The Xplor View - October 2008 - (Page 22)

The resulting synergies between information architectures and their incorporation into the user’s daily workflow can help organisations maintain consistent performance, enhance innovation, and improve the organisation’s overall response time, as well as quality of response. There is strategic value in the convergence of BI and KM A critical success factor for today’s organisation is its ability to take advantage of all the information sources available to it. However, in a recent study entitled “Know How: Managing Knowledge for Competitive Advantage,” conducted by Tata Consultancy Services, many executives of large organisations felt that they were unable to exploit large amounts of corporate information. This is mostly because it is hard to liberate data without standards being put in place and new query forms can only develop once this has happened. As a result, 67 percent of those interviewed saw BI and KM solutions to be important to achieving their strategic goals and objectives. A new trend has developed within large organisations specifically to help manage and measure BI and KM initiatives so that the results can feed back into and enhance the organisation’s overall business strategy. Incorporating Business Performance Management (BPM) in the assessment of BI and KM has enabled organisations to relate data measurements to the organisation’s business objectives and goals, thereby putting them in context with the organisation’s environment. Figure 3.2 gives a pictorial view of how this works within the knowledge cycle. problems; if for example, certain targets have not been reached or objectives have fallen short of expectation. However, KM is much more engrained into the everyday actions and work of business operations. Certain activities that an organisation may conduct can fall within all three areas of BI, KM, and BPM, where each can add value to the other. For example, analysis of employee competencies through BPM is an internal BI activity that could be valuable once fed into a KM system, and can pinpoint what core competencies the organisation has from a strategic perspective. This improves decision-making processes and a strategy can then be built around core competencies. BI will then assist in monitoring success or failure of this strategy in comparison to competitors and market trends. It should be obvious from this example that the three functions are ongoing, interlinking, and supplementary to one another. Clearly the three different elements of BI, KM, and BPM provide a framework for strategic performance management. Unstructured data is converging with structured application and transactional data despite multiple formats for exchanging messages This is because: • XML is the key enabler • Organisations have realised the importance of sourcing knowledge from all data types • Enterprise Information Integration (EII) products are making it easier to access data and content • Compliance is forcing convergence XML is the key enabler XML has given birth to a stream of new technologies, opening up new possibilities which have made it easier for IT and organisations to create and use automated processes to interoperate unstructured data with a more structured format. The XML standard has driven this first wave of interoperability of information structures. Now, many expect the second wave to come with RDF or Resource Description Framework using XML as its interchange syntax. It also has its own standardised query language called SPARQL to extract information from across a wide range of varied formats. SPARQL also has the potential to become the common query method for all Web 2.0 applications because of its ability to run a query over so many diverse data sources. Continued over BPM relates to the implementation of corporate strategy. It also provides the analyses and feedback from which new business plans can then be constructed based on internal and external information sources. It can be used to diagnose 22 The VIEW Journal Xplor European Edition Issue 6 October 2008

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The Xplor View -� October 2008 Contents TPE Master Class: Three Ways to Tame your Print-to-Mail Workflow Right Now Mission Impossible: Embracing Environmental Concerns TPE Master Class: Implementing a Lean Working Environment Improving Business Processes Yields Award-Winning Business Performance How Do� You Effectively Win New Business Writing a Marketing Plan to Win New Printing Clients How Buying Strategies Have Affected How the Industry Sells Let's Talk About Integrated Customer Communications Management:�Transpromo...It Takes a Village! Knowledge Management Part 3 XDU: Leading the Education Revolution Kodak plus Xplor equals XDU Around the World Xplor Europe News:�Short News Items for the Xplor UK�Programme and Europe News

The Xplor View - October 2008

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