Gaining Business Intelligence

A white paper on how companies should analyse customer data to gain better business intelligence and how they can use that knowledge.

GAINING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

In an increasingly competitive world, using your client database smartly, to gain a better understanding of your number one asset – your customers – can make or break the success of your company.

Most companies use databases to store information about their current customers, previous customers, business partners, and potential customers. The challenge lies in finding a way to harness the useful information contained within these high volume databases in order to produce intelligent business solutions.

Business intelligence (BI) refers to the process for increasing the competitive advantage of a company by intelligent use of available data in decision-making. Business intelligence consists of sourcing the data, filtering out unimportant information, analysing the data, assessing the situation, developing solutions, analysing risks and then supporting the decisions made. This white paper describes the business intelligence process, some elementary methods of data mining, and how you can use business intelligence in your company.

Database Enhancement

The first step towards gaining business intelligence is to start with a ‘clean’ database. Incomplete and inaccurate data invariably translate into incorrect management decisions. Duplicate data is also a problem as it can wrongly weigh management decisions to one side. Whilst a good quality database does not automatically lead to intelligent management decision-making, it is a pre-requisite for all types of analysis that attempt to elicit intelligent management. We could draw an analogy with cooking, where starting with the right ingredients does not guarantee you will bake a good cake, but there is very little chance you will bake a good cake if you start with the wrong set of ingredients.

One of the primary reasons companies do not fully realise the potential competitive advantages they can gain from their own databases is the lack of proper integration of datasets across departments. Even though all the information might reside within the company, it may remain elusive due to a fragmentation of the data across incompatible databases. Regrouping all internal data into a single dataset or a series of interconnected datasets could be the single most useful step a company might take towards providing a solid foundation on which quality business intelligence can be developped.

In some cases, data entry errors and/or missing data can also severely impair the quality of information that can be derived from corporate databases. Sorting these issues can range from very straightforward fixes (e.g. matching one list against another) to more time consuming processes (e.g. contacting all client companies to update contact details of individuals working there). Ideally, all inaccuracies should be weeded out of the databases. However limited time and monetary constraints dictate that you should bear in mind how this database will be used. The level of accuracy required will vary greatly depending on the expected use for that data.

Data cleansing and database integration can provide significant advantages for a company over the medium to long term. However, they are both extremely time-consuming activities and can create a significant strain on internal resources, making them difficult for a company to justify. Hiring a third-party to do this job is often the best solution, allowing valuable information to be gained, without disrupting day-to-day business activities.

Data Mining

Analysing the information that your company stores in connection with all customer interactions can reveal a lot of remarkable facts about the buying behaviour of your customers, what motivates them and what might make them stop buying from you. It also provides a scientific method to monitor your business performance.

When deciding to mine information from a database, one is faced with a wide number of available techniques. Some of the more popular data mining methods are described below:

Statistical models

Basic statistical measurements – such as means, variances, and correlation coefficients – are useful in the early stages of data analysis to gain an overall view of the structure of the data. By revealing simple inter-relations within the data, statistical modelling can show which in-depth technique is likely to bring further information relevant to your interests.

Clustering

Clustering is a technique that aggregates data according to a pre-determined set of characteristics. It can be used to differentiate groups of customers that behave similarly on certain factors, for example it can classify customer behaviours according to credit worthiness, income, age or any other factor of interest.

CHAID Analysis

CHAID, which stands for Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection, can be seen as the opposite of clustering, in the sense that the CHAID analysis starts with the overall database, and then splits it according to the most important variable until it achieves homogeneous sub-groups that cannot be split any further. A major advantage of this technique is that the results can be presented as an easy-to-read classification tree; each split in the tree being accredited to a single variable (e.g. credit worthiness, income, age, etc).

Propensity models

Propensity models – also known as predictive models – have proven to be very valuable in predicting which customers are most likely to purchase a certain product based on a set of current customers. The results of such a model can be directly used to develop more appropriately targeted marketing campaigns.

Other recognised techniques to extract information from datasets are database segmentation, neural networking, and wavelet analysis among others. It can be intimidating to choose which method will provide the best results. As shown above, analysis tools can differ greatly in their approach of the problem. It is therefore very important for a company to consult someone with extensive experience in data mining processes before going ahead with a business intelligence project. The best method to use will vary greatly depending on the time available to do the analysis, what the results will be used for, and the type of data that is available for the analysis.

An important point to consider is whether your analysis is guided by pre-defined questions or not. Predefined points of analysis are aimed at understanding certain types of behaviours by analysing relationships between various pre-decided influencing factors. For example, a predefined analysis of customer service Vs sales would illustrate the effect of good and bad customer service on sales, and would answer questions such as how important customer service is to customers and how much it influences future sales. On the contrary, the objective of an open-ended analysis is to discover trends that are not anticipated by ordinary immersion in the day-to-day business. Performing an open-ended analysis internally is often impaired by the expectations brought on by individuals working within the company.

The techniques used to analyse data are complex. In order for your company to be able to use the results of the data analysis, it is crucial that the results should not be clouded by the complexity of the calculations but are delivered in a straightforward manner.

Intelligent Marketing

It is important for a company to recognise that a good understanding of its customers is useful only to the extent to which this knowledge can be translated into real business practices. Business intelligence refers not only to the data analysis in itself, but also to how you relate the results from the data analysis to every day business decisions and how you translate the recommended actions stemming from the analysis into live campaigns.

It is therefore important for you to ensure that the marketing department in your company interacts with the data analysts constantly throughout the process. That way, when the data analysis is complete, the marketing personnel will already be in tune with the issues the company is facing, and will be able to develop campaigns to capitalise on opportunities and strategies to mend weaknesses quickly and effectively.

Detailed analysis of your customer data will provide you insight into their needs and wants. The exercise will analyse and segment customers’ buying patterns and identify potential services that are in demand. You can use this information to shorten response times to market changes, which then allows for better alignment of your products and services with your customers’ needs.

An in-depth understanding of your customers, provided through comprehensive data-analysis, will also allow you to pick and target better prospects, achieve a higher response rate from marketing programs, and at the same time identify reasons for customer attrition and create or alter programs and services accordingly.

Understanding how external market conditions affect your business will enable you to react quickly to future changes in the market. Finally, understanding customer behaviour and the way they use your products and services will enable your company to improve its service to its current client base as well as to target new business more effectively.

About AccuraCast

AccuraCast is an integrated marketing, business intelligence and data analysis agency, providing small and medium sized companies in the UK a more accurate picture of their business environment via comprehensive data analysis, business intelligence, and marketing consultancy services.

AccuraCast helps companies gain a better understanding of their customers and market their products and services more effectively. The company uses high-tech data analysis methodologies to investigate client databases smartly, and proven sales and marketing methods to reach the target markets. AccuraCast delivers costumer specific marketing solutions and information based on tailor-made analysis of the databases, allowing companies to gain the necessary edge over the competition.

