Enterprise knowledgebase

Yammer has launched its namesake micro-blogging tool for the enterprise.The company explains that on Yammer, co-workers exchange short frequent answers to a simple question, such as: "What are you working on?" As employees answer this question, a company feed is created in one central location, enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links and other information. The company feed can be accessed in real-time via the desktop, the Web, IM, SMS text messaging, mobile devices or e-mail. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile; it also features a knowledgebase where past conversations are archived and searchable.

Pharmaceutical companies are employing knowledge management (KM) to enhance strategic performance across the enterprise, to help with long-term development of new products and to build more comprehensive knowledgebases, among other uses.Wyeth Pharmaceuticals was looking for a way to make improvements throughout its worldwide clinical organization, targeting such areas as customers, finances, internal processes (including personnel) and technology. One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies, Wyeth offers products for women’s healthcare, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology and more.One approach that interested the company was the balanced scorecard. "It is a well-known methodology ensuring you’re on track for achieving your strategic objectives," says Jennifer Peck, senior director of clinical strategy management at Wyeth.

Sure, it's imperative for every company to develop an extensive knowledgebase and sound KM practices, but what good is that knowledge if it is locked within corporate walls?Many organizations are realizing that they must unleash knowledge to the mobile work force—and not just on laptops, but on PDAs, BlackBerry devices and cell phones as well. Salespeople calling on an account are only as good as the information they have in front of them when they meet with the client.“We expect greater than 50% of enterprises to extend their existing, mission-critical applications such as ERP, CRM and SFA to mobile and pervasive devices over the next three to four years,” says Jack Gold, VP, META Group.