Survey boosts catalytic KM role

[QQ]A Xerox survey into the changing nature of the role of knowledge managers shows that responsibility has shifted away from technology integration towards acting as a catalyst.[QQ] According to Dan Holtshouse, director of corporate strategy knowledge initiatives, the 90 respondents who took part in the survey believe that KM is most effective in overcoming “organisational silos” of knowledge.[QQ] The most popular problems solved were identified as sharing boundaries, isolated best practices and dispersed information.[QQ] The survey suggests that knowledge managers are far from happy with their lot. Only 29 percent claim to be “very satisfied” with their KM projects.[QQ] The majority of managers admit to be only “somewhat satisfied”. Lack of management support, clarity and focus are cited by KM managers as being the major reasons why projects are not proceeding more rapidly. Nearly 20 percent think senior managers do not know what is meant by “knowledge management”.[QQ] Consulting is still driving KM projects, although search engines are growing in popularity as a KM tool. Of the respondents, 23 percent use consulting services for KM projects, while 13 percent trust to search engines. Rather worryingly for consultants, respondents who were “very satisfied” with the progress of their KM projects are 20 percent more likely to be using a search engine than a consultant.[QQ] It seems that knowledge managers do value people skills over technical competency. Only 13 percent of respondents think computer literacy is important to the role.