For more information on gaining business intelligence visit http://www.accuracast-marketing-agency.co.uk/business-intelligence.shtml

About The Author

For more information contact:

Jerome Bergerou
AccuraCast
Tel: 0870 240 7847
Fax: 0871 277 1371
Web: http://www.accuracast.com
Email: j.bergerou@accuracast.com

© AccuraCast Limited 2004. http://www.accuracast.com
All rights reserved. The information in this document is accurate to best of the author’s knowledge. No rights granted. AccuraCast Limited is not liabile for any loss or damage arising either directly or as a consequence of information provided in this document.

Play Is Serious Business For Childrens' Intelligence

Too many parents consider play as simply a means of diverting and distracting their children. Playthings are often seen as a means of keeping children happy, rewarding them, keeping them out of mischief, and giving parents free time.

Not often enough do parents think of play and toys as fundamental aspects of a child's education, as a means through which children learn to understand the world around them, and as the primary method by which children acquire many basic skills.

Parents can help make their children's play stimulating by doing three things.

First, they can adopt an attitude of conscious, deliberate planning in which play is regarded as one of the most important aspects of their children's environment.

Second, they can see to it that their children are provided with the kinds of toys and playthings that will help develop the widest possible varieties of skills and abilities.

Third, they can assume a direct, participating role in their children's play.

Planning a child's play does not mean planning each activity for every moment of the child's playtime. On the contrary, children should have maximum independence in choosing their own activities. And, within the limits of the daily routine of the home, a child should also choose the time for their activities, as well as the duration of each. Good planning makes sure that play is as varied and stimulating as possible.

A child should play at different times, with friends, with parents, and by theirself. This play should include, within a period of about a month, all or most of the following types of activities, each geared to the age level of the child.

Here are 5 of them:

#1. Games

Games are perhaps the most basic of all forms of play. From peek-a-boo to chess, from pat-a-cake to baseball, games occupy a central role in the lives of most children from infancy to adolescence. Games may be physical or mental. In general they involve the development of skills, although some lead to the acquisition of information.

#2. Arts and Crafts

Arts and crafts give children many opportunities to express their desire to make things. Crayons, paints, clay, construction paper, scissors and paste, wood, leather, felt, and cardboard are among the materials that help children develop their creative imaginative, and aesthetic abilities. Arts and crafts also develop skills in manipulation, perception, and analysis.

#3. Construction Play

Construction play involves assembling objects from what are usually prefabricated parts. It is less creative than arts and crafts, but is also useful in developing many skills. Putting together a set of railroad tracks and trains is a form of construction play, as is play with erector sets, Tinker toys, blocks and the like.

#4. Projective Play

Protective play is play in which a child adds dramatic and emotional meaning to activities with representative toys—dolls, trucks, soldiers, homemaking sets, and doctor kits. Its great value lies in the role playing done by the child rather than in the development of specific skills.

#5. Hobbies

Hobbies which cannot be otherwise classified will generally fall under the heading of collecting activities. Collecting stamps, coins, rocks and minerals, butterflies and insects, sea shells, and leaves are all common and popular hobbies. While some help in the development of certain skills, their greatest value is in the considerable knowledge a child can acquire in pursuing them.

Most play can be classified in one of these five groups, and, ideally, play should include all of these types. Also, as skills develop, the activities should move to a higher, more mature level.

However, a child does not automatically vary his play or develop in it. This is where the parent's planning comes in —- continually making the child aware of the broad opportunities available to him in play; initiating certain activities during playtime; making suggestions when the child needs and wants them; buying toys that will, in themselves, lead to new pursuits; stimulating new interests and ideas in any of a variety of ways. The parent should not manage the child's play, but should try to nudge it in the right directions.

About The Author

Jon Weaver

FREE valuable information on Gifted Children and raising IQ scores can be found here at All for Gifted Children. Visit it today! http://www.AllForGiftedChildren.com

Succes And Business Intelligence Hand In Hand

A business without succes in some degree is not good. Succes comes from either growth in the number of customers or in the numbers of sales you do per customer. Business Intelligence can assist a company to gain new customers and keep hold of old ones. And by keeping old customers longer time you earn more money from them because of more sales to them.

Business intelligence can be shortened to BI. A definition of business intelligence is that it is a method of collecting information on your business. Information is enhanced into knowledge. Business Intelligence can present every business a precise idea of its customer’s requirements. Businesses that have huge amounts of information about their customer’s can take action upon that information. Businesses implementing BI add knowledge and understanding of a customer’s desires and decision-making process. Also the financial, cultural and technological trend of the customer is revealed. By using businesses intelligence, businesses choose either short term or long goals. BI helps a company accomplish those goals.

The idea behind Business Intelligence

The idea of business intelligence is to know your own strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competion as well. Simply understanding the customer is not sufficient. BI is the method of gaining information about every element of your market. This is the fundamental idea in today’s business intelligence. Companies must know themselves better than their competitors, and they must know their competitors better.

Business Intelligence Tools

A company using business intelligence has to accumulate a huge amount of information. BI tools can help businesses sort out, store and even bring together business data. Some data tools are data modeling, data mining and data warehouses. Using data tools helps to progress the effectiveness of business intelligence. At the same time as data tools are used for organization, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is used in the analyzing process. OLAP is usually referred to as plain analytics, which is based on the hypercube dimensional analysis. A vendor can help your business with business intelligence as well. They provide the business intelligence tools and support needed for a successful implementation of the business process. And something important, support.

Business Intelligence final word

The better a business understand its market, the more successful that business can be. Businesses that have as totalunderstanding of what their customers need and want will be better able to work out successful strategies and implement successful processes to make their business prosper. Business intelligence is the path that businesses can take to accomplish their goals, which can be both short-term and long-term.

Some may question on the ROI of business intelligence. There is no doubt that, if a company ends up getting hold of numerous customers, and retaining existing customers as a result of business intelligence, then it will be a positive ROI. Business intelligence, if implemented right and professionally, will help your business.

About The Author

Derek Gardner

Huge amount of Business Intelligence quality Information on this site. Go pay a visit today. http://www.businessintelligence.infostairs.com

Big 4 Power the Future of Consulting Services with Business Intelligence (BI)

Business Intelligence at Big Four firms enables Consultants to deal with business processes. BI is an acronym for Business Intelligence. BI Consultants at Big 4 firms combine business and technology expertise to understand various business processes.

Big4 firms use Business Intelligence to help organizations in the analysis and assessment of their business environments. Typically, Big 4 BI consultants use application software and related technologies to gather, organize, refine and distribute the information/data. Business Intelligence consultants at Big 4 firms design data mappings between various systems, develop scripts for data mappings and build modules and business processes. From design, implementation to support, Big 4 BI consultants handle all strategies pertaining to the Business Intelligence processes.

There are many drivers contributing to the success of Business Intelligence. The rising demand for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Consultants is an important factor that drives the BI performance at Big Four firms. Providing “data-on-demand” is imperative for Business Intelligence Consultants at Big4 firms. Customers expect “real time data” and compromising on this could prove fatal to the Big Four firms’ BI expertise.

