ALTITUDE ONLINE: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

To collect and distribute knowledge within the organization, Jon plans to use a custom designed wiki system. The Altitude Online wiki will provide a platform for employees in advertising, design, technology, and business units to create informative entries that are catalogued and cross-referenced for easy reference. The purpose of the wiki is to store and retrieve answers to frequently asked questions, as well as training documents and useful instructions and tips.

In addition to the wiki, Jon wants to implement a new database system to store records of each corporate advertising project. A new corporate policy will require agents to provide a summary of each project as it is completed. Pages will include a summary of the advertising media, technology, and approach they used, their challenges and successes, copies of artwork, and other useful information.

Altitude Online employees will access the wiki and projects database through a desktop portal. They will also be able to find and use daily corporate news, calendaring applications for meetings, and social networking applications that include status updates, and group collaboration facilities. Jon is toying with the idea of having organization leaders and successful employees share their ideas through a corporate blog. Contributing to an "all-stars" blog would help successful employees feel recognized for their efforts, while capturing their knowledge and sharing it with others in the organization.

Altitude Online uses several special-purpose information systems. They rely most on programs that analyze the success of online advertising campaigns and those that provide consumer profiles based on their actions on client Web sites. These applications use expert system techniques that automate the collection of data and provide insightful reports.

1. Why do you think it is a good idea for Altitude Online to maintain records of all advertising projects?

2. How can social networks and blogs serve as knowl- edge management systems?

3. What challenges lie in filling a wiki with information provided by employees?

4. What other tools could Altitude Online use to capture employee knowledge, build community, and reward productive employees?