The following discussion of lessons learnt is taken from my experience implementing knowledge management activities in the outsourcing business unit of a large technology company and from projects that I have completed in my consulting practice. The consulting projects have included the implementation of knowledge management enabled processes, including ITIL processes.
Remember in the case of implementing KM in an IT organization Business = IT.
Tie the initiative to business objectives, whether those are improving the delivery of IT services to the business or business services to the external customer/client, it is critical for both the business and IT to understand the value of the initiative.
Enabling IT processes with knowledge management activities helps to achieve the strategic objectives of IT, namely delivering world-class IT on a limited budget and with limited resources. Also, by tying the initiative to the business objectives it helps to leverage the experience and knowledge of others in delivering services to customers, mitigates risks in the business strategy, helps control costs, and helps in understand markets and customers, because there is alignment between the initiative and the supporting technology, processes, and people activities.
Pay attention to culture. There are many issues surrounding culture in enabling ITIL processes with KM activities. First is the realization that a KM culture ideally is comprised of a shared vision that is sponsored at a high level and driven through-out the organization; an understanding that KM is an integral part of the way the organization works; it is a collaborative environment where sharing and communication are encouraged; with employees who understand the desired results and how they are measured; and there are incentives that motivate employees towards the desired results.
However, the culture that exists is never ideal and culture cannot be changed in a vacuum, it has to be the outcome of the desired activities. To do this the KM Program will need to define terminology, so that there is a common understanding of what terms mean and include extensive communication, training, and education in the implementation plans. KM is a change in behaviour, and people will need motivation to capture and share knowledge.
User participation. It is critical that staff participate in defining everything from the requirements to the implementation plan and priorities. The program team will need to understand how staff wants to receive information, what information staff/users need, who supplies the information, where it comes from, when it is needed, and how the users think about and organize knowledge.
Sponsorship. There are several lessons around sponsorship, including that it needs to be from the top, not mid-level, grassroots support is good and necessary too, but if senior management is not on-board with the initiative the ability to take it across the enterprise is severely hampered. Enabling ITIL processes with KM activities will help senior management meet their strategic objectives, hence the need for their sponsorship.
Education and communication. Never assume that people know about or understand the initiative. Understanding what people already know about ITIL and KM will help to tailor the message and tell them what they need to know as well as showing them “what’s in it for me?”.
Adequate resources, while the KM Program will probably not have all of the resources that are desired, it is important to try and to understand what resources are needed to be successful, this is something that should be assigned to experienced staff because of the complexity of the initiative and need to be able to influence management and users. Good project/program management applies to this initiative like it would to any other. Make sure the KM Program Manager knows and mitigate the risks to the program in the organization and make sure that time, people, capital, and appropriate scope are included in designing the initiative.
Prioritize based on business need. There will be more things to do than resources to do them as is the case with a lot of initiatives. This is where prioritizing based on the business case comes into play and understanding what the users want/need first versus last. The KM Program Manager may also want to determine what has the quickest pay-off, biggest pay-off, what is the most visible, or what is easiest to this information will also help to prioritize the KM activities.
KM pay-off is the last although certainly not least of the lessons learnt concerns. The initial benefits will be largely anecdotal until there is a critical mass of people participating in the process and activities. The benefits of enabling ITIL or any process with KM are often intangible, like the knowledge itself, but knowledge drives innovation, improved decision making, and competitive advantage.
While the initiative will pay-off most substantially in the medium and long term, it requires an investment up-front. Understanding this is critical to maintaining management support. Also, because implementing KM enabled ITIL processes is not something that is completed in the short-term, the program team will need to confirm sponsorship regularly and show successes by presenting status reports, metrics, and anecdotal evidence to management and the user community.