The Big Four firms provide consulting and systems integration services in Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and Analytics. Managing the business performance, compliance and information integration is an important task handled by the BI consultants at the Big4 firms. Gathering relevant information, conducting market research and competitor analysis enables the Big Four BI consultants to respond to unforeseen market fluctuations.

The Big 4 evaluate Core Competence in Business Intelligence based on their analysis on organizations. As per CapGemini, this evaluation refers to BI index calculation. With the BI index, organizations can evaluate their potential BI value. Organizations can analyze their strengths and weaknesses with respect to their competitors. The BI index helps an organization in transforming the present business intelligence system to a more robust and profit-driven system. The Big 4 firms enable organizations in this transition process and decision making, thus meeting Compliance demands.

A 2004 report from META group on the major consulting and systems integration companies placed Deloitte among the top four firms. Also, the report certified that Deloitte has a “strong and customer-friendly project management methodology.” Deloitte’s global Business Intelligence Services concentrate on information gathering and global networking to offer legal compliance. The META report also ranked Deloitte in the top bracket “for its broad vertical programs, especially in manufacturing and government.” http://www.big4.com/B4Sitemap.aspx provides Analyst reports, News, Events and Big Four firm updates.

Business Intelligence tools offer incredible efficiency and help in generating excellent organizational performance and market recognition. Big4 Business Intelligence Consultants are experienced in Data Warehousing Architectures, OLAP, ETL tools like Ab Initio, Ascential Product Suite, DTS, Informatica and ERD toolkits like Erwin. Knowledge of Business Intelligence tools like Business Objects, Cognos, ERP experience in Oracle/ Peoplesoft or SAP, and relational database skills are necessary technical assets of a Big 4 Business Intelligence Consultant.

Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and Analytics make an interesting combination at the Big Four firms. Big Four BI consultants assist clients in an essential commodity – Information Gathering and Delivery. Corporate Compliance, Financial and Market Intelligence and Risk Management help organizations in meeting the regulatory norms. Programs like the Balanced Scorecard help organizations to test their business processes.

Big 4 firms and Business Intelligence - the combination substantially invokes the desired outcome – better organizational performance and overall efficiency in managing business processes.

About The Author

Neil More webmaster@big4.com is an Alumni Member and Staff Writer with http://www.big4.com He writes articles on issues pertaining to the global Big4 firms - Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Neil's articles focus on latest news and happenings in Big4 Accounting, Big4 Management Consulting, Big4 Information Technology, Big4 Tax and Big4 Legal domains.

Knowledge Management – Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System

How can I "know who knows"?

None of us can personally know more than around 250 people, yet we want our companies to be smart, learning organisations where it’s easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why many organisations create "yellow pages" applications, which enable employees to find and contact other staff with particular expertise and skills. However, these systems can be fraught with difficulty in their implementation, and often end up as out-of-date, glorified intranet telephone directories. This article, drawn from a best-selling knowledge management fieldbook by its author, identifies ten key steps involved in creating and sustaining a successful, employee-owned yellow pages system.

The guidelines below are drawn from the book "Learning to Fly – Practical knowledge management from leading and learning organisations" (Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell), and sets out ten key steps to creating a yellow pages systems which really works, and has the positive buy-in of its user community – that is to say, its customers.

1 Maintain a clear and distinctive vision.

Be clear about what you are trying to achieve and avoid compromise. Beware of becoming ‘all things to all men’ – particularly those in the HR and IT departments! Everyone will want a slice of the action – don’t lose sight of the overarching aim of your system – making it easy to find people that you don’t already know.

2 Strive for personal ownership and maintenance.

Create a process whereby only the individuals concerned can create and update their entries. This will drive a far deeper sense of ownership across the population.

3 Strike a balance between informal and formal content.

Encourage people to share non-work information about themselves in addition to valuable business information. Consider prompting for this with ‘fun’ questions such as: “what was the first single that you bought?”, “what is your favourite film?”, or even “what makes you happy?”.

4 Support the photographs wherever possible.

Nothing is more powerful and personal than a photograph. It speaks volumes about the person, raises the interest levels of others and generates personal ownership of the content. If possible encourage people to include an informal photograph. The security-pass-rabbit-in-the-headlights shots rarely show people in their best light! Better to have a photograph which says more about the person and what motivates them.

5 Ensure that your product design is flexible and inclusive. Recognize that different people relate to templates, prompts and structure in different ways. Use focus groups to test opinion.

6 Start with a customer-facing pilot.

Critical mass is all important, so start with a group of people who have a natural need to be visible to internal customers. This might include supporting functions, existing networks or communities, or even business areas with new leadership.

7 Deliver through local enthusiasts.

Centrally-driven push isn’t always the best way to engage the workforce. Tap into local enthusiasts and champions if possible – they will know how best to "sell" the concept locally.

8 Use success stories as a marketing tool. Reinforce the usefulness of the knowledge directory at every opportunity. Publicize any examples or successes widely, and early, to reinforce your project. This is a culture change project, and culture change happens one story at a time!

9 Encourage use, but lead by example rather than edict.

Avoid mandating the population and use of the knowledge directory. People will provide better quality content if they feel that they are volunteering the information. At the end of the day, you can’t ever conscript knowledge – you can only ever volunteer it. And let’s face it, there’s little point in finding the one person with expertise or experience that you need, if when you call them on the phone, they’re unwilling to talk!

10 Embed into people processes.

Look for process and intranet ‘hooks’ that could initiate and sustain the use of your knowledge directory (e.g. recruitment or induction of new staff, the launch of new networks, any reference on an intranet site which mentions a person’s name can become link to their personal page.

Conclusion

Creating and marketing a yellow pages system inside an organisation is a highly rewarding project – seize the opportunity with both hands. You'll need a network of champions, the cooperation of the IT and HR functions, tenacity and some marketng flair. The steps outlined above should help you on your way. Bon voyage!

About The Author

Chris Collison is a renowned expert in knowledge management and an experienced practitioner in the leadership and implementation of organisational change from a people perspective.

As a best-selling author, he has presented to audiences at business schools and at conferences around the world, and is a regular contributor to specialist knowledge management publications. Chris has worked with leaders at the highest levels of many public and private-sector organizations, sharing the practical experiences he gained whilst working in BP's knowledge management team, and his deep understanding of the human dynamics of major change programmes.

Contact Chris via http://www.chriscollison.com

chris@collison.com

Knowledge To Bring With You For The Nursing Home Admission

Nursing Homes require a lot of information. For many individuals entering a nursing home this may be the first time they are introduced to health, financial and end of life planning. Some of the information required by nursing homes may be very sensitive if you have not addressed the reality of your own or your loved ones health and financial related outcomes.

