About the Book
Intranets, Productivity, and the Promise of
the Knowledge Workplace
Advances in communications and computing,
the advent of the Internet, and the proliferation of high-speed computer
networks and servers are producing unprecedented improvements in business
collaboration and productivity. Knowledge Workers have become an indispensable
resource—the productivity engine of the 21st-century—by using technology
to streamline the capture and delivery of organizational knowledge to fellow
workers worldwide. COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE describes this new Knowledge Workplace,
where intellectual capital is a key managed asset and where Web-based collaborative
team services, portals for information management and discovery, and broadcast
delivery of information to every desktop all help enable constant productivity
gains.
• THE HISTORY OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT:
Consider the history of knowledge management and propagation, from cuneiform
to computing, and the rise of the next-generation intranet.
• THE EMERGENCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE WORKPLACE:
Read about how the confluence of work and next-generation intranet technology
has produced a dynamic productivity ecosystem.
• THE COMPELLING BUSINESS VALUE PROPOSITION:
Discover how leading organizations are using intranets to increase productivity
and reduce costs.
• INTRANET MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: Obtain
practical guidance for planning, developing, and managing next generation
intranets—now and in the future.
Related Books
Table of Contents
Introduction
vii
Who Should
Read This Book? vii
The Key
Benefits of This Book vii
Chapters
at a Glance viii
Read
On... ix
Dedication
x
SECTION 1 FROM CUNEIFORM
TO INTRANETS: GETTING HERE FROM THERE
1 Information and Knowledge
in an Historical Perspective 3
Humans
See Value in Consciously Collecting, Sharing, and Using Information 4
Writing
Systems Were Designed to Augment Memory Systems 5
Humankind
Has Invented Physical Objects for Storing and Manipulating Information
8
Humankind
Perceives Value in Collections of Knowledge 17
Every
Major Institution in Society Has Collected, Preserved, and Exploited Information
20
Humankind
Needs to Organize Knowledge to Assure Access 20
Summary
23
2 Intranets 101
25
Intranets
Defined 26
Nuts,
Bolts, Bits, and Bytes 26
Evolving
Intranets 29
Next
Generation Intranets 32
The Demand
for Intranets 36
Summary
38
3 The Portal: Gateway to
a World of Knowledge 39
Portal
Features and Functionality 39
Why Portals?
Why Now? 44
Portals
in the News 47
Summary
51
4 Business and Technological
Drivers 53
The PC
Revolution 53
The Search
for a New Management Paradigm 53
The Desktop
Publishing Revolution 54
The Revolution
in Networking 58
The Internet
Revolution 60
Summary
65
5 The Microsoft Solution
for Intranets 67
The Problem
67
The Solution
69
Summary
80
SECTION 2 THE CULTURE OF
KNOWLEDGE
6 The Knowledge Worker
83
What
Are Knowledge Workers and What Can They Do? 83
Where
Did Knowledge Workers Come From? 87
Today's
Knowledge Workers 91
Core
Competencies of Today's Knowledge Workers 92
Summary
94
7 The Knowledge Workplace
95
From
the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age 95
The Changing
Nature of Work 97
Transformation
of the Workplace 100
Knowledge
Management 106
Putting
Knowledge to Work 110
Summary
111
SECTION 3 HOW INTRANETS
ADD VALUE
8 The Business Value Proposition
for Next Generation Intranets 115
Emergence
of the Knowledge Worker 116
Emergence
of the Knowledge Workplace 117
The Economy,
the Knowledge Workplace, and Productivity 117
Building
the Knowledge Workplace 118
Scenarios
121
Assessing
the Business Value of Next Generation Intranets 124
Quantitative
Returns 125
Qualitative
Returns 127
Return
on People, Process, Knowledge, and IT 128
Summary
137
9 Case Studies: Successful
Workplace Intranets 139
H&R
Block Delivers Superior Customer Services 139
Banco
Nacional de Costa Rica Enhances Productivity 147
Tracy
Unified School District Improves Student Learning and Reduces Administration
155
Compaq
Global Services Increases Revenue and Lowers Cost 163
Summary
174
SECTION 4 MAKING INTRANETS
WORK: PLANNING AND BEYOND
10 Strategies for Planning
and Deploying a Successful Intranet 177
What
Went Wrong? 178
Attributes
of a Successful Intranet 187
Ongoing
Intranet Management 190
Summary
192
11 The Future
195
Changes
in Society 195
Technology
in the Workplace 196
Intranets
Continue to Evolve 198
Summary
200
AN INTRANET GLOSSARY
201
BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
RESOURCE LIST 217
INDEX 221 |
