Example of a knowledge strategy project for a company in the enterprise IP communications apps sector. (Grade = 100%)

1.
BCI
Knowledge
Strategy
Mor
Sela,
IKNS
4301,
December
8th
2013
Table
Of
Content
Introduction
....................................................................................................................................
2
1
Organizational
Context
.............................................................................................................
2
1.1
About
BCI
...........................................................................................................................
2
1.2
Mission,
Vision,
and
Values
...............................................................................................
2
1.3
Business
Strategy
...............................................................................................................
3
1.4
Key
Strategic
Challenges
....................................................................................................
3
1.5
Organizational
Structure
....................................................................................................
4
2
Assessment
of
Current
Knowledge
Services
............................................................................
5
2.1
Communities
of
Practice
....................................................................................................
5
2.2
Content
Repositories
.........................................................................................................
6
2.3
Information
Technology
and
Communication
Infrastructure
............................................
7
2.4
Information
and
Knowledge
Flow
.....................................................................................
7
2.5
Knowledge
Services
Value
Map
.........................................................................................
9
3
Recommendations
.................................................................................................................
10
3.1
Business
Strategy
.............................................................................................................
10
3.2
KM
Vision
.........................................................................................................................
10
3.3
KM
Mission
......................................................................................................................
11
3.4
Knowledge
Values
...........................................................................................................
11
3.5
KM
Ownership
.................................................................................................................
11
3.6
KM
Solutions
....................................................................................................................
11
3.7
Risks
&
Challenges
...........................................................................................................
14
3.8
Roadmap
..........................................................................................................................
15
4
Conclusion
..............................................................................................................................
18
Appendix
1:
Lessons
Learned
..........................................................
Error!
Bookmark
not
defined.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
1
Columbia
University

2.
Introduction
“If
HP
knew
what
HP
knows,
we
would
be
three
times
more
profitable”
said
HP’s
former
CEO
Lew
Platt1.
Knowledge
is
arguably
the
most
valuable
asset
of
most
organizations
in
the
21st
century.
To
maximize
the
value
of
this
asset,
companies
should
become
intentional
in
the
way
they
capture,
develop,
share,
and
effectively
use
their
accumulated
organizational
knowledge.
The
objective
of
this
paper
is
to
recommend
a
knowledge
strategy
for
BCI
that
will
support
the
organization’s
strategic
objectives
and
contribute
to
its
long-­‐term
competitiveness.
The
paper
starts
with
context
about
the
company
and
its
overall
business
strategy
today;
and
an
assessment
of
BCI’s
current
status
as
it
related
to
knowledge
management.
The
core
of
the
document
is
a
recommended
knowledge
strategy
that
meets
the
above-­‐
mentioned
objective.
By
applying
scholarly
research,
analysis,
and
insights
from
the
IKNS
classes,
reading
and
discussions
-­‐-­‐
I
recommend
high-­‐level
strategic
guidelines
(KM
Vision,
Mission,
and
Values)
as
well
as
practical
solutions
for
BCI’s
top
three
most
burning
challenges
related
to
KM.
For
each
specific
knowledge
solution,
the
paper
predicts
potential
business
impact
(value)
and
maps
the
strategic
objective
it
aims
to
address.
In
addition,
the
paper
addresses
the
risks
and
challenges
associated
with
the
recommendations.
1 Organizational
Context
1.1 About
BCI
Best
Communications,
Inc.
(BCI)*
is
a
venture-­‐funded
company
that
provides
telecommunication
solutions.
The
company
has
developed
unique
technology
that
enables
delivering
high
quality
communications
over
unstable
networks
(such
as
the
public
internet)
at
a
lower
cost,
compare
to
legacy
systems.
The
company’s
main
offering
is
a
platform
that
enables
users
to
communicate
and
collaborate
visually
using
a
range
of
devices
-­‐-­‐
from
personal
devices
such
as
PCs,
tablets
and
smartphones
to
large
room
systems.
In
addition
to
this
enterprise
offering,
the
company
licenses
its
Software
Development
Kit
(SDK)
to
3rd
party
developers.
The
company
has
280
employees,
~35%
of
which
are
based
at
the
corporate
headquarters
in
NY,
~15%
at
the
CA
office,
and
the
rest
are
spread
around
the
US,
Canada,
Europe
and
Asia
Pacific.
*
To
protect
the
confidentiality
of
the
company,
I’m
using
a
fictive
name
and
have
changed
information
that
could
make
it
easy
to
identify
the
company’s
identity.
1.2 Mission,
Vision,
and
Values
The
company
does
not
have
a
stated
mission,
nor
does
it
have
stated
vision
or
values.
However,
when
I
asked
director-­‐level
managers
at
BCI
about
their
perception
of
these
attributes,
I
got
fairly
consistent
answers
that
allowed
me
to
define
the
following
implicit
definitions:
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
2
Columbia
University

