Workforce transformation Part 1: Disrupting the very idea of paper is an important first step
Conclusion: Current approaches to knowledge management are being disrupted by a wave of new working practices that replace the paper-based metaphor which pre-dates the computer revolution, with a digital-only metaphor. While this change has been brewing for over a decade, it should not be confused with simple “digitisation” of paper processes. It is a fundamental shift in thinking about knowledge as a digital asset.
This disruption is already seeing tensions for organisations embracing new collaborative workplace productivity suites, such as G Suite and Office 365. Likewise, vendors of enterprise content management (ECM) solutions are struggling to find relevance, or are fundamentally rethinking their future offerings.
Understanding the differences between the current paper-metaphor approach to knowledge management and the (still evolving) digital-only metaphor is a vital set to a workable knowledge management for the future, and for planning future investments in ECM solutions – which will not be anything like the ones of the past.
About The Advisor
Joseph Sweeney
Dr. Joseph Sweeney is an IBRS advisor specialising in the areas of workforce transformation and the future of work, including; workplace strategies, end-user computing, collaboration, workflow and low code development, data-driven strategies, policy, and organisational cultural change. He is the author of IBRS’s Digital Workspaces methodology. Dr Sweeney has a particular focus on Microsoft, Google, AWS, VMWare, and Citrix. He often assists organisations in rationalising their licensing spend while increasing workforce engagement. He is also deeply engaged in the education sector. Joseph was awarded the University of Newcastle Medal in 2007 for his studies in Education, and his doctorate, granted in 2015, was based on research into Australia’s educational ICT policies for student device deployments.