Udai Shekawat, CEO and co-founder of Seattle, based AskMe, answers your questions about knowledge management.

Question:
What is your definition of knowledge management? Definitions seem to abound as much as software vendors.

Answer:
I completely agree that there is a broad range of definitions for Knowledge Management. At the end of the day, the concept of knowledge management is straight forward. KM is the discipline of leveraging the intellectual capital of the individuals and groups across an organization, most often with collaboration tools, to positively impact employee and company performance. Knowledge Management is increasingly becoming a top strategic priority within large, globally dispersed organizations because these companies face a continuous and rapidly changing business environment and moreover, these company have operate with culturally diverse and geographically dispersed workforces that make it extremely difficult to leverage the company's strongest asset--- it's employee's knowledge and expertise. There are a number of smart technologies that are the workhorse behind executing on KM initiatives. These include solutions such as employee knowledge networks, portals and messaging technology.

Question:
I would like to better understand the key value propositions (maybe the top 3) around Knowledge Management, and how they can help leverage knowledge across an enterprise.

Answer:
In working with many CKOs within Fortune 500 companies, I have received 'first hand' feedback on the value that they've realized from having a Knowledge Management strategy. Virtually all Fortune 500 companies that include companies like Ford, Honeywell, P&G, have large, dispersed workforces. Because of their organizational structure, employees tend to work in silos and do not share knowledge cross-functionally, nor do they even know where to turn for help or information. KM and technologies like employee knowledge networks enable companies to breakdown these silos that prevent information and knowledge sharing---regardless of what function, division or location employees work in. The organizational value is tremendous. Depending on the increase innovation, improve processes that can directly impact customer service or help to bring products to market, improve competitive position.

Question:
Do you have any examples of companies, new to KM, that used one project to initiate KM? I'm working with a bioscience firm to revitalize their recognition and rewards systems, company-wide. Do you have any suggestions that would help to get double benefits for stimulating and capturing innovative ideas at all levels of their business?

Answer:
Our experience shows that all successful KM projects in larger organizations of over 5,000 employees start with a key set of users, whether they are in a particular function, division, or community of practice. Starting with a pilot user group of 500 to 1,000 users is very workable. It is important to set success metrics, capture key anecdotes, and incorporate key learnings in a phased rollout. We also have had experience with organizations less than 1,000 people, and even then, we recommend a pilot first to demonstrate success in a phased rollout.

Question:
Should the KM tool suit the organizational model or vice versa? And which organizational models and corporate cultures will accept KM more readily?

Answer:
It is important to focus on the methodology to use to deploy a knowledge management initiative. In general, the corporate cultures that want to encourage knowledge sharing across business lines or that are setting up communities of practice are most readily accepting. For example we recommend assigning "community champions" that are not in IT that might spend 2-4 hours per week maintaining the vibrancy of the community itself. Management must be supportive of having people play this role. Tools and organizational models should work hand in hand. It is not an "either-or" situation.