Knowledge management software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knowledge management software (KM Software) is a subset of Enterprise content management software and which contains a range of software that specialises in the way information is collected, stored and/or accessed. The concept of knowledge management is based on a range of practices used by an individual, a business, and a large corporation to identify, create, represent and redistribute information for a range of purposes. Software that enables an information practice or range of practices at any part of the processes of information management can be deemed to be called information management software. A subset of information management software that emphasises an approach to build knowledge out of information that is managed or contained is often called knowledge management software.
KM Software in most cases provides a means of individuals, small groups or mid-sized businesses with ways to innovate, build new knowledge in the group, and/or improve customer experience. Knowledge management tools (software) includes a range of about 1,500 or more different approaches] to collect and contain information to then build knowledge that can be searched through specialised search tools including concept building tools and or visual search tools that present information in a connected manager not originally conceptualised by those collecting or maintaining the information database. The group of tools most commonly known as 'knowledge management software' seems to begin with helping individuals (TheBrain Technologies Corp., being one key example) with knowledge management tasks, but then often are rebuilt to provide mid-sized businesses with solutions.
Contents |
[edit] Range of KM Software
KM Software ranges from small software packages for an individual to use, such as brainstorming software, to highly specialised enterprise software suitable for use by hundreds of employees. Often KM Software provides a key resource for employees working in customer service or telephone support industries, or sectors of large corporations.
KM software, in general, enables the combination of unstructured information sources, such as individual word processed documents and/or .pdf formats, email, graphic illustrations, unstructured notes, website links, invoices, and other information bearing collections, such as a simple thought, through to a combination of millions of interactions from a website, and through that combination enables the seeker to obtain knowledge that otherwise would not have been discovered.
[edit] Top 100 Companies in KM
Since 2000, KMWorld magazine has published a list of the top 100 companies (out of 1,500 in the field) that matter in knowledge management software. These companies were selected by a panel, taking into account customer feedback concerning these companies, innovative ideas as demonstrated by a company's solution, and the functionality of each solution as compared to the others.
The companies in the top 100 list, have according to KMWorld Magazine, helped create, enhance, or define a market. In addition, these companies have defined a range of alternative ways of handling, managing and reusing information to generate knowledge solutions.
An example of the companies in the top 100 list include Inxight, TheBrain Technologies Corp., RightNow Technologies, Citrix Systems, ISYS Search Software, Lockheed Martin, and SAP. Each of these systems/software are noteable in the way they handle information for re-use.
For example, TheBrain Technologies uses a visual search tool for users of the tool to work their way through information visually rather than through a keyword/search method. RightNow produces student management software that has as its key system a method of profiling potential students and then providing a mechanism to obtain students according to profile. Lockheed Martin produce software that enables a person to only acquire the information according to the person's context.
[edit] Groupware
In Europe through the 1990s, KM Software was almost synonymous with groupware and groupware in this context is most popularly IBM's Lotus Notes. However, as Internet connections deliver faster Internet, such as through broadband, many On-demand products have evolved and are now leading suppliers of software.
One of the leading suppliers of on-demand software, NetSuite uses collaborative software techniques underpinning its CRM Software. Each member of an organization has access to information commensurate with his/her role in the organization. According to each person's role, she/he can manage information, add to that information and/or delete information when no longer relevant. In addition, documents can be attached to current information windows, and shared with people within the organization or made available to members of the public according to the role a member of the public may have in relation to the company.
[edit] Visual Search
One of the departures from the almost standard keyword search approach are those group of companies developing [[Visual search|visual search techniques]. A common visual search approach is the tree traversal where a folder is opened and inside the display of that folder are further sub-folders. This tree traversal approach relies on the naming of folders to provide a rich enough indication as to what is contained in the next folder or level of folders.
Another type of visual search is developed by TheBrain Technologies Corp. where the most basic information item is called a "thought". Additional thoughts are added to the "plex" (a graphic combination of thoughts into a spatial display). Almost any file can be saved in an attachment to a thought, such as a website page, a .pdf file, a .jpg photograph etc. The downside of "TheBrain" is that for an individual the database must exist on a local computer drive; access to the "plex" or "visual database" is through that single computer. A network version is available for an enterprise. While similar, the enterprise version has been refined to make it hardly look like the same version as the personal brain.
TheBrain Technologies Corp. is in direct competition with Convera Corporation, Entopia, Inc., EPeople Inc., and Inxight Software Inc. It is Inxight Software that is the closest competitor of "TheBrain" providing a useful alternate solution to information trees.