Knowing how long the anticipated stay for rehabilitation will help you determine the cost of care and the resources needed to pay for the stay. The professional staff of the hospital will be able to give you an estimated time frame. When the resident is assessed at the nursing home they will give you another time frame based upon the resident’s health condition, the resident’s ability to tolerate rehabilitation activity and the level of independence required for where the resident will reside after their rehabilitation stay.

Advance Directives are very important and deeply personal. The most critical Advance Directive nursing staff needs to know for a rehabilitation stay is what you want done if your heart and breathing should stop. CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) is a group of treatments used when someone’s heart and/or breathing stops. CPR is used in attempt to restart the heart and breathing. If you do not wish to receive CPR, your doctor must write a separate do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order on the chart or DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). The nursing home can provide you with more information.

The next essential piece of information is the name of a funeral home or mortuary in the event that the resident expires in the nursing home. It is a relief for family members during an emotional event to have some plans already in place.

During the admissions process the coordinator will require copies of the resident’s Social Security card, Medicare card, and other insurance cards. The nursing home will use this information to verify benefits and how the insurance will pay and how long the insurance company will pay for services.

A copy of the resident’s Living Will and a Power of Attorney is required if they have been done but are not necessary.

The Admissions Coordinator will also request financial information to help you with future financial planning for your resident.

About The Author

Tammy Gonzales, Life Coach and Advocate to Caregivers, of Revitalife Coaching & Consulting, LLC guides Baby-Boomers and the Sandwich Generation on how to take initiative to manage aging and caregiving before it becomes a crisis. Visit www.caregiverinfonline.com for more information.

tammy@revitalifecoaching.com

Teleconference - Turn Your Knowledge Into Money!

How can a teleconference turn your knowledge into money? A lot of people are asking the same question today. Although the teleconference has been used as a business tool for a long time, few people have actually seen it as more than an auxiliary tool. Few people actually see teleconferencing as being the center of their businesses.

What you need to understand is that teleconferencing actually holds a huge potential if you want to turn your brain into something more suitable for your wallet. Since the teleconference is a communications media, it follows that it can be used to trade knowledge.

One of the best ways you can use a teleconference to earn cash is by offering various types of seminars through the phone. If you have the charisma or experience required to get into this kind of business, you can hold self-empowerment seminars or teleconferences that encourage people and help them unlock their potential.

What you can do is post flyers which contain your number and the time you hold the seminar. You can then prepare the required materials to make the seminar livelier. You should then take a list of people who are planning to call and then charge them by setting up an internet account with various charging services. You can then lean back, prepare your voice and begin the lecture when the calls start coming in. When you have finished with the lecture, you can then open the panel for questions.

When you do open the panel, remember to conduct the questioning. Make the participants take turns so that there is interaction without chaos. This will help you satisfy any query that the participants may have. You should also clearly state any answers that you may have so people will not have to ask you to repeat.

You should also take a look at the English language tutorial boom that's going on in Asian countries. With the right teleconference equipment, you will be able to increase your income simply by speaking to people and correcting their English. This can come quite naturally to you. Of course, you need to have patience and excellent social skills in order to coordinate a class.

Usually, clients for this business are only looking for people who will be able to walk them through a typical English conversation. Of course, you need to teach them the right words to use when they make mistakes but the most work you actually have to do is to encourage them to keep talking. You need to prepare a set of topics so you will not end up wasting valuable phone time. However, you need to remember that the language is your focus, do not get stuck on a topic simply because different clients have different opinions. Let them explain and then move on to the next topic.

Another option for making use of the teleconference in business is to actually focus on the industry. As you may know, most teleconference services today are provided by major players in the telecommunications industry. This means that although big names are taking care of teleconference needs of entrepreneurs, they don't exactly have specialization. By offering specialized teleconference services you will be able to be one step ahead of the competition. Of course, this idea will only work if you actually have the skills to back it up.

When starting this business, you need to have connections. You need people who will recommend your services to the commonly-unreachable people in need of teleconference services. You might also want to make sue that you have contacts in the telecommunications industry so you will be able to offer competitive rates and services.
You also have the option to engage in marketing using the teleconference as a tool to reach as many people as possible while maintaining a sort of close connection with them. Through the teleconference, you will be able to make sure that you are able to focus on each potential client. You can also make sure that no time is wasted on repeating the same message again and again. Some people fail in marketing their products simply because, after pitching to 5 people, they lack enough enthusiasm or energy to infect the potential client.

These are some of the various ways you can use teleconference to turn your knowledge into money. Why not think outside the box and come up with more?

For more information on internet marketing, please visit:

http://www.thebiginternetmarketinggame.com/teleseminars.html
http://thebiginternetmarketinggame.com
http://www.drnathaliefiset.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nathalie_Fiset

Creating an Environment in Law Firms Where Knowledge Management Will Work

The adoption of collaborative applications and knowledge management technologies by the legal profession has proceeded far less rapidly than many people would have expected or hoped. While vendors of data mining, knowledge management and other information technologies consistently see the legal profession as a fertile market for their products and initiatives, they are often disappointed by the resistance they find by lawyers and law firms. Why have advanced and sophisticated information techniques made so little impact on the information-intensive legal profession? What can be done to open up the legal market? In spite of the general climate of resistance, what projects are good candidates for these techniques?

There is certain inevitability to the entry of knowledge management and artificial intelligence approaches in the legal profession, whether the push comes from within the profession or from external pressures from clients and competitors. This paper will discuss some of the needs that law firms want to address with artificial intelligence and knowledge management projects, the resistance barriers in law firms, and then move on to list some attractive target areas for these approaches and factors that will contribute to success of these types of projects.

1. Needs Law Firms Seek to Address.

As part of an information intensive profession, lawyers and law firms create, use and store vast amounts of information in connection with their work. This information has a recognized value because it holds experience and expertise learned and maintained by legal organizations. Too often, however, the transfer of this knowledge inside or outside the firm occurs by happenstance or through one-on-one conversations without a sharing of information by all who need the information. Law firms want to tap into the value of their information in systematic and effective ways.

A. Not Reinventing the Wheel. To a surprising extent, in many law firms research is often duplicated, and agreements and other documents are created from scratch when models for such agreements already exist. The concern is not just inefficiency but also the inability to take advantage of best practices and current information and to make proper assignments to people with appropriate experience. With varying degrees of success, all firms have made efforts to implement techniques such as brief banks, standardized forms, training manual and documentation of procedures. Document assembly is one example of a technology used to capture prior efforts and to standardize best practices.

B. Knowledge Transfer and Mentoring. It is highly desirable to transfer the knowledge and even wisdom of older attorneys down to younger attorneys. In many cases, older attorneys may leave a firm or even die without the knowledge and other benefits of their experience being captured in a usable fashion. Not only is there a loss of substantive practice knowledge, but far too often there is the loss of the history and stories of a firm culture. There is a growing recognition of how much information is carried by way of story-telling. Core knowledge about a firm and its practices are encoded in its "myths and legends." Where transfer of this experience and expertise is not encouraged and facilitated, the knowledge of important historical details, such as how difficult management, ethical and other situations were handled, is no longer available for later generations of the firm. The transmission of core values and wisdom is either hindered or does not occur. Increasingly, law firms are recognizing the value of this loss and emphasizing the role of senior attorneys must play in mentoring other attorneys.