3.
!
!
!
Mission:
Making
visual
communications
both
affordable
and
usable,
to
enable
its
widespread
global
adoption
as
an
enabler
for
more
engaged
telecommunication
among
workers
and
people
in
general.
Vision:
A
world
in
which
visual
communications
are
as
prevalent
as
voice
communications.
Values:
The
key
value
that
uniquely
represents
BCI
is
innovation.
BCI
prides
itself
for
being
innovative
both
technologically
and
from
a
business
model
perspective.
1.3 Business
Strategy
BCI
is
a
latecomer
to
the
communications
space.
IP-­‐based
communications
has
been
around
since
the
late
90’s
and
is
currently
dominated
by
Cisco
who
has
more
than
50%
of
the
market.
However,
BCI’s
unique
technology
and
pricing
structure
has
the
potential
of
disrupting
the
current
status
quo
and
capture
a
significant
market
share.
Given
this
technology-­‐based
advantage,
and
given
BCI
broad
(implicit)
mission
statement,
BCI
has
decided
to
compete
head-­‐
to-­‐head
at
all
market
segments
with
the
incumbent
communication
players.
Given
its
competitors
are
far
larger
and
have
a
well-­‐established
market
presence,
BCI
is
trying
to
completely
disrupt
the
market
by
creating
a
unique
offering
that
none
of
the
incumbent
players
can
offer
today:
Better
user
experience
at
a
significantly
lower
cost*.
BCI
is
trying
to
penetrate
all
possible
market
segments
concurrently
–
SMB,
large
enterprise,
healthcare,
financial,
education,
government,
defense,
service-­‐providers,
and
app
developers;
and
in
all
global
territories.
Moreover,
in
addition
to
targeting
multiple
market
segments,
the
company
product
offering
is
very
wide,
providing
applications
for
mobile
devices
(iOS,
Android),
PC
(win,
mac,
Linux),
multiple
room
systems,
SDK
and
APIs.
In
my
opinion,
this
strategy
is
extremely
risky
for
a
small
company
who
enters
an
established
market.
This
strategy
of
going
after
all
possible
market
segments
can
be
explained
by
Porter’s
“The
Failure
to
Choose”
trap
and
“The
Growth
Trap”
(Porter,
1996)2.
The
main
risk
is
that
by
targeting
on
so
many
segments,
given
its
relative
small
size,
the
company
is
unable
to
fully
satisfy
any
of
the
segments
it
serves
and
is
prone
to
jeopardize
its
credibility
in
the
marketplace.
*Note:
by
“cost”
I
mean
Total
Cost
of
Ownership
(TCO),
not
just
the
direct
cost
of
buying/licensing
the
product/software.
This
includes
cost
of
operations
and
network
requirements.
1.4 Key
Strategic
Challenges
Unfortunately
I
did
not
get
a
chance
to
interview
the
CEO
for
this
project.
Instead,
I
asked
the
Director-­‐level
mangers
which
I
interviewed
the
following
question:
“In
your
opinion,
if
I
asked
the
CEO
to
identify
key
strategic
challenges
that
could
be
addressed
by
KM,
what
would
be
his
answer?”
The
answers
were
quite
consistent
with
the
following
four
challenges
clearly
being
the
top
priority:
!
!
Agility:
Outperform
the
competition
by
having
agile
product
development
and
quick
response
to
the
ever-­‐changing
market
dynamics.
Usability:
Improve
product
usability.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
3
Columbia
University

