Nice update on APQC’s latest take on KM. A question came up for me that we didn’t have time for today:
There was a slide about How Technology Helps KM, that discussed how new tech like data analytics, machine learning and AI can be used to automate some of the more mundane, routine tasks of KM content management. The question this triggered for me was, How can KM help with the adoption of new technology?

It seems to me that having a base roadmap to start with that prescribes a particular suite of KM tools/interventions would be really helpful to jumpstart a KM initiative that is aimed at supporting a given type of technology deployment. As companies focus on digital transformation, rolling out RPA, embracing analytics, etc., I believe our field has a ton of useful insight to offer in support of these rollouts and transformations, that would help accelerate them, and reduce the time to value realization. I would have loved to ask Carla and Co. whether APQC has pulled together any templates or roadmaps that provide a straw model KM solution template for various types of tech deployments that companies may be pursuing. I would think this would be helpful, as there are so many different types of km tool and varieties of KM interventions. And the various technologies each have their own challenges - some overlapping, some unique to a given technology.

TO: SIKM Leaders Community

• December 18, 2018 SIKM Call: Carla O'Dell and Lauren Trees of APQC - High-Touch KM for a High-Tech World
• Carla O'Dell: Profiles in Knowledge
• Slides
• Recording
• Twitter Chat Transcript

Hi Tom, I talked to Carla about your post and have combined our responses here.

 

From Carla: Your observation is right on. Our research on RPA and other automation projects found that projects found that having KM (and HR) as part of the transformation team dramatically increased the satisfaction and perceived success of the project. While we don’t have templates, we have other content that might be helpful.

 

From Lauren: Yes, we find that KM has a lot to offer in terms of best practices and lessons learned for IT implementation. To generalize, KM teams tend to have more embedded change and communication skills than IT does, and KM has also had decades of practice nudging people to use new systems (with varying degrees of success). In organizations that have a close partnership between IT and KM, this is often something KM can offer in terms of reciprocity – IT can help KM with tools, and KM can serve as a liaison between IT and business stakeholders and help guide and support knowledge-related IT change efforts. I wrote an article for KMWorld earlier this year that touches on the KM/IT partnership and might be useful here: Knowledge management thrives on partnership.

 

In addition, KM infrastructure around communities, enterprise social platforms, and webinars can be extremely helpful tools in change management and communication. They’re also great venues for peer assists and endorsements and the organic sharing of success stories, which are so important to scaling the adoption of new technology. We talk about this in our Supporting Transformational Change Through KM white paper.

 

We don’t have any templates that walk people through the connections, but that is a cool idea and one I’ll consider!

Thank you, Lauren and Carla, for the quick response to my question. I'll check out the pointers - and watch for an update from you if you end up pursuing the template idea! Thanks.