C. Efficient Delivery of Legal Services. Attorneys arguably work many more hours than other "knowledge workers." There is often a question of whether attorneys are simply working harder rather than working smarter. Both attorneys and clients see the benefits of more efficient delivery of legal services. Attorneys are increasingly aware of productivity gains achieved in other businesses by use of technology and find that their clients who have achieved such gains through the use of technology are pressuring law firms to adopt the same approaches. In other cases, business clients expect law firms to have certain technologies in place and are not willing to pay lawyers to deliver work in what is seen as inefficient and expensive ways.

D. Information Overload. Attorneys are inundated with paper, e-mail, advance sheets, journals, newsletters, web pages and a rising tide of information falling over them. Keeping up with developments in a practice area can take a substantial amount of time. As attorneys take advantage of e-mail newsletters, e-mail discussion lists, and other Internet resources, the symptoms of information overload can become very apparent. The need to organize, process and store in a retrievable fashion relevant information has become increasingly important.

E. Employee Retention. The new generation of lawyers leaving law school has been raised in an era of computers. Soon we will have a generation of law students who have never known a time when the Internet was not available. The level of expectations and reliance of sophisticated approaches to information and technology of these lawyers is very high. Law firms have found and will continue to find unwillingness by these lawyers to stay at firms that do not have state-of-the-art approaches to information. Law firms realize that addressing technology concerns is an essential part of attracting and retaining the best talent.

2. Resistance Barriers to Knowledge Management Projects.

A. Culture of Individual Practices. Nearly every successful knowledge management project has at its roots an organization in which there is a culture of sharing of information. More important, success grows from a culture of willingly sharing information. While financial incentives can help create a spirit of willingness, the trick is to create a culture where the benefits of sharing information are seen as real and sharing knowledge becomes second nature. Many firms are often described as a collection of individual practices. Even within specific practice areas, lawyers may work in a very autonomous manner. In addition, lawyers in one practice area may see little or no commonality with lawyers in other practice areas. At a more basic level, there is often a divide between litigation attorneys and transactional attorneys that is difficult to bridge.

B. Resistance to Technology. Far too often, the attorneys, especially older attorneys, who must be involved in the transfer of knowledge down to other attorneys, have a reluctance to use technology. Ironically, attorneys whose whole careers show a demonstrated ability to learn completely new areas of knowledge during the preparation of cases or through their representation of clients in a particular industry will balk at the notion of using computers. This reluctance to learn hardware and specific software can result in an unwillingness to be involved in "technology" at any level, even including the unwillingness to be assisted in knowledge transfer techniques that would involve the use of technology.

C. Lack of Time. The increasing emphasis on massive billable hour requirements tends to leave lawyers with little time and opportunity to create expert systems, highly organized data structures, or other artificial intelligence and knowledge management techniques. All of these efforts require the investment of substantial amounts of upfront time. Systems that require large amounts of upfront organization have little chance of succeeding in most law firms. Techniques that may involve the ability to process existing information "as it lies" will have the greatest opportunity for success.

D. Inability to Measure Returns. Metrics are not readily available that would help law firms measure the financial return of knowledge management applications. Where billing structures are not changed, the efficiencies obtained through these types of applications may not benefit a firm financially. For example, while the idea of document assembly has long been attractive to lawyers, the reality of reducing a several hour drafting job to ten minutes is not financially advantageous if billing continues to be based on a pure billable hours basis.

E. Incentive Structures. While there are a few firms that have created positions such as "chief knowledge officers," in many cases attorneys interested in knowledge management projects do them on a voluntary basis or may even be penalized for their efforts if these efforts diminish their amount of billable hours. In a traditional law firm, there is often a lack of incentive structures to motivate lawyers to be involved in a knowledge management project. In firms where knowledge management efforts, such as brief banks, or collections of memoranda have been tried, with unsuccessful results, there is often a reluctance to try again and a tendency to dismiss the whole notion of knowledge management rather than to analyze carefully where the prior projects failed and develop more effective new projects.

3. Attractive Areas for Knowledge Management Projects

It is becoming increasingly apparent that large-scale, firm-wide knowledge management techniques have little chance of success in law firms, especially if they are the first project undertaken. Discrete, well-considered pilot projects that can be scaled up and rolled out throughout the firm have a much greater opportunity of success. Similarly, targeted, incremental approaches that work within the existing knowledge flow of the firm are preferable to attempts to reorganize how people work. Examples of projects that should be given careful consideration are:

A. Litigation Strategy. A good starting project for many law firms would be an application in the area of litigation strategy. Excellent tools are available and the return on investment in this area can readily be perceived.

A Knowledge Management solution would allow lawyers to pull information that otherwise might be hidden in legal pads, bankers’ boxes, or in the memories of individual lawyers into a format that allows lawyers to gather and analyze facts in a helpful manner. Through a simple method of tagging information, lawyers can use a KM solution to find answers to questions previously difficult to obtain. For example, a lawyer preparing a summary judgment motion can, in a matter of seconds, retrieve a list of all undisputed facts in the case relating to the issue about which they are writing. A lawyer can assess the strength of a case by seeing a list of all undisputed facts that have been judged by that lawyer or other members of the team as highly unfavorable.

A properly deployed KM solution should create a method for looking at the information involved in the case in a variety of ways and preparing and testing strategies as well as determining where additional work may be required on a case. In addition, a lawyer could determine the strengths and weaknesses of a case and the role that individual witnesses will play in developing a case.

Law firms need to recognize that there is great value in identifying key information and associating it with other information and that a broad-based approach can be much more useful than a method that attempts to implement hundreds or even thousands of rules to create a trial strategy.

B. Client Relationship Management. A highly important area in knowledge management is customer relationship management ("CRM"). CRM is simply a method of gathering, associating and using in an efficient manner information that you have about customers. In many law firms, there are countless examples of lawyers trying to cultivate a potential client only to find later that that potential client was a college roommate of someone else at the firm. Where information about clients is not readily available, lawyers working for a long-term firm client for the first time can easily make mistakes, such as e-mailing clients who have demanded that information only be faxed to them or Fedexing copies to clients who only want e-mail copies. The holy grail of CRM in law firms is to promote the cross-selling of business to existing clients. This area is an especially fertile one for potential knowledge management and artificial intelligence projects.

C. Conflict Checking. Conflict checking is an area of difficulty for many law firms, especially as the number of clients increases and as companies enter into more joint ventures and combinations. While traditional databases can be of great assistance, often potential conflicts can only be seen by lawyers who are personally familiar with the relationships between a variety of companies and people. While CRM efforts will have a spillover effect in the area of conflict checking, the application of artificial intelligence specifically to conflict checking holds a great deal of promise.