4.
!
!
Quality:
Improve
product
quality.
Reduce
Cost:
Look
for
ways
to
reduce
the
cost
of
the
product
and
the
total
cost
of
ownership
(TCO)
by
customers.
1.5 Organizational
Structure
BCI’s
structure
is
fairly
typical
for
late-­‐stage
VC-­‐funded
technology
start-­‐ups.
To
save
cost
and
be
nimbler,
BCI
consolidates
few
typical
officer
functions
such
as
COO,
CIO
and
CHRO,
having
the
CFO
effectively
filling
all
these
functions.
The
structure
is
designed
in
a
way
that
allows
a
small
company
to
target
customers
worldwide
and
in
multiple
vertical
industries
in
a
fairly
efficient
way.
The
main
challenge
with
this
structure
is
that
for
the
most
part,
only
sales-­‐related
functions
are
distributed.
This
structure
does
not
allow
for
high
quality
localization
of
the
product,
its
marketing
and
the
professional
services
that
enterprise
customers
expects
to
get
with
it.
BCI’s
plan
is
to
modify
its
structure,
adding
more
capabilities
to
its
global
centers
following
the
next
round
of
financing
(most
likely
an
IPO).
Figure
1
-­‐
Organizational
Structure
CEO
General
Counsel
SVP
Engineering
SVP
Product
Management
SVP
Sales
SVP
Sales
Operalons
&
Customer
Support
CMO
CFO
Product
1
R&D
Product
Management
USA
Sales
Operalons
Product
Markelng
Finance
Product
2
R&D
Program
Management
EMEA
Produclon
Field
Markelng
IT
Product
3
R&D
Technical
Publicalons
APAC
Customer
Support
PR
HR
Product
4
R&D
QA
ROW
Sales
Engineering
Adoplon
Services
Business
Development
Channels
Verlcals
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
4
Columbia
University

5.
2 Assessment
of
Current
Knowledge
Services
BCI
does
not
have
any
official
KM
function,
nor
does
it
have
defined
any
of
its
activities
as
a
“KM
practice”.
That
said,
here
is
a
sample
list
of
KM
practices
that
are
taking
place
at
the
company
(terminology
and
taxonomy
are
based
on
SMR
Briefing,
Sep
2012)3:
2.1 Communities
of
Practice
!
!
!
Formal
Product
Management
&
Marketing
Forum:
Weekly
meeting
(using
videoconferencing)
with
all
members
of
both
the
NY-­‐based
product
management
team
and
the
CA-­‐based
product
marketing
team.
The
objective
is
to
exchange
information,
keep
each
team
updated
about
activities
of
the
other
team,
and
brainstorm
ideas
for
the
overall
improvement
of
the
product
and
its
marketing.
Semi-­‐Formal:
Yammer
Groups:
BCI
IT
has
launched
Yammer
for
all
employees
to
collaborate
internally
without
any
governance
or
guidance
about
how
to
use
it.
The
Marketing
team
and
few
marketing-­‐oriented
employees
from
other
departments
use
this
tool
to
discuss
marketing
ideas,
share
relevant
industry
news,
as
well
as
some
casual
“water-­‐cooler-­‐
like”
discussions.
Informal/Social:
Lunch
Groups:
During
lunchtime,
few
unstructured/social
COPs
would
typically
gather
at
the
cafeteria
or
in
the
company’s
meeting
rooms.
While
it
is
common
for
these
COPs
to
group
based
on
the
work
department/team,
few
of
them
would
include
employees
from
different
disciplines
in
the
organization.
It
is
a
fairly
effective
forum
to
share
knowledge
across
organizational
silos.
The
above
communities
of
practice
meet
Donald
Hislop’s
criteria4,
i.e.
they
develop
1)
a
shared
body
of
common
knowledge,
2)
a
shared
sense
of
collective
identity,
3)
some
overlapping
values.
The
traits
and
benefits
of
these
practices
are
summarized
in
Figure
2
below.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
5
Columbia
University

6.
Figure
2
-­‐
Traits
and
Benefits
of
COPs
2.2 Content
Repositories
!
!
Codified:
The
Company
does
not
have
an
intranet,
nor
does
it
have
any
other
common
depository
for
its
content.
Each
department/team
may
use
a
different
repository.
The
Product
Management
team
use
Confluence
collaboration
software
to
store
and
collaborate
on
all
internal
product
specifications.
Sales
use
salesforce.com
for
depository.
Customer
Support
use
Microsoft
Dynamics.
Many
employees
store
content
on
various
network
folders,
again
with
no
governance
around
taxonomy.
This
approach
makes
it
very
hard
for
employees
to
find
and
use
other
teams’
codified
information/knowledge.
Tacit:
o Experts:
Several
employees
are
known
for
being
very
knowledgeable
on
various
topics,
which
are
not
necessarily
their
direct
responsibility.
Few
of
them
are
also
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
6
Columbia
University

