Connectivity deficit costs UK £30 billion a year

According to research undertaken by O2 and the Centre for Economic and Business Research, British business is paying a high price for poor connectivity.

A survey of 1000 middle managers found that:

·         80% of administrative staff don’t have remote access to key business systems

·         Improved connectivity could save each employee up to 127 hours of travel per year

The report states that organisations should work hard to improve connectivity to:

·         Eradicate needless journeys

·         Provide better access to information ‘anywhere’ to enable employees to make better use of time and increase productivity

·         Improve the efficiency of meetings, in particular saving workers over 50 hours a year in wasted follow up activities

·         Improve customer service and increase sales with real-time information.

More on the O2 website.

IT project prioritisation - a practical application of knowledge management principles

What happens when you devolve IT project prioritisation to non-IT business leaders?

Tullow Oil, a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production group, did just that.  The approach reflected its commitment to collaborative decision making.

Chris Rivinus describes how Tullow Oil made this approach work in his article in the December 2013 issue of Business Information Review.  Astonishingly, they devised a system which enabled 15 very busy people, with diverse backgrounds, based in different continents, to reach decisions on projects even if they had little technical expertise.  And they do this in an hour a month!

The article describes the processes and templates used and describes the guiding principles that make the approach work, including:

• Snap-shot decision making
• Trust their gut
• Simplicity
• Visualise with data and text detail as backup

IT project prioritization: A practical application of knowledge management principles.  Chris Rivinus, Tullow Oil UK, Business Information Review 2013 30(4) 196-203

The organisation of organisational knowledge

"Knowledge does not need to be complex, and its capture does not need to be complicated"

So says Danny Budzak, Senior Information Manager at the London Legacy Development Corporation in the UK.

Writing in the December 2013 issue of Business Information Review (BIR 30(4)), Danny describes the approaches he and his Information Services team took to develop and implement IM standards, tools and techniques.

This focus on keeping it simple can be seen in team's approach to data, information and knowledge.  These included:

• Very short one-to-one sessions with staff to help them organise email folders (less than 10 minutes)
• Using critical questioning to understand the nature of the data stored within the organisation - reducing the number of 'must keep' files from over 5 million to 130,000!
• Producing a two page report of data audit findings

"We have learned that knowledge management works well when it is related to real and pressing issues...."

The organization of organizational knowledge, Danny Budzak, Senior Information Manager, London Legacy Development Corporation, UK, Business Information Review 2013, Vol. 30(4) 183-190.

Peter Griffiths - sad news

We were so sorry to hear that Peter Griffiths, former President of CILIP and a contributor to BIR, has passed away.

The sad news was shared on CILIP's website. 

We send our heartfelt sympathy to Peter's family, friends and former colleagues.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) and LIS research

Louise Cooke and Hazel Hall have published an article in Journal of Documentation exploring the potential value of SNA in library and information science research.  Here's the abstract:


Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a research approach that focuses on relationships among social entities, and the patterns and implications of these relationships. This paper reviews the value of SNA as a method appropriate to research in the domain of Library and Information Science (LIS). In addition to offering a brief overview of the academic antecedents of modern-day SNA, the relevance of SNA to LIS research is illustrated through the presentation of a case study.

The paper cites an article by Bonnie Cheuk (on SNA and knowledge transfer, published in BIR in 2007) and also develops ideas presented by Hall, Irving and Cruikshank in BIR in 2012.

If you would like to read the article, the published version can be accessed from JDoc contents page on the Emerald web site (non-subscribers to Emerald will need to pay a fee to reach the full text). The full-text of the manuscript is available also available and free to download.

Charles Oppenheim - the Award-winning star of our Editorial column!

At the Internet Librarian International conference held in London in October 2013, Charles Oppenheim was presented with the 2013 Jason Farradane Award.  The award was made in recognition of his outstanding work in the information profession.

Charles Oppenheim's contribution to the profession has also been recognised in the latest issue of Business Information Review (September 2013).  In a wide-ranging interview we discuss his 40-year career in information management. 

Charles first recognised his interest in desk research when working on his PhD in the late 1960s. His career has seen him working in industry, academia and publishing, with an on-going interest in the legal issues of information and content.  He has been a regular - and much appreciated - contributor to this journal as well as to the broader professional literature.

We wish him the best of luck in his retirement.

Business Book Summaries

Harvard Business Review Press books are to be added to EBSCO’s Business Book Summaries.

The Business Book Summaries is updated on a daily basis and offers concise summaries of thousands of leading business books, an iPhone app and audio summaries of selected titles.

For more information see the EBSCO website.