D. Delivery of Client Services. The most exciting area of potential development for artificial intelligence and knowledge management systems is in the area of actual delivery of legal services to clients. This delivery of services might occur through traditional means or over the Internet. A number of examples of this trend are appearing and a good resource for keeping track of this is the elawyering site at www.elawyering.org. The application of technology to the delivery of legal services is especially attractive in the area of what is sometimes referred to as the "latent market for legal services" or the segment of the market where people cannot afford traditional legal services. From document preparation to delivery of relevant legal information to decision tree approaches to transactions, there is a world of opportunity and law firms are only beginning to tap the potential.

E. Managing Information Overload. Lawyers, like many others, are fighting to gain some degree of control over the overwhelming amount of information they receive on a daily basis. Through the use of intelligent agents and other knowledge management and artificial techniques, it is gradually becoming possible to manage that flow of information. Techniques, such as creating daily electronic newspapers, personalized resources, and "push" technologies to deliver specific information, updates and other information of interest can all be highly effective with very tangible benefits. "Personal knowledge management" tools give the ability to harvest and organize information on the web. This area suggests a number of useful, discrete pilot projects that can have a high impact on individual attorneys and develop momentum for other projects.

4. Strategies for Improving the Likelihood of Success of your Projects.

Choose discrete rather than global projects.

Use methods that process existing pools of data rather than require large amounts of upfront coding, organization or tagging.

Identify appropriate tools and get those tools into the hands of the people who will actually use them.

Choose committed, enthusiastic volunteers for pilot projects.

Stay up-to-date about new tools and improvements to existing tools.

Achieve buy-in from top levels of management.

Develop appropriate incentive structures for attorneys participating in projects.

Set goals, supply necessary resources and determine from the beginning a method of measuring success or failure of a project. In part, this involves the ability to answer the two following questions: How will you determine whether a project is successful and who will determine whether it is a successful?

Determine whether a chief knowledge officer level position is required. It is difficult to have success for large projects without such a person.

Stay aware of developments, talk to others involved in successful projects and keep current with initiatives at other firms.

Listen to your clients and try to anticipate their needs as a driving force in your projects.

Maintain a high degree of flexibility and willingness to change direction.

Try to get as thorough an understanding of the information flows and the information cultures within your firm.

Attempt several pilot projects at a time. Diversify your risk.

Be innovative and courageous.

5. Conclusion.

While the past history of knowledge management and artificial intelligence in the legal profession does not show a lot of successes or adoption of these projects, a number of factors, economic and otherwise, are coming into play and suggest that there is light at the end of the tunnel. By being aware of the available tools, the fundamental promise and potential that law firms see in these techniques and being able to deal with the resistance barriers, you improve your likelihood of success. Discrete, high impact pilot projects are a good way to start and build momentum for an evolutionary development of these projects. There are also practical strategies that can further enhance your efforts and open up the promise of knowledge management and artificial intelligence that many people see in the legal profession. Most important, there are others working on similar projects who are willing to share information and provide assistance. The future looks promising.

About The Author

Mitchell is the Director of Microsoft Solutions as OnX Enterprise Solutions.
onx.com
Mitchell.Dubin@onx.com

Product Knowledge - A True Story that Supports Its Importance

My very first job was working for the department store chain J.C. Penney. I worked for them for several years, during the summers, and on my breaks from college. While most of my classmates were flipping burgers or slaving over deep fryers, I was honing my early sales skills, and thoroughly enjoying a shopping mall setting - my own little "retail nirvana."

Most of my breaks found me working in fairly comfortable surroundings - the shoe department, apparel, or the occasional stint in bedding and bath. While I may have lacked the level of expertise a full-time employee may have had, my basic knowledge of the departments, coupled with a more extensive knowledge of the store policies and procedures was more than adequate to get me through a 5 hour shift.

But all that changed when they moved me to sporting goods.

The width and breadth of my sporting goods knowledge wouldn't fill a thimble. I had been to plenty of sporting events, but those were mainly to scope out good-looking athletes. Were they not dressed in our school colors, I can't say with certainty that I would have even known the difference between the teams. Let it suffice to say that a die hard fan I was not.

During this time, the stores still carried a fair amount of sporting goods - things outside of clothing (an area in which I had considerably more experience).

Things went rather well for the first week or so, all things considered. I discovered a whole new world...one filled with batting gloves, cleats, and various and sundry equipment. I was starting to feel more confident, and the department lead left me on my own while he took a fifteen minute break.

It is fifteen minutes of my life that I will never forget.

A gentleman came into the department, and after a few moments, he came over to me to ask for assistance. I asked what he was looking for, to which he replied, "an athletic support." Puzzled, I asked him to repeat it. He did. I still didn't know what he was talking about. Clearly agitated, he finally said, "I need a jock strap. Do you carry them?"

Suddenly, the light went on. Why didn't he say that in the first place?

I led him to the rack where they were, and pulled one off of the peg, and presented it to him, clearly pleased with myself. "Here you are, sir."

After reading the package over, he angrily thrust it back to me. He left me standing there, confused, as he stormed out. I didn't even have a moment to reply.

Moments later, my department lead returned, and I recounted my story. He asked me to show him the package I had given to the customer. I took him over to the rack, and retrieved the same package from the peg.

First he smiled. Then he began to laugh. The next thing I knew, he had tears rolling down his face. Once he was able to breathe again, he explained the reason for his laughter.

Who knew these things came in different sizes? Obviously not yours truly.

So, ladies and gents - the moral of the story is this - know your product. Know it inside and out. That knowledge gives you confidence. It builds enthusiasm. It helps you overcome objections. It helps you meet the competition effectively.

In short, it is your single most supportive sales tool.

Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is the owner of The Creative Concept, http://www.TheCreativeConcept.com, a freelance firm specializing in the unique writing, publicity, and marketing needs of small businesses. She is also the publisher of Create the Dream! Magazine, a bi-monthly digital magazine for small businesses. To request a free sample issue and two other promotional gifts, visit the website, located at http://www.CreateTheDream.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Traci_Vanover

"KNOWLEDGE and TALENT Is YOUR KEY to Protecting the Family JEWELS"

"KNOWLEDGE and TALENT Is YOUR KEY to Protecting the Family JEWELS"

"You Can SAVE your Dime When YOU Listen To The Voices of Experience..."

Discover the pitfalls of owning your own business BEFORE... [you make a BAD choice!]

It's really BIG dollars rather than dimes... at least that's my experience over many years. Thousands can be GONE quickly if you fail to plan and work your plan toward success. That said, the first step - baby size - should be at the 'feet' of one who has been there... done it!!

Invincible, right? If anyone can do it, I can!! Looking back over many years - 40 plus - it's written all over the decisions made during my early attempts at starting a new business. Yes, I spent most of my career as an entrepreneur, owning or co-owning a business. Sometimes for the 'right' reasons, at other times it turned 'south' and belly-up.