7.
known
for
being
very
accessible
and
happy
to
share
their
knowledge
with
others.
For
example,
Chris
is
known
as
an
expert
about
customer’
operational
environment,
Paul
is
known
as
an
expert
about
database
technologies,
and
Mark
is
known
as
the
go-­‐to
person
for
product
demos.
o Staff
Directory:
There
is
no
indication
of
expertise
in
the
staff
directory.
There
is
no
codified
tool
that
may
assist
employees
in
finding
other
employees
or
consultants
with
specific
expertise,
other
then
their
direct
role.
o
Orientation
Training:
Once
a
quarter,
new
employees
are
invited
for
a
3-­‐day
orientation
training
at
the
company’s
headquarters.
This
training
includes
market,
company,
and
product
overview.
It
is
also
an
opportunity
for
new
employees
to
meet
the
CEO
and
other
executives
and
get
their
vision.
However,
other
than
that,
there
is
little
further
training
and
career
development
opportunities
other
than
online
courses
that
employees
may
take
at
their
(non-­‐
existent)
spare
time.
2.3 Information
Technology
and
Communication
Infrastructure
The
Company
has
a
very
liberal
and
experimental
approach
to
deploying
and
using
IT
applications.
There
is
little
central
governance
related
to
KM
related
systems.
As
a
result,
the
company
has
never
invested
in
creating
a
centralized
content
management
system
(CMS).
In
the
absence
of
a
central
CMS,
each
department
implemented
a
CMS
based
on
its
individual
preferences.
Marketing
use
SharePoint
and
Yammer;
Customer
Support
use
Dynamics;
Sales
use
Salesforce.com;
Engineering
use
CVS;
and
Product
Management
use
Confluence.
On
top
of
that,
email
is
extensively
used
to
share
information
and
many
employees
also
use
shared
network
folders
to
store
&
share
documents.
While
this
lack
of
governance
and
unity
across
the
company
has
some
advantages
(e.g.
CMS
is
better
optimized
to
the
unique
needs
of
each
department)
the
negative
impact
of
this
approach
is
inefficient
content
management
and
ineffective
inter-­‐departmental
communications.
Knowledge
acquired
by
one
department
is
rarely
available
to
the
rest
of
the
company.
From
communication
infrastructure
perspective,
the
company
is
very
advanced.
The
company
is
using
its
own
product
to
visually
collaborate
between
employees
and
with
partners
and
customers.
The
company
also
leverages
Microsoft
Lync
unified
communication
platform,
mostly
for
instant
messaging
and
voice
calls.
Yet,
while
many
of
the
employees
collaborate
regularly
using
these
advanced
technologies,
the
shared
tacit
knowledge
is
rarely
codified
in
a
manner
that
allows
future
use
of
it.
2.4 Information
and
Knowledge
Flow
Information
and
knowledge
(I&K)
reside
in
any
part
of
the
organization,
some
of
it
is
codified
in
digital
format,
some
is
in
written
documents
(very
few
though),
and
the
majority
is
tacit
I&K
that
resides
within
the
employees’
minds.
It
would
have
been
not
feasible
to
analyze
each
possible
I&K
flow
within
the
time
limits
of
this
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
7
Columbia
University

