Exam 11: Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management

Correct Answer:

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While some tools build knowledge bases and help employees access them,others put the
emphasis on directing employees to other employees who have a certain expertise.The
advantage of this approach is that an expert can provide expertise that has not been captured in information systems.Large companies,especially multisite ones,often waste money because employees in one organizational unit are not aware of the experience of employees in another unit.For example,one energy company spent $1 million on a product designed to work on oil rigs to prevent sediment from falling into wells.When the equipment was installed,it failed.The executives of another unit decided to purchase the same equipment,which,not surprisingly,failed in the other location.Then a third unit,elsewhere,purchased the equipment,which also failed.While one can justify the loss of the first $1 million as legitimate business expense in the course of trying a product,the other $2 million was lost because decision makers did not know that the equipment had already been tried and failed.To alleviate similar problems,some software companies,such as Tacit Systems,Inc.,AskMe Corporation,Participate Systems,Inc.,and Entopia,Inc.,have developed employee knowledge networks,tools that facilitate knowledge sharing through intranets.Recall that an intranet uses Web technologies to link employees of the same organization.