At the time it didn't seem like much... my first venture out of business college. 'Excited' to say the least. 21 years old, eager, energized, 'ready to roll' was more like it. NOTHING could go wrong, but it surely did. Somebody [I won't call any names] sold us a bill of goods. Just beware, everyone is NOT truthful or trustworthy in business.

You need to know... that goes for Internet gurus too. Lots of hype but not much substance is often the case. Unfortunately, distance keeps you at arms-length long after your money is gone. It's different when you have no personal [in the flesh] contact... you're usually thousands of miles apart and most often it's NO answer when you call.

Just be careful or your funds can/will be depleted in a flash. Been there - done that, too.

On the contrary, there is that 1% ± group of Internet gurus as honest and trustworthy as you'll find anywhere. It's like ALL business dealings with homeowners - business owners - it pays to KNOW the reputation of the person and source in advance of spending your cash.

ONE MORE TIME --

Lots of stuff happened... for 5 great years, I had a wonderful BOSS who was supportive to the utmost. Held an Administrative Executive spot on the management team; super staff personnel; private office; in the days when a good cigar was A-OK [those were the days!] Today, it's beyond belief but times do change, sometimes for a cleaner office environment.

Anyway, the spark ignited again... about 6 months later, it was NOT called the 'spark', but the 'torch' or a "call to disaster" - the beginning of a sad downhill slide without a parachute. This time I had a bride and 2 sons who required food and shelter... an added challenge for sure. We made it, but certainly not on easy street as we had planned earlier.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

NOT having a REALLY good reason to start a business should be warning enough - DON'T do it!! Unfortunately, some of us think owning a business is the only way to hit the BIG time... fast cars, big houses, big income. For us it did turn out OK in the end, but many of our challenges could have been missed simply by being more patient and having a mentor team prior to our stepping off into deep water to sink or swim.

Statistics? About 90% of business 'starts' end in failure. Why? Either it's a lack of financial support; no business knowledge; no skills or talent; and you can add your own list to mine. Doesn't really matter except when it's YOUR money; your time; your family; your future; just another statistic.

My pre-retirement business venture lasted 25 years and I highly recommend the entrepreneurial lifestyle... however, ONLY if you can discover something that you'll enjoy and love doing everyday rather than thinking it's all about making lots of money. The money will come if you're doing what God has intended for you to do.

In closing, you may enjoy reading a letter recently received from Ken McArthur, an internet friend of mine who discovered an exceptional insight about business owners from Mark Joyner, likely the most successful internet guru of the decade. To give you some idea about Mark and his expertise... other executives pay him $2,000 an hour to consult with them on how to grow their business.

Here's the link to Ken's letter: http://www.learningfolder.com/mark3.htm that I wanted to share with you for your perusal.

About The Author

Don Monteith writes from experiences learned in the staffing business during his 32 years as a business owner. You'll want to check out his career path website with lots of FREE ideas to discover your dream job or new business venture.

http://www.Career-Coaching-Central.com

Forbidden Knowledge - What Is It?

Is there really "forbidden knowledge?" Probably not much remains truly hidden or forbidden, but there are little secrets about how things work. Politicians, salesmen and others always learn and use subtle techniques to influence you, for example. Here are some examples.

Control Through Words

The classic joke, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is difficult to answer without incriminating yourself. Politicians, of course, use this technique of the implicit premise for more than jokes. For example, if they can get everyone to argue about how to do something, nobody questions if it should even be done. Implicit premises are a powerful method of control. Get in the habit of recognizing the premises hidden in political debate.

Another way to influence is to control language. Social security payments don't come from actual investments, unless you call the government lending itself money "investing", so it isn't a "retirement fund." However, calling it that makes it seem safer and more acceptable than what it is: welfare. Without arguing right or wrong, can you see how the words used control the debate?

Words matter greatly. It might be hard for a defense contractor to sell "human shredder" bombs, so they use the name "daisy cutter." Start noticing how words are used to influence you.

Hypnotic Selling Techniques

"Does speaking before a crowd make you nervous? What if it was easy for you? Imagine standing there, knowing exactly what to say to make them love you. Wouldn't that feel wonderful? Just apply our simple methods, and you will have that power. Use the form below to ORDER RIGHT NOW."

The sales pitch above starts by getting you to say yes, which is habit forming. It hints at the possibility of a solution. "Imagine," in line three, gets you doing just that. Line four suggests positive emotion and gets another yes. "And" in line five infers cause and effect, suggesting you'll have the power BECAUSE you used their product. The last line directs you with "Use the form below." The "order right now" is called an "embedded command," because putting it in capitals influences you without you noticing consciously.

That short paragraph uses six or more "hypnotic sales techniques." I learned dozens of these techniques, and when I used them to re-write the sign-up page for the Brain Power Newsletter, I started to get four times as many subscribers from the same traffic. This may not be forbidden knowledge, but it is powerful stuff. Start watching for it or using it (with good intentions I hope).

More Forbidden Knowledge

Consistently lucky people are usually creating the conditions for "luck." There are a dozen techniques for doing this. Good salesmen are using techniques like "mirroring," and "leading," to persuade you. The new science of behavioral economics is showing how little logic has to do with our choices. Smart marketers are drawing on their research to create methods of getting you to buy.

This hidden knowledge isn't all about influencing others. Every industry and human activity has little-known "tricks of the trade." Smart real estate agents sell expensive homes, for example. They know it takes the same work as selling a mobile home, but the commission can be five times as much. Those who don't use this "secret" struggle to make a living.

Subliminal techniques and other "forbidden knowledge" can be used for good or bad, so is it dangerous? Yes, especially if you don't have it. Having it means you can use it (ethically) and protect yourself from its mis-use.

About The Author

Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower enhancement, creative problem solving, and related topics for years. Learn more "forbidden knowledge," and subscribe to his free Mind Power Course, at: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/mind-power.html.

Knowledge Management Tools

A variety of software tools have come into existence for the management of knowledge. These tools generally provide features such as intranet, logged chat, search, FAQ lists, personalization, database maintenance and so on. All these supposedly help the process of knowledge sharing within an organization. The development of technology has resulted in facilities such as the Internet, search engines, group support systems, portals, data warehouses and the use of artificial intelligence techniques. This is very useful in managing large databases of knowledge and providing access to them from anywhere in the world. It is in this regard that software tools provide valuable assistance to knowledge management systems.

The question of managing and keeping track of myriad documents in an establishment, searching for a certain piece of knowledge from a huge knowledge base, or providing customer service round the year, 24/7, is resolved through software tools that help organize and manage knowledge.

Knowledge management tools have the advantage of the existing information technology infrastructure in any organization. With the evolution of the IT industry, companies are keen to empower their employees with access to information, intranets, document management tools and full text indexing tools, to name a few, as called for by knowledge management. It follows, therefore, that employing those technologies in knowledge management has encouraged the development of knowledge management tools. Knowledge management is nothing but a collection of technologies used for authoring, indexing and storing data, and for the application of this information and knowledge, where applicable.

Knowledge is an invaluable advantage for organizations, and the security of this knowledge has to be addressed by all tools used in the management of this knowledge.