8.
project.
Therefore,
I’ve
decided
to
analyze
the
flow
of
just
two
types
of
I&K
assets:
Product
I&K
and
Customer
Insights
I&K.
Table
1
addresses
the
following
questions
for
these
I&K
resources:
! How
does
the
I&K
flow
from
the
units
who
hold
the
knowledge
to
the
units
who
use?
! What
tools
and
investments
has
the
organization
made
to
improve
the
flow?
! What
functions
and
positions
help
to
organize
and
improve
the
flow?
Table
1
-­‐
Information
and
Knowledge
Flow
I&K
Asset
Type:
Product
I&K
Customer
Insights
I&K
(e.g.
features,
specifications,
competitive
positioning)
(e.g.
customers’
requirements,
needs,
deployment
environment)
Units
who
hold
it
Product
Management
Sales
&
Sales
Engineering
Units
who
use
it
Sales
and
Marketing
Product
Management
How
does
it
flow?
Product
Documentation
–
Product
Management
is
responsible
for
documenting
all
product
functionality,
specifications
and
user
guides.
What
tools
and
investments
has
the
organization
made
to
improve
the
flow?
The
use
of
video
conferencing
technology
makes
both
the
sales
training
and
the
weekly
“sync”
meeting
more
engaging
and
efficient
for
remote
participants.
Feature
Request
Process
–
Both
customers
and
their
sales
representatives
are
encouraged
to
submit
feature
requests
(FR).
The
FRs
are
codified
in
a
Sales
Training
(virtual
and/or
in-­‐ standard
form
by
the
relevant
person)
–
typically
once
a
quarter
sales
representative.
It
is
then
being
reviewed
and
prioritized
by
or
when
having
a
major
new
an
FR
Committee,
headed
by
product/version
release.
product
management
and
Weekly
‘sync’
meeting
between
participated
by
stakeholders
the
product
Management
team
from
Engineering
and
Sales
and
the
Product
Marketing
Operations.
The
person
who
teams
(virtual).
submits
the
FR
gets
the
opportunity
to
“defend”
it
in
Online
repository
of
product
front
of
the
FR
committee.
All
specs
and
documentation
FRs
are
prioritized
and
stored
(Confluence)
online
for
future
reference.
Confluence
is
a
fairly
recent
tool
that
was
initially
introduced
by
the
Engineering
team
and
was
adopted
by
the
Product
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
8
This
process
required
very
little
investment
as
it
is
mostly
based
on
manual
work.
BCI
should
consider
investing
in
an
online-­‐based
FR
application
tool
that
will
allow
both
customers,
channels
and
employees
to
easily
submit
FRs
and
track
their
progress.
Columbia
University

9.
Management
team.
It
is
a
useful
and
effective
tool
for
content
management,
file
sharing,
and
textual
collaboration.
What
functions
and
positions
help
to
organize
and
improve
the
flow?
Moreover,
such
tool
should
allow
voting
and
comments
by
others…to
gain
more
insights
about
the
demand
for
the
feature
and
a
richer
description
of
it.
The
Product
Management
and
Product
Marketing
teams
are
the
functions
that
drive
the
above
initiatives.
It
includes
the
SVP
of
Product
Management,
VP
Product
Marketing,
product
managers,
product
marketing
managers,
program
managers
and
technical
writers.
The
FR
process
requires
active
participation
mostly
by
the
following
functions:
Sales,
Sales
Engineering
and
Product
Managements.
Additional
functions
involved
are
Engineering
and
Sales
Operations.
2.5 Knowledge
Services
Value
Map
Table
2
maps
the
current
implicit
knowledge
services
described
above
with
the
value
they
bring
and
the
strategic
challenges
they
aim
to
address:
Table
2
-­‐
Knowledge
Service
Value
Map
Knowledge
Service
Value
Strategic
Challenge
it
Addresses
Product
Management
&
Marketing
Forum
Improving
alignment
and
collaboration
between
the
two
teams.
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
having
a
product
that
is
more
aligned
with
market
requirements
(Usability),
faster
response
to
market
trends
(Agility),
and
more
effective
&
accurate
marketing
communications
(Quality).
Usability
Yammer
Groups
Creating
better
relationships
and
collaboration
across
the
organization.
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
finding
faster
solutions
to
problems.
Agility
Lunch
Groups
Creating
better
relationships
and
collaboration
across
the
organization.
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
finding
faster
solutions
to
problems.
Agility
Orientation
Training
Quickly
bringing
new
employees
up
to
speed
and
increasing
their
knowledge
on
a
variety
of
subjects
Agility
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
9
Agility
Quality
Columbia
University

10.
beyond
their
direct
area
of
responsibility.
Hence,
Quality
increasing
the
speed
in
which
new
employees
becomes
effective
and
increasing
the
quality
of
their
work.
Product
Documentation
Customers
perceive
documentation
as
an
integral
part
of
the
product.
Hence,
quality
documentation
adds
to
the
perceived
quality
of
the
product.
It
also
improves
the
usability
of
the
product
and
reduces
customer
service
calls,
which
reduces
BCI’s
operational
cost.
Feature
Request
Process
This
process
helps
BCI
understand
what
customers
are
looking
for.
Hence,
it
helps
improving
the
usability
of
the
product.
Quality
Usability
Lower
Cost
Usability
3 Recommendations
3.1 Business
Strategy
As
the
company
moves
beyond
the
“start-­‐up”
stage
to
the
“growth”
stage,
it
should
start
to
shift
its
strategy
and
allocate
more
management
attention
to
the
long-­‐term
sustainability
of
its
competitive
advantage.
Such
long-­‐term
strategy
can’t
rely
merely
on
the
current
inherent
technology
advantage
of
its
product.
Just
as
BCI
disrupts
the
current
market
status
quo,
soon
enough,
new
innovators
will
arrive
to
the
market
and
will
aim
to
disrupt
the
status
quo
once
again.
To
effectively
compete
in
such
dynamic
environment,
BCI
has
to
be
a
knowledge-­‐driven
company5,
developing
unique
Knowledge
Management
(KM)
initiatives
that
would
result
in
constant
and
fast
innovation
of
its
market
offering
so
that
it
effectively
addresses
the
ever
evolving
needs
of
it
customers.
In
addition,
the
KM
initiatives
should
result
in
operation
excellence,
driving
down
cost
and
time-­‐to-­‐market,
while
maximizing
product
and
service
quality.
Also,
organizational
knowledge
should
be
leveraged
for
more
educated
and
data-­‐driven
decision
making.
3.2 KM
Vision
A
company
that
embraces
knowledge
development,
knowledge
sharing,
and
knowledge-­‐based
decision
making
as
core
enablers
of
its
competitive
advantage
sustainability.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
10
Columbia
University

