Knowledge Management Strategy & Design

Many organizations are faced with a common and costly problem; their information is poorly organized and fragmented amongst multiple repositories. The organization lacks a strategy or set of tools to integrate this information. This lack of information management can be very costly to companies that do not address this problem. This problem creates different challenges for employees, partners, and customers.

EK has a proven methodology to help both small and large companies in a wide range of industries develop a strategy to solve their Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) problems. The first step in addressing this challenge is to define a clear roadmap which navigates a knowledge and information strategy from current state to target state. Once a roadmap exists, organizations possess a clear path forward, framed within the context of their own business. Such a strategy helps to ensure information is brought together in a way that it is eminently findable, manageable, and reusable for those who need it.

• Knowledge Gathering and Current State Assessment
• Target State Definition
• Business Case Development
• Software Selection, Architecture, and Design
• Strategy Development and Roadmapping
• Agile, Design Thinking, and Facilitation
• Change Management and Communications

EK has worked with organizations on a global scale to develop compelling strategies regarding the current state of Knowledge and Information Management and to drive a clear and concise vision for a target state. EK possesses both the KIM expertise as well as the accompanying technical depth of knowledge and in-house skills that enable us to develop a practical roadmap to ensure your organization can achieve its Knowledge and Information Management goals.

We approach our assessment efforts by considering organizational culture, people, content, processes, and supporting technologies. We use interviews, focus groups, and industry research to understand where our clients are in the KIM continuum and where they need to be. This gives us a complete understanding of your current Knowledge and Information Management strengths and weaknesses, allowing us to provide the right recommendations and guidance to drive success, business value, and long-term adoption.

Further, we apply our proprietary KIM Maturity Model industry benchmark to help focus your KIM targets and clearly define success criteria.

We have a proven process to define the target state of Knowledge and Information Management for your organization. Our consultants use the information gathered during the current state assessment and industry best practices to identify a practical end state for your KIM goals. We use this end state vision to develop a gap analysis providing recommendations across culture, content, processes, and technology. This gap analysis and target state definition includes measurable success criteria that ensures that all of our recommendations provide immediate and tangible benefits to your organization.

With this knowledge in hand, our consultants utilize EK’s unique combination of KM and technical skills to develop the target state architecture and recommended technology toolset that will help you achieve your Knowledge and Information Management goals.

It is not always easy to develop a business case that properly justifies the need for Knowledge and Information Management improvements. EK uses our business value workshop along with business value best practices to help our customers develop a business case that justifies proper funding to support their KIM projects. This business case can be done as a stand-alone activity or as part of a larger strategic solution.

With the current and target states in mind, our consultants conduct a vendor fit analysis, which yields a short-list of candidate software vendors that may offer potential solutions for achieving your goals in the most efficient and effective way. Based on the preferred vendor, we develop a high-level KIM architecture and design to visualize how the KIM tools fit and integrate within your technology framework as part of the target state.

Building on the established focus on culture, people, content, processes, and technology, EK consultants work with you to develop a strategy and roadmap document that outlines the workstreams and activities needed to achieve the target state. It combines our understanding of your organization with proven best practices and methodologies into an iterative work plan that ensures you can achieve the target state while quickly and consistently showing interim business value.

Furthermore, we compile an assessment of potential project ROI based on increased revenues, cost avoidance, regulatory compliance, and litigation and acquisition preparedness.

Many organizations continue to struggle when attempting to design and implement user-centric solutions and approaches. Burdensome processes, poor communication, and difficulties managing changing requirements make it difficult to succeed, much less create a culture of continuous improvement. EK leverages Agile and Design Thinking in order to address these challenges and help organizations develop innovative ideas and enable a shift in how organizations solve problems.

For more information, check out our Agile, Design Thinking, & Facilitation page or contact us today!

EK has worked with organizations across the world who are looking for their workforce to become more adaptable to changing circumstances; their struggles are similar. Our clients’ organizations have a wealth of expertise, but it’s not easily accessible due to silos and organizational barriers. There is inconsistency in how work is performed and decisions are made. Staff scramble to respond to changes or shifting requirements due to organizational structures and processes. New technology or processes have been rolled out previously but now go ignored or unused as people revert to what they know. Your organization needs integrated change to address these core business challenges.

For more information, check out our Change Management & Communications page or contact us today!

As a result of this effort, you will have a complete view of your future KIM ecosystem and an accompanying understanding of the potential business value that could be realized once the target state is achieved. Achieving target state of KIM technologies and processes will place you well above industry standards for KIM amongst market leaders in knowledge and information management.

Once the strategy is complete, EK is uniquely suited to help you realize your vision beyond the initial strategy and assessment. As EK provides end-to-end design, implementation, and operations capabilities for Knowledge and Information Management initiatives, we are equipped to serve as your long-term partner, providing knowledge transfer, coaching, training, change management, and implementation services to realize the complete vision of enterprise information management.