What is knowledge?

Fundamentally, the driver to gaining knowledge is the need to know something, and usually this need arises when we need to make a decision - most of the time.

In order to know something we have a number of resources available to us, such as data, information, value-added information (intelligence), life experiences, customer opinion, staff reporting, etc. There are enormous resources that exist in our knowledge universe.

We all have our favourite resources that give us some direction to find what we need to know. Commercially, knowledge is all about the need to know to be competitive (e.g. Time to Market). This need to know is ultimately necessary for our survival, and in particular, to enhance our decision-making processes. Although our successes will ultimately depend on worthy, on-time and on-line know how - knowledge.

All these indices are equally important in any environment, but the overall value (whether high or low) to the business will be determined by the management of these natural assets. The higher the value the greater the impact.