Contact Energy – knowledge management strategy
Contact Energy was about to embark on Intranet redevelopment. In initiating this project they needed to put together a strong business case for what was sure to be a significant investment. Seradigm recommended taking a knowledge focused, rather than an information focused approach to planning for Intranet development. The thinking behind this was that the real benefits would be gained not by focusing on its immediate and visible information issues, but rather by looking behind these, at its intangible assets and intellectual capital.
The process involved putting together a Knowledge Management Strategy. This was done in a series of workshops and interviews with a range of staff. It identified the types of knowledge within the company, where the knowledge resided, and how it flowed and was created. A number of areas for improvement were identified, and targeted as key aspects to be addressed in Intranet development. A central theme of the strategy became ‘connection not collection’, i.e. that the aim of any knowledge focused Intranet should be to connect people rather than to capture large amounts of information.
The results of this process were two-fold, a written Knowledge Management Strategy document that is being used as a part of the business case for Intranet development, and a number of staff within Contact Energy who are more aware of the potential benefits of taking a knowledge focused approach.
Sarah Thompson, e-Business Manager for Contact Energy had this to say about the project. “I’ve really enjoyed the process – it certainly opened our eyes to some new ways of thinking about knowledge management – and has been really valuable.”