Knowledge management is a
broad term, embracing a variety of disciplines and procedures, but it
operates essentially as a two-way street. Raw data is collected out of
circumstance and activity, to be codified and stored. In the other
direction, circumstance and activity require information, to be
retrieved from the organizational storehouse.
At the worker level, tools are arriving continually to manage knowledge. The force driving this in the field of CRM
is customer service, led by its principal mission of sales. Loyalty,
and repeat sales, are factors of customer service and support – that
much neglected, Forgotten Space – and in this area knowledge management is increasingly important.
“It’s simply human—at the moment of truth (caring for
a customer, who may be growing impatient), employees are left
unsupported, trying to find the right resolution amid many choices. The
CEO of the company couldn’t perform any better than the new hire—execs are only human, too.
“We must alter our tools to actively support
employees in real time. These tools must provide them with customized
offers to each customer based on his different needs and issues. It is
only with such tools that we can reduce the variance factor and trust
that at the moment of truth every employee can be a top performer.”
From The Variance Factor
For software developers such as Dovetail Software, this kind of clarion call sounds continually. CRM
vendors as a breed are very conscious of the improvements in
productivity that they need to bring – and that they are bringing – to
customer-facing agents to meet the modern company’s competitive
requirements.
As we have often noted here, the power of software can be liberating.
Simple tools that amplify the workers’ information access and their
ability to take meaningful action tend to produce measurable results:
change in workflows, increased morale, and more efficient execution.
What
then for the executives and middle managers? The workers are in a way
made free by their narrow constraints – the limits of their
responsibility and freedom are fairly clear. Executives are caught in
more ephemeral webs, where patronage, sponsorship, and team demarcation
play significant roles. How do managers maintain their value to the
enterprise as individuals, and still join together enough as team
players in a collective effort to guide the organization’s development
course?
One answer to the quandary may rest with software itself. Enterprise 2.0
will gain traction, and companies will become more “conscious”
organizations – in other words, knowledge management will become more
pervasive and effective across the enterprise. From this, the
demonstration effect of the new collaboration tools being used at the
lower team levels (wikis and blogs, combined with with knowledge
harvesting and archival) can create an upward ripple. How long before
board-level meetings become commonly extended in wikis?
“Innovation rarely, if ever, takes a linear course
through a company. Instead, its path is spiral in nature, requiring the
coordinated efforts of many cross-functioning teams. The process
requires excellent communication and teams that are comfortable with
overlapping responsibilities. Obviously, this can work only in a
company relatively free of departmental squabbling over turf, ego, and
idea ownership.” From The Customer Value and Innovation Feedback Loop
Eventually, ego is doomed in the modern
corporation. Individual neurosis and turf-building must give way to
cooperative effort illuminated by the glow of corporate data, and in
the service of the learning company’s continuous self-education. These
are simply the mandates for survival: agility means the ability to
react accurately, and accuracy demands realistic knowledge, which
ultimately involves impartial judgment. Software will help turn this
judgment into actionable conclusions.
Here’s another quote from CRMBuyer’s
excellent article on industrial innovation – we’re making the analogy
of their R&D maverick with our control-obsessed executive:
“Critics of continuous improvement methodologies
claim those methodologies stifle industrial creativity by burdening it
with excessive bureaucracy. While this may be true in some instances,
as a rule creativity and innovation (two very different concepts in
this discussion) thrive in highly structured industrial environments.
“This reality runs counter to the widespread but
inaccurate image of maverick R&D geniuses working in isolation,
pulling dazzling, quantum-leaping innovations from their hats with one
“Eureka!” after another.” ibid
We agree that creativity and innovation both
succeed supremely well within a disciplined environment – and this is
very different from a stultifying environment, and the difference is
worth exploring. In future examinations, we will continue to see how
software and social-networking tools can rise up the management chain
to the strata of critical decision-making.
