Let’s Talk Knowledge

Although we try to keep this blog focused on interesting or thought-provoking items impacting the Knowledge Management space, every once in a while we all need to toot our own horn, and this time I’ll do it because of how proud we are that Factiva.com has won the 2010 CODiE Award for Best Content Aggregation Service for the 2nd year in a row! Another DJ product, Dow Jones Investment Banker, also won for Best Online Professional Financial Information Service. It’s a big accomplishment for us, and we’re proud because it’s validation of the hard work we keep putting into making this the world’s best business news and reseach solution.

More importantly, however, it’s the continual feedback, inspiration and general prodding from our thousands of customers and million+ users that keeps us on the right track. Among the enhancements we’ve put into Factiva.com, just in the last year, include our new Concept Explorer, Discovery in Factiva Alerts, Dow Jones Idea Share, Factiva Workspaces, Factiva content podcasting, and automated translation for many sources (English to Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese–and those languages back to English).

It’s also a good reminder that, even though we have a lot of exciting new initiatives that have recently or soon will be coming down the pike, solutions like Factiva.com still play an important role in the knowledge management landscape.

Thanks again to all of our users!

- Ryan

ryanw Business Intelligence, Research Awards, Dow Jones, Factiva.com

As you can see I haven’t been busy blogging as of late – that’s the bad news (if you like my posts that is). The good news is I have been busy researching and talking to researchers and knowledge workers around the globe. There have been a couple of trends I’ve seen across these conversations, and one of them is the power of context.

While their is no refuting the power of aggregating information, it really is just the start. Of course you have to be able to find the most relevant information, when you need it, and be able to get to it when you need it. But just having the information really isn’t enough. That information becomes valuable when it is put in context for the user.

Understanding the user’s workflow, and what they will be doing with it when they get it can unlock the real value. Let’s look at the example of a Partner at a consulting firm to explain what I mean. We can use information about the revenue performance of one of the Partner’s customers as an example. Having access to recent financial statements and articles regarding the revenue performance over the customer over the last three quarters is good. Having the actual numbers extracted from that content is even better. But then what? How will the Partner use that information?

If he or she is trying to close new business with the customer, they may also need to see how expenses have fared over the same time period, in order to understand if current financial performance may lessen the likelihood or size of any potential opportunity. If he or she is preparing a report or making a recommendation, they may need access to performance from the peers of their customer for comparison purposes.

Two activities focused on the same piece of information, but both with very different needs for the context around that information. So while understanding the Partner in the consulting firm often needs access to revenue information regarding their customers is valuable, understanding how they will use that information is priceless.

In my next post I’ll talk about the other trend that I have seen in my conversations – the effect time has on the value of information.

- Ken

Ken Sickles Business Intelligence, Information Management, Research context, Information Management, Research

I have been doing a lot of market research and customer interviews as of late. Most of the work has been focused on providing role based information management tools for information consumers. There has been one common thread to the conversation: Simplicity.

I think there is a tendency on the behalf of people that design information solutions to try and jam as much relevant data as you can into the users workflow. I’m not sure why that is, maybe because we are accustomed to processing large volumes of data, maybe a desire to ensure we have a complete picture, maybe simply because we can. But it is clearly not what information consumers want. All they are looking for is *the* relevant data, not *all* of the relevant data.

I think it is easy for information professionals to lose sight of the importance of this subtle distinction. Information is our jobs, it’s what we do. But for end users it really is just a small (albeit incredibly important) part of their job. Probably one of the most valuable things we can do as information professionals is understand what the real needs of the end user are. This of course is easier said than done, because often users have difficulty describing their needs. In some cases they will also have trouble in defining them, and often cast too wide a net. Of course then after being given what they asked for, they will be overwhelmed, and in turn unsatisfied.

The best way for us to understand the information needs of users is to understand their role, their objective, and how it supports the operation of the company as a whole. Don’t ask “What information do you need?’, instead ask “Can you describe a typical day? What are the 3 primary objectives in your role? What are your top 3 challenges in meeting those objectives? What happens if you don’t get the information you need? “. Taking this sort of consultative approach will help you identify what an end user really needs, as opposed to what they ask for. It also has the benefit of helping you determine the value of the solution, and perhaps more importantly it can help the end user understand that as well. In many cases, it will also help you determine what sort of analysis that you can do on the users behalf (this is incredibly value because of the time savings you can provide).

Ultimately, once you identify the information needs, avoid the temptation to over-deliver. Deliver only what the user absolutely needs. Anything more will simply be a distraction.

