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GCN Home > 03/09/01 web stories

Knowledge Management Initiatives Gain Foothold in Government

by Trish Williams
Washington Technology.com

Knowledge management initiatives are on the upswing as managers at all government levels face mounting pressure to work smarter and faster while wrestling with the demands of electronic government and a shrinking work force.

Practices put in place when agencies had more workers and fewer and far-less-demanding constituents do not cut it in today’s fast-paced environment, where nearly every worker has access to rapid-fire e-mail and the work force is more transient, government and industry experts said.

Today, “there is no place to hide. People must respond more quickly, and the expectations are way up,” said Bill Smithson, manager for technology services at Materials, Communication and Computers Inc. (MATCOM), an information technology, engineering and technical solutions company in Alexandria, Va., that serves government clients worldwide.

Enter knowledge management. These techniques and technologies can help federal, state and local agencies examine their programs and improve their services to citizens. Knowledge initiatives have enabled agencies to respond faster to changes that are taking place within the government and to leverage innovations across organizations at a faster clip.

“We’re all awash in information, we’re all awash in data, but it’s hard to figure out what part of that is useful,” Smithson said.

The computer has made it possible to have information displayed and printed ad nauseam. But Smithson said all organizations should ask themselves if they have defined their needs and refined the information required to support their business decisions.

Projections for worldwide spending by the private and public sectors on knowledge management services by 2004 range from $5 billion to $12 billion, depending on which market research group’s estimate you use, said French Caldwell, research director for knowledge management at GartnerGroup Inc., Stamford, Conn. “That is a pretty big umbrella that can include outsourcing, hardware and software,” he said.

One of the biggest drivers in the knowledge management movement is the whole issue of e-government, Caldwell said. Some countries and governments actually set deadlines for launching a host of online initiatives, only to see schedules slip as agency officials grappled with complex information sharing and collaboration issues.



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