For everyone who has been out there writing, monetizing or living in this overzealous decade of “knowledge” and “technology”, one can begin to wonder if such buzz words as “knowledge management” really mean anything. They do. As a matter of fact, they’re two of the most powerful words in this decade or any other for that matter.

How can knowledge management be aptly defined? Well, actually in several different ways. For instance if you search for the definition to it via Google, you’ll find that on every page there’s a different definition. My favorite so far is the one that comes up in the online computing dictionary that says “Knowledge management is not available in the computing dictionary.” Even that definition within reason is an accurate definition.

Knowledge management doesn’t have a singular universal meaning attached to it. For the purposes of this article, and the definition of KM, we’ll turn to Britton Manasco, Managing Partner with Market Intelligence Group. Britton is a market strategist with more than a decade of expertise developing compelling initiatives to assess markets, analyze business opportunities and strengthen sales efforts.

Manasco’s definition of knowledge management “is that it’s a set of capabilities or activities one can engage in. It’s a method of integrating all your resources and knowledge within your company so that the company can share those ‘integrated’ assets with fellow employees, partners, vendors, and even other companies.”

If you want to further define knowledge management within an every day metaphor, you can take for instance planning your first trip to New York. You have family and friends who have traveled there before, but you’re going on your own and have never been there. The only resources you have in regard to the city are print or online. You might purchase some guidebooks to carry with you on your trip, but oftentimes the guide books are quickly outdated, and the entertainment venues can change or close. But what if you could tap into the “real” knowledge of someone who has been there many times, someone who knows the cheapest ways to travel in and out of the city, someone who can give you the restaurants you don’t want to miss, the Broadway shows to see, the hotel to stay in and the tips for staying safe in the subways and Central Park. Maybe you even have a friend who lived there for a long time and can give you some emergency numbers of friends who still live in New York, that you could count on to call in case anything happened while you were there. All of those individual insights or pieces of knowledge might come from a different, yet “knowledgeable” source. Just because they don’t come from one distinct whole source does not mean you won’t use the knowledge and apply it.

Keep in mind too that not all the information you gather and that is shared is going to provide value to your journey. If you don’t like seafood for example, then no matter how many different seafood restaurants your neighbor Bill recommends, that knowledge is not going to have value to you.

“Knowledge has no value on its own if it’s not related to your customers and your offerings. It’s hard to measure knowledge if it’s not going to be applied. Knowledge has value in how it is applied,” says Manasco.

One of the more prevalent misconceptions about knowledge management is that it is just simply knowledge. But knowledge, in Manasco’s terms, is a “means or method of doing something. It’s a lever.”

It’s up to your business to determine what knowledge is important to its process. Knowledge management at its best serves as a conduit for companies to meet and expand their business resources both internally and externally. Knowledge management has to have both context and applicability within your business. Let’s go back to the trip metaphor -- if you’re taking a trip to New York and you have a business partner who keeps giving you maps of Alaska and tips about Alaska, because they’re from Alaska, it still won’t help you in New York.

No matter what field you’re in or what level of expertise there always exists opportunities to gather knowledge from disparate sources and bring those bits and pieces together as a powerful whole. That’s knowledge management. That whole is what ties together the assets of your business and makes the trip a lot more profitable along the way. Manasco says, “With business one of the most important issues in regard to successful knowledge management is to ‘engage’ all your stakeholders and insure you’ve determined what constitutes value for in terms of managing and exchanging knowledge.”

Knowledge management is not dead. Despite the naysayers, it’s definitely here to stay. The market of knowledge and managing it will continue to push the possibilities of business, customers and success as it continues to surpass the envelope of innovation, integration, resource sharing and community.

Now go and get more knowledge!