Know thyself

"The essence of knowledge," said Confucius, "is using it." Capturing and spreading knowledge within an organization is one of the premier challenges for business in the new century. Unfortunately, U.S. companies are staring at big losses because of an inability to find and use resources they already

have, estimates International Data Corp. (IDC), a global market research firm based in Framingham, Mass. As a group, the 500 largest companies in the U.S. lost $12 billion in 1999 due to intellectual rework, substandard performance, and their inability to locate knowledge resources, estimates IDC. By 2003 that dollar figure will climb to $31.5 billion.

Corporate knowledge assets also are at risk. Because of a lack of tools and processes to actively capture, manage, and connect organizational expertise, an estimated 3.2% of corporate knowledge is incorrect, and an additional 4.5% is unavailable due to employee turnover, information mismanagement, and knowledge hoarding.