How to build a global knowledge management system

Rediff link: http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/10km.htm

Abstract:
In a global world, knowledge is very crucial. It provides a basic framework to, connect, collaborate coordinate and communicate in highly complex and competitive market place.
India has done fabulously so far in this era. Thanks to nation’s top notch educational institutions, we have been leading our way into Nirvana in globalization. Going forward it is up to the Indian companies to nurture the very individuals or its employees with training in new technologies, management mantras, concepts and ideologies. In fact many Indian companies do offer a decent career path and comprehensive training programs as well. The only problem in all these training programs offered is that it could be pursued only in India, the so called its off-site employees. But companies fail to impart training and extend support in education to many of the employees working onsite at client’s locations across world. The reason is the cost, effort and management of such a program.
In this article, I would like to provide a solution, which could be adopted by firms to provide a seamless educational framework for its employees globally.
Knowledge Management (KM) has been a predominant trend in business in the recent years. Scaling-up research prototypes to real-world solutions usually requires an application-driven integration of several basic technologies. Typical characteristics to be dealt with are: manifold logically and physically dispersed employees and knowledge sources, different degrees of formalization of knowledge, possible conflicts between local (individual) and global (group or organizational) goals.

Leverage on Open source – No need to re-invent the wheel
Many organizations already have adopted an open source revolution that is questioning if there will be any thing like Intellectual Property (IP) in software.
We have already seen tremendous push towards the open source, where in companies have developed products and services at low cost, efficiently and quickly.

Organizations could leverage the following of open source and develop a seamless knowledge management system, where in knowledge could be imparted to employees all over the world. There are many content management systems (CMS) which offered via open source licensing terms and conditions such as Mambo, Drupal, PHPNuke, DotNetNuke etc., These content management systems are extremely flexible in the sense that it can be customized based on organization requirements.
Another advantage is that the open source contributors for these open source frameworks are very active and vibrant. So any issues with the CMS, the contributors or as I would like to call them “ambassadors” keep plugging away with new features and making it bug free, preparing for deployment on production systems.

Organizations do not need to spend astronomical sum of money to build an employee friendly knowledge management system. More ever, any initiative in open source is good for the community, organization and the entire knowledge ecosystem. Further more, building on the experience, such a knowledge management system portals, will help companies remain competitive and excel in winning key customer accounts.
My advice to the companies is that in a knowledge economy and highly competitive world, we cannot afford to be complacent and ignore the onsite folks. Companies should be able to leverage technologies available and provide a comprehensive training curriculum for both onsite and offshore employees. Such an environment will help organizations manifold. They are
Creates a global knowledge ecosystem for the company.
Helps in nurturing talent and reduce attrition
Transitioning individuals on high worth projects are easier
Transforming average resource to high caliber contributor for future projects in pipeline.
Providing the resources for employees to be highly adaptable for demanding project assignments.

Conclusion
We are in a knowledge economy. Individuals compete with people all over the world. In private sector, it is no longer necessary to belong to any particular race caste or creed. To make a dent to the bottom line of organization and individual’s goals and aspirations, the very basic necessity is to provide the basic requirements. And yes, knowledge management is as important as food, water and air.
In many global companies a comprehensive knowledge management is in place. The draw back is it has to be nurtured by the individuals only in majority of situations. For instance, majority of Knowledge base comprises of employee contribution such as case study, lessons learned of projects etcetera. Sure I am not questioning the premise of a knowledge base, but the reality is not just about lessons learned after math successful projects. What gets documented into a knowledge base is yesterday in most of the organizations. We need knowledge management for tomorrow. It is also about what to anticipate in real projects of today and clients and how to mitigate proactively for unfavorable situations of tomorrow. End of the day, it is all about transforming unfavorable environment to favorable landscape of immense opportunities and exceeding customer expectations in the competitive global world.

A word of caution to Individuals: No matter in what situation you are in. It is imperative that you have to keep pace with the changing global world and remain competitive to survive.