Tomorrow’s user-centric interoperable environments will place a premium on the ease and efficiency with which knowledge can be learned, shared, and flowed.

In a nutshell, our basic KM philosophy is Learn Once, Use Anywhere.

V.P. Kochikar

Enterprises have a long way to go in developing the knowledge ecology and supporting infrastructures necessary to succeed in the variety of likely e-knowledge futures. They have also learned a great deal about the limitations of the early generations of ERP, LMS, LCMS, portals, and community-building software. The list of “what has been missing” from enterprise ICT has included non-proprietary applications, interoperability, and transformative impacts on enterprise processes, dynamics, and culture. These elements are being included in the next generation of enterprise applications being developed by solution providers. Equally important, enterprise leaders are beginning to evaluate their investment in technology based on the potential to create genuine competitive advantage and open new relationships and markets.

In his book, From Good to Great, Jim Collins assesses why some enterprises persist over time and become true leaders in their industries. One of the central elements in the saga of great enterprises is their shrewd use of technology as an “accelerator” in the attainment of their mission.

(These enterprises focus on) what they can be the best in the world at, a deep understanding of their economic engine and the core values they hold with deep passion. They then use technology to enhance these pre-existing variables, never as a replacement.

Jim Collins, 2001

And so it is with knowledge. Enterprises need to apply this same discipline to using investment in ICT to accelerate their attainment of their strategic goals for using e-knowledge to attain their mission, vision, and competitive position. The emergent concept of VOI can be a useful benchmark for the enterprise’s strategic goals, which can be attained through use of ICT as an accelerator.