KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! Information overload! COMPANIES are finding themselves increasingly overloaded with information. Busy people are finding it difficult to keep track and manage knowledge effectively. The question of Knowledge Management -- now an international issue -- is under discussion here in Bolton. ROB HUGHES of Bolton Council's Business Information Service takes a look at this new problem of the communications age.

IN recent years Knowledge Management has become a buzzword in business.

Management consultants and IT companies often use this to sell companies their products and services, but what does it mean to most businesses?

One possible description of this area is understanding and developing the link between people and corporate strategy -- specifically in relation to the knowledge they hold.

Theorists talk about the importance of understanding explicit and implicit knowledge. A good example of explicit knowledge would be a security company that has an extensive client contracts database accessed by all staff.

Contrast this with a member of the sales staff who has visited J Smith Ltd, who require CCTV equipment, and has noticed that the 20 surrounding companies on the industrial estate are just as much in need of your products.

Your member of staff will probably keep that implicit knowledge to himself or herself if sales targets are important to the individual. He or she might also take that knowledge away if there is a move to a competitor.

This can be typical of the many day-to-day examples of Knowledge Management issues that face companies daily.

On a simpler level, we all know someone who knows how to print a document from Word in the way we want it -- the only problem is that they are usually on holiday when we need them.

One of the key tricks of good Knowledge Management is to maximise the effective use of implicit knowledge, but more importantly to use it to strategic effect.

If this is such an essential issue why has it become popular in recent years?

One reason is the growth in information-based media and workers. We are all working in the age of an information revolution. Media such as the Internet and use of information technology in general has accelerated the growth of information storage needs. This phenomenon has accelerated the need to manage the Knowledge created by such growth but also capitalise on the opportunities presented by the existence of such Knowledge.

On a personnel level, short-term contracts, the disappearing concept of a 'job-for-life' and part-time working are some of the factors contributing to the need to manage the knowledge created by the work environment. We are less likely to keep hold of 'experts' such as the salesperson described above for as long as we used to. The working environment in the 21st Century is far more flexible than it was even 10 years ago.

So what can be done about this?

Many companies are already working intensely on major Knowledge Management projects that are specific to their needs. Angelia Water for instance has undertaken a major programme to link Knowledge Management with its staff development programme by establishing a 'learning university'. Innovative firms such as Dow Chemical were able to identify $120m of savings in their first year of delivering a KM strategy through observation of duplications in efforts in protecting and developing their patented products.

Knowledge Management is a complex issue however, which revolves around the needs of individual firm's needs and business objectives.

Bolton Business Information Service is currently working closely with Business Link Bolton & Bury to develop an approach to Knowledge Management at a local level. If any aspect of this article was relevant to your company then we would like to hear from you with a view to talking to you about your needs in the near future.

For further information contact Rob Hughes at BRIS on 01204 336139.