11.
3.3 KM
Mission
Leverage
the
organizational
knowledge
development,
sharing,
and
analytics
to
drive
constant
innovation,
operational
excellence,
and
more
informed
decisions.
3.4 Knowledge
Values
A
key
success
factor
in
the
adoption
of
BCI’s
knowledge-­‐driven
strategy,
the
company
should
embrace
a
‘Knowledge
Culture’.
This
means
acknowledging
the
value
of
knowledge
development,
knowledge
sharing
and
knowledge
Utilization.
Such
organizational
culture
change
must
be
driven
(or,
at
least,
genuinely
supported)
by
top
management
of
the
company.
Managers
and
employees
should
be
expected
and
encouraged
to
codify
their
knowledge,
share
their
knowledge
with
others,
and
rely
on
the
accumulated
knowledge
of
the
company
when
making
decisions.
3.5 KM
Ownership
To
ensure
that
KM
is
becoming
an
inherent
part
of
the
organizational
culture,
it
is
recommended
to
appoint
a
Knowledge
Manager
that
reports
to
a
senior
executive.
Given
the
relatively
small
size
of
the
company,
this
function
could
be
achieved
by
either
a
part
time
internal
position
or
an
external
consultant
(the
second
option
may
be
the
most
effective
and
efficient
approach
since
there
is
no
one
inside
the
organization
with
the
necessary
expertise).
3.6 KM
Solutions
While
there
are
possibly
many
KM
initiatives
that
could
benefit
the
company,
I
limited
my
recommendation
to
only
the
top
three
that
a)
could
make
the
most
positive
impact
and
b)
are
practicable.
The
following
table
depicts
three
specific
recommended
KM
solutions.
For
each
solution,
I
included
the
problem
it
aims
to
solve,
the
value
it
is
expected
to
bring,
and
the
strategic
challenges
they
address:
3.6.1 Content
management
and
collaboration
software
Problem
Organizational
Silos
Each
department
implemented
a
CMS
based
on
its
individual
preferences.
Marketing
use
SharePoint
and
Yammer;
Customer
Support
use
Dynamics;
Sales
use
Salesforce.com;
Engineering
use
CVS;
QA
use
Jira;
and
Product
Management
use
Confluence.
On
top
of
that,
email
is
extensively
used
to
share
information
and
many
employees
also
use
shared
network
folders
to
store
&
share
documents.
As
a
result,
knowledge
acquired
by
one
department
is
rarely
available
to
the
rest
of
the
company.
Recommended
Solution
Adopt
a
company-­‐wide
social
intranet
platform,
consolidating
the
various
content
management
silos
in
the
organization
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
11
Columbia
University

