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Is it Knowledge Management or Business Intelligence?

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I was recently speaking with someone whose background was all in business intelligence and data.   They had years of experience building data warehouses and datamarts.  They knew how to create cubes of data and slice and dice and store and manage all the financial and customer data you could imagine.  Because this person was from the "structured data" world, they just couldn't wrap their arms around the concept of knowledge management.  And we began a lengthy conversation about this abstract concept of knowledge management (KM).

Knowledge management -- the buzzword of decades past that might be synonymous with other buzzwords like collective intelligence or intellectual capital.  Or maybe you've heard of tacit and explicit knowledge -- differentiating between what is in our heads vs what's written down.  From a technology perspective, KM represents the mounds of documents, information, conversations, blogs, wikis, emails, social networks, knowhow, and expertise .... it's all the "stuff" that continues to overload us daily and continues to present challenges for individuals and organizations in filtering out what is important vs. what is just noise.   KM is also about the way we create, collect, manage, consume, share, and leverage the unstructured information combined with the structured data my colleague was so familiar with.  It's about learning, learning curves, and reuse - be it structured or social or organizational.   And KM can be also be about talent, innovation, revenue and costs as well...

Ultimately, KM is about individual, group, and business performance and providing a competitive advantage.  KM is also about adapting to change and managing it as the more you or an organization knows, the better decisions it can make and quickly recognize the need to change, adapt, and drive innovation.

As I explained and defined KM to my colleague and what this abstract buzzword KM is really about...he then said to me:   "Rich, it sounds exactly like what I've been doing for the last 2 decades with business intelligence... figuring out ways to collect, organize, structure, and mine data to help businesses make better decisions".    And the reality is my colleague was right.   BI has many parallels to KM... and at the end of the day it's all about being able to filter out the noise, identify all the variables in the equation, and make the right decisions based on what you know and assume to be true -- be it structured or unstructured.

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Submitted by Md Santo August 21, 2010 - 11:46 AM

Dear Rich,

I hope my article to somewhat extend could answer your issue on KM vs BI. My article from the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/why-knowledge-management-has among others mentioning .....In recent years, regarding the phenomenon of convergence between web as platform with others platform mainly derived from IT/ICT, we observe many types of Management (tool) type being exposed as “KM’s rivalries” or “KM competitors” Why it could happened? Let’s take a look for examples : Internal Communication vs KM, Social Media vs KM, Business Intelligence vs KM, Balanced Score Card vs KM, Information Management vs KM, Business Process Reengineering vs KM, Content Management vs KM, Document Management vs KM etc

The answer is because they treat KM as an ordinary management technique with similar level as other management tool types. But, considering the following comprehensive special understanding on KM, the situation will be entirely different. The following are the answers :

First, by contextually-driven KM definition, Knowledge Management (KM) essentially is not management technique but behaving more as an access mechanisms that can be used across any management tool type such as Total Quality Management, Learning Organization, Benchmarking, Process Classification Framework, Business Process Reengineering, Balanced Scorecard, Business Intelligence including Social Media platforms etc. wherein each with their specific functions to be orchestrated under KM’s consciousness. So, here we put KM in incredibly broad meaning as subject with higher level than any other management tool type which is treated only as object ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/28696847/How-to-re-postulating-the-paradi... ) From eastern concept, Knowledge with broad meaning also known as Noor or “Light”

Second, through content-driven KM definition, we described KM as “Human Enlightenment Process-based KM Definition” through the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/human-enlightment-staging and http://www.knowledge-management-online.com/human-enlightment-proces... in which KM defined as follow :
1. KM is the staging of Human Enlightenment Process
2. The process is to managing the transformation of Information content as object into Knowledge and beyond as subject (KW concept noted as narrow meaning)
3. The goals are towards Learning, Growth and Innovation
4. The management should leveraged by KM Standards, KM Tools and KM Process Frameworks

I hope through comprehensive understanding on KM above mentioned, it is no longer need again to put KM in rivalry position against many kinds of management tool types ....

Md Santo

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Submitted by Michael Sutton September 01, 2010 - 3:48 PM

This subject continues to stymie many individuals. I have submitted a proposal I anticipate will be accepted to deliver a Presentation on Practice at the upcoming 7th International Conference on Knowledge Management, October 22-23, Pittsburgh, USA, (http://www.ickm-2010.org). It is entitled: Knowledge Mobilization Framework: Coaching in Higher Educational Programs. In this action research-like initiative I describe faculty coaching of learners, as we use it in our project-based undergrad and grad courses, as an instance of Knowledge Mobilization (KMb).

KMb “is the process of generating value or a value stream through the creation, assimilation, leveraging, sharing and application of focused knowledge to a bounded community. …this would entail the effective creation, movement and tailoring [transfer & diffusion] of knowledge from its source … to its application … such that consequent actions are effective and sustainable.” [emphasis is mine]

[From Bennet, A., & Bennet, D. (2007). Knowledge Mobilization in the Social Sciences and Humanities: Moving from research to action. Frost, WV: MQI Press., p. 17].
(http://www.mountainquestinstitute.com/knowledge_mobilization.htm)

Bennet and Bennet have tried to move beyond KM, to a process that is more closely aligned with intelligent complex adaptive systems (ICAS). The authors suggest a simpler definition of knowledge and KM:
• Knowledge is “…the capacity (potential or actual) to take effective action in varied and uncertain situations” (Bennet & Bennet, 2004, p. 28).
• Knowledge Management is “a systematic management approach to getting an organization to make the best possible use of knowledge in implementing its mission, broadly viewed as either sustainable competitive advantage or long-term high performance. [KM]…can be viewed as a process for optimizing the effective application of intellectual capital to achieve organizational [or community] objectives”

[Bennet, A., & Bennet, D. (2004). Organizational survival in the new world: The intelligent complex adaptive system. Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier, p. 227].
(http://www.mountainquestinstitute.com/papers.htm)

I have found my BBA and MBA learners, (along with executives whom I consult with), more easily relate to these definitions, and the emerging relationship that exists between KM and KMb (suggesting the need for auctioning knowledge). Thus, I might suggest that BI is actually related to KM in a number of the methods applied, but would qualify as a KMb process.

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