Essentials of Knowledge Management

5.3. Enabling the Knowledge Management Process

The technologies available to enable the Knowledge Management process span the continuum from low-tech tools, such as pen and paper, to high-tech expert systems and virtual reality displays. For example, the telephone, tape recorders, whiteboards, and other technologies that most of us take for granted are enabling technologies in that they facilitate some aspects of the KM life cycle. However, when most people speak of enabling technologies, they're referring to more high-tech tools, such as PDAs, that provide some advantages over pen and paper. That distinction is a matter of degree and user experience. For example, in the late 1800s, the telephone switchboard was a disruptive technology that enabled business owners to collaborate with each other and their staff in real time over distances of several miles.

Exhibit 5.2 presents a wide range of enabling technologies, from authoring and decision support tools to controlled vocabularies and database tools, that can be used to enable various phases of the KM life cycle. In general, these technologies serve as intellectual levers that provide the connectivity needed to efficiently transfer information among knowledge workers, either in real time or asynchronously. In this regard, a database archive can be thought of as a storage area that adds a significant delay to the communications.

EXHIBIT 5.2. EXHIBIT 5.2

Life Cycle Phase	Primary Enabling Technologies
Creation/acquisition	Authoring ...