12.
I
recommend
using
Confluence
given
its
integration
with
Salesforce.com
and
Jira,
which
will
continue
to
be
used
as
content
sources.
Expected
Value
Improving
knowledge
sharing,
alignment
and
collaboration
between
all
teams.
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
having
faster
response
to
market
trends/needs
and
higher
quality
offering
Strategic
Challenges
it
Addresses
!
!
Agility
Quality
3.6.2 Knowledge
Codification
Problem
“We
don’t
know
what
we
know”
There
is
no
governance
around
knowledge
codification
and
there
is
no
significant
attempt
by
management
to
drive
it.
Significant
portion
of
the
knowledge
sharing
is
done
verbally
in
meetings
with
no
consistent
note
taking
and/or
decision
codification.
As
result,
some
key
intellectual
property
is
being
lost
when
people
leave
the
company.
Also,
there
is
inefficiency
as
different
people
“reinvent
the
wheel”,
not
knowing
that
the
same
issue
was
discussed
and
addressed
before.
Recommended
Solution
Knowledge
Codification
Governance
and
Incentives
(a
mix
of
stick
and
carrot)
The
company
as
a
whole
and
each
department
should
define
clear
guidelines
around
what
knowledge
should
be
codified
and
how.
For
example,
there
should
be
a
clear
policy
on
who
should
take
minuets
of
meeting,
what’s
the
expected
template,
where
it
should
be
stored,
and
how
it
should
be
shared.
Also,
in
the
spirit
of
gamification,
the
company
should
create
an
incentive
and
recognition
program
that
will
drive
employees
to
share
knowledge
and
follow
the
codification
guidelines.
Expected
Value
Developing
organizational
intellectual
capital
and
avoiding
wasteful
mistakes
and
redundant
work.
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
having
faster
response
to
market
trends/needs
and
reducing
cost
associated
with
wasted
time.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
12
Columbia
University

13.
Strategic
Challenges
it
Addresses
!
!
!
Agility
Quality
Operational
Efficiency
3.6.3 Knowledge-­‐based
Decision
Making
Problem
Leveraging
organizational
knowledge
for
better
decision
making
BCI
doesn’t
use
codified
knowledge
to
help
make
informed
decisions.
For
example,
product
pricing
strategy
is
not
driven
by
analytics
of
customers
and
competitive
data.
“Knowledge
becomes
intelligence
when
and
only
when
it’s
transmitted
to
someone
who
can
act
upon
it
to
create
value.”
(Tim
Powell,
2013)6
Recommended
Solution
Business
Analytics
and
Strategic
Intelligence
The
company
should
utilize
BA/BI
tools
and
best
practices.
I
recommend
looking
at
all
major
decision
made
(e.g.
which
target
markets
to
go
after,
what
should
be
the
pricing,
make/buy/outsource
decisions,
etc.)
and
trying
to
support
these
decisions
by
intelligence,
based
on
knowledge,
which
is
based
on
information,
which
is
based
on
data.
(I’ll
be
in
a
position
to
provide
more
a
more
detailed
recommendation
after
completing
IKNS
K4304
-­‐
Business
Analytics
and
Strategic
Intelligence.)
Expected
Value
More
informed
decisions
Hence,
increasing
the
likelihood
of
making
smarter
decisions
that
would
help
win
the
competitive
game.
“Embedding
analytics
into
core
business
processes
creates
sustainable
competitive
advantage”
(Jeanne
Harris,
Accenture,
2013)7
Also,
by
using
BA/BI,
the
company
may
evaluate
their
cost/efficiency
and
cut
costs
accordingly.
Figure
3
below
illustrates
how
data
can
create
value.
Strategic
Challenges
it
Addresses
!
!
!
Agility
Quality
Operational
Efficiency
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
13
Columbia
University

14.
1
Figure
3
-­‐
The
Knowledge
Value
Chain
(with
a
slight
modification:
replacing
“Production”
with
KD
and
“Use”
with
KU)
3.7 Risks
&
Challenges
Change
Management
will
likely
be
the
biggest
challenge
in
pursing
the
above
recommended
knowledge
strategy.
The
risk
is
that
due
to
inherent
resistance
to
change,
status
quo
will
prevail
and
all
the
time,
money
and
effort
invested
in
implementing
this
strategy
will
result
in
no
meaningful
business
impact.
According
to
Dale
Stanley 8 ,
60%
of
major
knowledge
strategy
implementations
fail,
80%
of
these
failures
are
due
to
change
management
problems.
To
overcome
these
dismal
statistics,
the
appointed
KM
manager
should
implement
a
Change
Management
program
that
follows
these
principals9:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Sponsorship
Change
Agents
Organizational
Readiness
and
Managing
Resistance
Communication
Planning.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
14
Columbia
University

15.
3.8 Roadmap
The
roadmap
for
implementing
the
above
recommended
strategy
might
vary
based
on
available
resources.
Therefore,
at
this
time
my
recommendation
does
not
include
specific
dates.
However,
it
does
outline
the
major
milestones
in
the
process.
I’ve
broken
down
the
strategy
to
three
tracks:
1)
Strategic,
2)
Social
Intranet
and
3)
Business
Analytics
tracks.
These
tracks
are
not
linear.
Once
the
strategic
track
has
passed
the
4th
milestone,
both
tracks
2
and
3
can
start
in
parallel.
Track
1:
Knowledge
Strategy
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
15
Columbia
University