No matter what the type or format of knowledge, it has to be stored in repositories. All tools that sustain these repositories must have shared features such as regulation, storage, search and recovery, content delivery and content evolution.

Knowledge Management provides detailed information on Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Software, Knowledge Management Systems, Knowledge Management Tools and more. Knowledge Management is affiliated with Supply Chain Management Software.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristy_Annely

By Kristy Annely

Knowledge Reward

Knowledge is something that is not always easy to come by. We as humans start out with, a learning attitude; we put in the time, and effort, with the hope of fruitful results. We read books, newspapers, go to lectures, watch the tube, search the Internet.

We listen to others, tell their stories, there experiences, it enriches us, with knowledge. We listen we learn, not a bad combination, it is the essence of who we are. The knowledge that we gain on the road of life, is invaluable. We become the product of this knowledge, we spread our words of wisdom, we soon find it attract others. We become an attraction, the public, will either like or dislike what we have to say. The results, matter very little, the knowledge gained is more than reward enough. Sometime a little knowledge can be very dangerous, instead of doing the math, we blunder ahead, it may end in disaster, or not. Staying true is a challenge, letting knowledge lead the way, brings with it satisfaction. Inspired by this, our knowledge, grows, our life changes, the reward let us create. Humans have sought after, knowledge, since the beginning of time.

Our creativity is the product of this. After all we are just on the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to knowledge. Mans greatest adventures may just be over the horizon. We are curious by nature; our journey will have some surprises as well as disappointments. What will surprise us, and not disappoint us; that knowledge was the real journey.

By Steve Helmer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Helmer

Knowledge Management Services: Organizing Knowledge For Businesses

Knowledge management is about managing knowledge processes that are crucial for business operations. It involves creation, collection, dissemination, use, and organization of information. Knowledge management can be used either for the distribution or for use of existing knowledge or for the creation of new knowledge. Knowledge management programs involve developing knowledge collection, access to the knowledge, and a control mechanism for checking abuse of the knowledge.

Advantages of Knowledge Management Systems:
The need for knowledge management services emerged as a necessity due to the haphazard growth of information, decision support issues, data integration, and many other issues. We discuss why knowledge management services are not just advantageous but also crucial for any business.

1) Globalization:
In the era of globalization, knowledge is no longer limited to a special domain. It is diffused and stored in many different locations. To succeed in your business, you need to locate, store, and organize knowledge properly.

2) Profitability:
Knowledge, if properly packaged for relevant applications, is highly valuable. Companies pay a lot to obtain know-how that they can use to boost the cash flow.

3) Business Restructuring:
If changes are made in the organization model of the business, some of the knowledge gathered over the years may be lost in the restructuring process. Knowledge management services help organizations store crucial data.

4) Experience:
Companies can benefit greatly from the knowledge of older employees and put it to use in similar experiences.

Knowledge Management Process:
All knowledge management services follow roughly the following procedure to set up a comprehensive knowledge management system.

1) Delegating Responsibility to Knowledge Manager:
A knowledge manager creates and coordinates with a multidisciplinary team to gather and develop knowledge.

2) Developing Knowledge Centers:
A knowledge center develops strategies, expertise networks, and financial data planning.

3) Access:
Companies need to regulate access to knowledge, both to check misuse of knowledge and to ensure that the right information reaches the appropriate people. Knowledge management services help companies with this issue as well.

Knowledge Management Strategies:
Ideally, knowledge management strategies should enhance the knowledge collection, sharing, access, and use. This can be accomplished if:

1) The knowledge manager is committed to good knowledge management practices and can coordinate and motivate his team.

2) The knowledge management team has the support of the managers and other employees.

3) Clearly stated goals are very important if you want good knowledge management services.

4) Recognizing and rewarding good work is important, since it motivates the knowledge management team to reach higher.

Knowledge management services can enhance the bottom line; making it crucial for companies to hire knowledge management services from the outside if they have no internally appointed knowledge manager. Knowledge management services will put existing knowledge within reach of the right people and encourage creation of new knowledge.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon

By Alexander Gordon

How To Prevent Obstruction By Knowledge

Our point of view, perception, and learning are all objects of our knowledge, and these are things that prevent us from going ahead. "I already know everything there is to know about that. I don't need to learn any more." We have arrived only at the fourth rung of the ladder, yet we think it is the top rung. Whatever the value of what our intellect and our insight has attained, we have to abandon it. If we don't, we put an end to further progress. Even though it has some value, our knowledge has become an obstacle. If we are caught in our knowledge, if we say that our knowledge is absolute truth, we suffer from the knowledge-obstacle. Those who have knowledge but know that they have to abandon it in order to go further do not suffer from the knowledge-obstacle.

Objects of knowledge are like water that has become ice and prevents the river from flowing. We need knowledge, but we have to use it intelligently. If we think that our present knowledge is paramount, our way is blocked. Our knowledge has become an obstacle. We cannot [or should not] be attached to anything; we have to abandon even our insight, our understanding, and our knowledge [to be truly free].

Have you ever wondered sometimes the CEO of a company might not even be experienced in a certain business that the Company is engaged in? The reason could be that, for the CEO to be a visionary, he or she should not be suffering from the knowledge-obstacle.

You might not need to hire a new CEO, but you can always train your R and D team to understand that they have to abandon their knowledge and expertise in order to go further, and thus not suffering from the knowledge-obstacle.

"Click here to read more wise advice on business, finance and career"

Janny is a 24 year old female working in a management consultancy firm and specializes in consulting for the financial services industry. Through blogging, she expresses her humble opinions and shares her real world experience in beauty, health and financial freedom.

"Click Here to tell Janny if she is happy and wealthy"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janny_Cole

By Janny Cole

What is Knowledge Management Anyway?

When you think of all the things companies have, you do not always consider the knowledge they have. For instance, a company is only as good as its employees, its resources, and its knowledge. But, where and what is that knowledge? How is that knowledge managed within the company?

A basic definition of knowledge management is this. Knowledge management is a process that companies use to generate value from their assets. Knowledge management can be much more, but this is the basics of it. Now, there are two types of knowledge management to speak of at this point. One is explicit knowledge.

What is that?

It is the assets such as ‘paper’ assets such as trade marks, patents, files, employee lists, customer lists, marketing research, and even business plans. The other type of knowledge management is tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge is the stuff inside people’s heads. For obvious reasons this is the hardest knowledge to manage. How do you know what is there and how do you put a price tag so to speak on it?

Knowledge management is a much larger concept then this. But, companies often strive to figure out what their knowledge assets are and how to organize and place value on them. In many cases, programs can be used to help with organization and drawing in the knowledge itself. To find out more on knowledge management, you can check out any of the many websites that explain it in greater detail. In order to be successful at knowledge management, a business owner needs to understand the proper way to utilize it and manage it.

The Knowledge Management Resource Site is an all-on-one resource for everything about Knowledge Management.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Shar