- Ken

Ken Sickles Business Intelligence, Information Management, Research

Today my colleague Brigitte Ricou-Bellan published an e-book on the Return on Intelligence, and I wanted to follow up that wonderful piece with a post. The topic of the piece couldn’t be more timely – how to justify the investment in knowledge and information management solutions. Today more than ever as organizations are cutting costs, these kind of solutions come under scrutiny. Many times they are viewed as a nice to have, but not a necessity. The e-book tackles two different means to help prove value.

First there is the case study from Accenture on determining a tangible ROI. In Accenture’s case, time-savings was used to show a $25-1 return on investment in knowledge management solutions. In the e-book they also discuss some of the other factors that could have been used, such as increased sales, increased quality, decreased costs, etc. 

Determining a tangible ROI is of course invaluable, but something that can often be time-consuming and difficult to do however. I believe the real opportunity is to begin to change the perception around information management solutions. The fact of the matter is that when deployed and managed effectively these solutions can provide distinct competitive advantage, customer intamicy, and operational efficiencies. All of which are critical in any economic climate, but essential a down economy. 

But how do we change the perception of solutions like Factiva from Dow Jones? Take a moment to think about some of the strategic initiatives in your organization. Is there one to manage risk in your supply chain? Perhaps one to reduce the cost of sales? Maybe to grow presence in an emerging market? Projects and objectives like these often have a return on investment associated with them and are perceived to be mission critical. Fortunately, initiatives like these are fueled by information from both inside and outside the enterprise firewall. Having access to reliable and timely information can be the difference between a good decision and a bad one. 

Think about the different conversations you can have with your constituents that use your IM or KM solutions. Don’t talk about the number of employees that receive “News Alerts”. Instead discuss the benefit of a “Daily Supply Chain Risk Dashboard”, and how it is a key factor in the success of your companies Supply Chain initiatives. Both come from the same tool, but are perceived completely differently.

So what initiatives in your organization can be improved by the availability of reliable, accurate, and timely information? What projects will be made better by a tool that enables knowledge curation of all manner of information, and social intelligence? More importantly perhaps, which ones already are?

So instead of spending time justifying the investments you have made, take some time to understand the importance of those investments to your organizations strategic goals. Find use cases of IM solutions doing so today in your company. Evangalise how a down economy is when you need to invest more than ever in creating competitive advantage, customer intamicy, and operational efficiency. Convince your company about the value of the Return on Intelligence. Intelligence that you, your team, and your solutions are delivering to your constituents.

For the many reading this who have done so, I encourage you to share your stories here and take the poll in the sidebar! Remember, this blog isn’t a one way communication vehicle for me, it is a community for transforming information into intelligence. Kudos to Brigitte and the DJ team for giving us a such a great topic to discuss.

- Ken

Ken Sickles Business Intelligence, Information Management, Research Information Management, return on intelligence, ROI

I mentioned in my last post that a shift in focus will be taking place in technology. Instead of creating, storing, distributing, and retrieving (as my friend Christine pointed out), technology will turn its focus to tools to help make sense of the vast amounts of valuable information made available to us. I wonder though if it isn’t the simplest of technologies, which already exists, that will be one of the most beneficial to us.

What could be better than a tool that would understand what decision point we are trying to support, go find all of the relevant information, then analyze it and present it in an easily consumable manner like a dashboard? How about someone who has recently made the same or similar decision? Someone who has already either manually or through technology synthesized large amounts of information, understands the sources of the most valuable data, and maybe even knows the context in which you are making a decision.

Learning from the knowledge of others is something we’re very accustomed to doing, and very comfortable with. Really, the idea of Search is to connect us to the materials that others have put together, so we can benefit from the knowledge they posses without knowing who they are. But now, we have social networks and messaging systems that help us easily find those people, and subsequently the knowledge they have.

Imagine discovering a company you are not familiar with in a news article, and wanting to know who their competitors are. If you use the standard means of Search, you would spend some time on Google, or your intranet, or a research tool like Factiva to get your answer. Think instead if you could click on the company, and have a list of people in your enterprise or industry peers that have a relationship to that company (a procurement person, a sales person, a technology person, etc.). An instant (or micro) message directed at one or more of the people listed, gives you access to all of there knowledge. They will likely either know the answer directly, or be able to tell you where to find the answer.

Intelligence obtained from your social network, not your ability to search. Connecting with people that are informed, not finding relevant information. A powerful way to benefit from the volumes of information we are presented with, and not be overwhelmed by it.

Of course enabling social intelligence is only one of the things that needs to happen. New information management technologies are still critical. I just think we should do our best to get the most out of our existing technologies, while future technologies are being development.

Ken Sickles Business Intelligence, Information Management, Social Media Business Intelligence, Information Management, social intelligence, Social Media