16.
Track
2:
Social
Intranet
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
16
Columbia
University

17.
Track
3:
Business
Analytics
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
17
Columbia
University

18.
4 Conclusion
Like
many
start-­‐up
companies,
in
its
early
years
of
existence
BCI
focused
its
strategy
and
management
attention
on
activities
that
would
enable
the
creation
a
competitive
offering
(financing
and
product
development)
and
initial
market
success
(marketing
and
sales).
While
BCI
does
implement
implicit
Knowledge
Development
and
Knowledge
Sharing
practices
that
add
clear
value
and
address
the
company’s
strategic
challenges
(see
Table
2),
these
activities
are
sporadic
and
rather
narrow
in
their
scope.
There
is
much
more
that
could
be
done
in
the
knowledge
domain
to
drive
constant
innovation,
operational
excellence,
and
more
informed
decisions.
As
the
company
moves
beyond
the
“start-­‐up”
stage
to
the
“growth”
stage,
it
should
start
to
shift
its
strategy
and
allocate
more
management
attention
to
the
long-­‐term
sustainability
of
its
competitive
advantage.
Such
long-­‐term
strategy
can’t
rely
merely
on
the
current
inherent
technology
advantage
of
its
product.
Just
as
BCI
disrupt
the
current
market
status
quo,
soon
enough,
new
innovators
will
arrive
to
the
market
and
will
aim
to
disrupt
the
status
quo
once
again.
To
effectively
compete
in
such
dynamic
environment,
BCI
should
develop
a
knowledge
strategy
that
would
result
in:
!
!
!
Constant
and
fast
product/service
innovation
Operation
excellence,
driving
down
cost
and
time-­‐to-­‐market,
while
maximizing
product
and
service
quality
Leveraging
organizational
knowledge
for
more
educated
decision-­‐making.
In
summary,
here
are
the
steps
that
I
recommend
in
the
roadmap
to
achieving
the
above
strategy:
a. Clearly
define
and
communicate
the
company’s
Knowledge
Mission,
Vision
and
Values
b. Appoint
a
Knowledge
Manager
that
reports
to
a
senior
executive
c. Adopt
a
company-­‐wide
social
intranet
platform,
consolidating
the
various
content
management
silos
in
the
organization
d. Knowledge
Codification
Governance
and
Incentives
e. Utilize
BA/BI
tools
and
best
practices
to
drive
more
informed
decisions
To
ensure
success
of
this
strategy,
a
thoughtful
change
management
program
should
be
implemented.
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
18
Columbia
University

19.
References:
1
Daveport,
T.
and
Prusak,
L.,
Working
Knowledge
(Harvard
Business
School
Press,
2000)
xxi
2
Porter,
Michael
E.,
What
Is
Strategy?
(Harvard
Business
Review,
1996)
96608,
75
3
SMR
Briefing,
The
Knowledge
Audit
(SMR-­‐Knowledge.com,
Sep
7,
2012)
4
Hislop,
Donald,
Knowledge
Management
in
Organizations
(Oxford
University
Press,
2008)
158-­‐
167
5
Stewart,
Tom,
Booz
&
Co.,
Knowledge
Strategy,
Knowledge
Products,
and
Innovation
(IKNS
K4302,
11/12/13)
Slides
6-­‐8
6
Powell,
Tim,
Knowledge
is
Power
–
Not!,
http://www.knowledgevaluechain.com/2013/08/12/knowledge-­‐is-­‐power-­‐not/
(last
accessed
on
11/10/2013)
7
Harris,
Jeanne
G.,
Accenture,
Competing
and
Winning
with
Analytics
(IKNS
Residency,
8/30/13)
Slide
11
8
Stanley,
Dale,
Business
Realities:
Change
Management
(IKNS
K4301,
Session
5,
Expert
Interview
video)
02:35
9
St.
Clair,
G.,
and
Stanley,
Dale,
“Afterword:
Managing
Strategic
Change”
In
Building
the
Knowledge
Culture:
The
Knowledge
Services
Effect.
(SMR
International,
2009)
55–68
Knowledge
Strategy
Project
(wo
the
appendix).docx
19
Columbia
University