will continue to transform data into knowledge with the eFacts Knowledge Management System.
...Previously, the agency could produce only 12 reports per month on the Superfund program, but with eFacts it can produce as many as 1.5 million reports per month with 75 percent fewer man hours, the company said..."
Who will read the 1.5 million reports/month? And, data into knowledge? One can only dream... (-:=

Matthew Clapp, an independent consultant, submits an opinion piece on CMS Watch--Collaboration First, Then Knowledge Management--wherein he opines, rants, and comments on the growing expense of large team face to face meetings, the need for 'practical' collaboration environments, the wisdom of pilot projects, and the importance of "a seamless integration path with any content repository."
I am a 'virtual' knowledge worker. I have a home office, an office in Princeton, and offices at my clients' workplaces. This week, I've been on the west coast attending Supernova2004, and visiting with clients and friends.
 
While here on the west coast I am staying in Berkeley at the home of a friend who is an awesome 'virtual' knowledge worker--working for a large global enterprise and providing invaluable services in conjuction with his work team. My friend works harder and longer than most large enterprise employees--and he is exceedingly effective at what he does. His home office is a model of a successful 'enterprise' virtual workplace.

An article in The Business Times | Singapore--Information service will save time and money for firms--interviews Factiva president and CEO Clare Hart regarding the willingness of businesses to pay for search services. Ms. Hart points out that more than 60 per cent of Factiva's 9,000 sources are not freely available on the Internet.
According to this article Clare Hart recognizes a different trend among Singapore clients:
 
But in Singapore, things are moving in the right direction. The government here sets a good example with its emphasis on knowledge management, says Ms Hart. In fact, government agencies make up a large portion of Factiva's Singapore customer base. Ms Hart expects the field of knowledge management to keep growing and she expects to be 'right in the thick of things'.

In a Yahoo press release today: Prominent e-Learning Experts Launch Startup to Commercialize Breakthrough Personal Knowledge Networking Software.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Graham Glynn, PhD, a neuroscientist and director at the Center for Learning & Academic Technologies at Penn State University, has joined with other e-learning experts to found Learning Management Solutions, a developer of personal knowledge management and personal knowledge networking software. The company's first product, KnowledgeWorkshop, allows computer users to create, manage, share and publish knowledge bases covering all aspects of their personal and professional lives.
 
"KnowledgeWorkshop is the glue that integrates all computer-based information sources, such as Web pages, news groups and personal computer files, into one simple personal knowledge management system," said Dr. Glynn. "KnowledgeWorkshop tackles knowledge management from the user's perspective, enabling users to categorize, structure and share information in a personally relevant way with online Web page highlighting, embedded notes and bi-directional linking. Traditional learning and knowledge management systems fall short because they're rigid, monolithic and impersonal, and focus on accessing institutionalized knowledge as opposed to creating and sharing personal knowledge."
 
...KnowledgeWorkshop begins shipping today, with pricing starting at $29.00 for KnowledgeWorkshop Personal and $189.00 for KnowledgeWorkshop Professional. Both versions are available for free trial download at Learning Management Solutions...

Scott Shemwell, President & CEO, Strategic Decision Sciences, writes an article for EnergyPulse on: The Emergence of Knowledge as an Ecology.
The following is a brief excerpt on knowledge as a 'compass':
 
Knowledge must be directed. Focused towards a specific direction that builds upon the base and capitalizes on the possible. If knowledge management is a poorly defined framework with expectations that "best practices" across many industries will add value, "failure becomes an option".
 
By definition, unless this framework is well defined and aligned with the business model there is no knowledge. In fact, learning obtained in such an environment might even be considered anti-knowledge because decisions taken from this foundation are unlikely to add value and may even detract.
 
The equivalent of an individual's moral compass, the organization's knowledge framework must be aligned with and contribute its culture. Always pointing north, knowledge capital helps the firm remains on course despite the normal course adjustments required by everyday challenges.

More government sponsored knowledge management news today in a Business Wire that announces: Hyperwave KMINCE Initiative to Participate in Quantum Leap-2 Demonstration of the FY 04 DoD Horizontal Fusion Portfolio. Here's a partial excerpt:
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 2004--Hyperwave, a leading provider of Collaborative Enterprise Content Management solutions, is the core technology for the Knowledge Management and Collaboration in a Net-Centric Environment Initiative, which will participate in the Horizontal Fusion Portfolio Quantum Leap (QL-2) demonstration to be held 11 August 2004 at distributed sites. QL-2 expands on the 27 August 2003 Quantum Leap-1 Demonstration, which demonstrated operational readiness of Net-Centric capabilities.
 
The Horizontal Fusion Portfolio Initiative is a critical component of the DoD goal of Net-Centric Transformation to provide access to vital capabilities and trusted information for Warfighters and other essential stakeholders across the battlespace. Horizontal Fusion is sponsored and directed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Networks and Information Technology (ODS/NII), and is not a single program, but a Portfolio of Net-Centric Initiatives begun in FY 2003 to show that Net-Centric operations were within the reach of DoD. Hyperwave provides collaboration and content management capabilities to support the Portfolio.
 
This year, Hyperwave is collaborating with 30 other initiatives in the FY 2004 Portfolio as a partner in the Knowledge Management and Collaboration in a Net-Centric Environment (KMINCE) Initiative. Using a common architecture and integration process, Portfolio initiatives are woven into a Secret-level DoD information environment called the Collateral Space, which provides content and capabilities to exploit the Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE). KMINCE has contributed to expand Warfighter access to time-sensitive, trusted, and vital information through Horizontal Fusion's MARS and other portals into the Collateral Space.

Today in Silicon Valley Biz Ink: Binary Consulting to Provide IT and Knowledge Management Policies and Planning Supporting the US Army
BETHESDA, Md., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The US Army has awarded a support services contract to Binary Consulting, Inc., of Bethesda, Md., to lead a team of four businesses that will provide information technology planning, development, and program management support for the Army's Chief Information Officer/G6 Enterprise Integration Directorate, headquartered in Arlington, Va. The five-year contract is valued at $21 million.