The accessibility of information in a knowledge management (KM) system is a primary concern of knowledge employees and managers. Accessibility issues include access privileges—who within the organization has access to specific information and the type of access allowed. Access privileges typically are stratified on a need-to-know basis and by level in the organization. For example, whereas the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) may have access to information throughout the organization, a knowledge worker in, say, customer support may not have access to information in the human resources department. The type of access to information commonly varies as a function of the knowledge worker’s role in the organization. The librarian may be able to read, modify, and even delete information from the KM system. However, a front-line knowledge worker, such as a customer support representative, may be able to read and write information but not modify or delete information already in the system.
User authentication and security are directly related to access privileges. Authentication includes the methods used to verify that the users are who they say they are. In automated KM systems, authentication based on username and passwords is increasingly supplemented with biometric systems that rely on images of the user’s fingerprints or retina. Security involves keeping unauthorized users from accessing, modifying, or destroying valuable information. A related issue is privacy, which is accomplished by maintaining certain information out of the reach of those without access privileges and need to know.
In most KM programs, the ability of someone in the organization to modify information once it has been created or added to the system is especially guarded and tracked. Access time is also a function of the ability to locate specific information in any phase of the KM life cycle, which is directly related to the methodology and vocabulary used to archive, locate, and retrieve information. The methodology and technology used to track the location and version of information in the KM life cycle also affect accessibility.
THE PAINFUL TRUTH is that the Internet has been a letdown for most companies—largely because the dominant model for Internet commerce, the destination Web site, doesn’t suit the needs for those companies or their customers. Most consumer product companies don’t provide enough value or dynamic information to induce customers to make the repeat visits—and disclose the detailed information—that make such sites profitable. The companies should discard the notion that a Web site equals an Internet strategy. Instead of trying to create destinations that people will come to, companies need to use the power and reach of the Internet to deliver tailored messages and information to customers. Companies have to become what the authors call “contextual marketers.”