Fourth Knowledge Management Roundtable

Convened at Computer Sciences Corporation
Falls Church, Virginia
February 3, 2000

Resources:

Organization List
Agenda
Participants
Bacon PPT
(Please contact to ICASIT for slide Presentations)

Brief:

The Knowledge Management Roundtable convened the fourth in its series of Knowledge Management (KM) presentations at the Computer Sciences Corporation’s (CSC) Executive Briefing Center in Falls Church, Virginia.

Held in conjunction with Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and George Mason University’s International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology (ICASIT), the KM Roundtable meetings seek to broaden the application and advance the effectiveness of KM practice in regional organizations. CIT seeks to increase the Commonwealth's economic competitiveness and quality of life by advancing the development of Virginia as a technology state and by creating and retaining technology-based jobs and businesses.

As part of its efforts to achieve these results, CIT initiated activities to position itself as a major participant in the diffusion of KM in the business community. A grant to ICASIT helped initiate a shared KM culture among organizations in Virginia by identifying organizations in Virginia interested in KM and convening a KM Roundtable held in March 1999 (See KM Roundtable, March 1999, KM Roundtable, June 1999, and KM Roundtable, September 1999), as well as the more recent event.

With this event, four meetings have been held since initiation of the KM RT a year ago, and about 30 individuals have participated in each event. Based upon attendance at this meeting at CSC, some 84 practitioners representing 41 organizations are now involved in the KM RT program. (See Organization List).

The February 3, 2000 meeting (See Agenda) was attended by 26 participants (See Participants). This included 16 from large and small private sector organizations; the university (1 member), nonprofit (3 members), and government (7 members) sectors were also represented.

Virgil Frizzell, Director for Industry and University Collaboration with the Internet Technology Innovation Center (http://www.internettic.org/) provided a brief background of the KM Roundtable and introduced Carol Bothwell, who was recently named as the CKO for CSC

(See http://www.csc.com/newsandevents/news/724.shtml),

and who both welcomed KM RT participants to CSC and introduced the speakers for the program, Beverly Bacon and Derek Binney.

Beverly Bacon serves as Sources Release Manager for CSC’s Corporate Knowledge Program (CKP. See new URL: http://www.csc.com/solutions/knowledge/index.html). Sources is CSC’s knowledge environment; as its Release Manager, Bacon makes sure that the technical component of the CKP remains up to date and as fully implemented as possible. Her 20 years of experience in IT and computer science includes 16 years with CSC in various divisions. Her previous experience was primarily in system development, including software engineering, system engineering, and project management. Throughout her career, she has been involved with process improvement initiatives, which led to her current interest in Knowledge Management.

Bacon (See BaconPPT) presented a high-level overview of CSC’s CKP, of how it has evolved over the past decade, and of how it was formalized as a model KM program two years ago. Her last slide, "Ten Strategies for Success," should prove edifying to all.

CSC demonstrates the importance of top executive leadership to the success of KM programs. CSC’s CEO, Van B. Honeycutt, states:

"Knowledge, and our ability to build and leverage it, have become critical sources of sustainable competitive advantage. CSC Sources, our global knowledge environment, is positioning us for success."

Derek Binney serves as Marketing Director for CSC’s CKP. On an 18-month assignment with the CKP from CSC Australia Pty Ltd, Binney has established and will run CSC’s Knowledge Solutions Lab (KSL), assist in supporting selected business units, and look at ways CSC can take its KM acumen to market. With the underpinning of a B.Eng from the University of New South Wales, he has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry in technical, commercial and marketing environments.

Binney and two colleagues presented a demonstration of CSC’s recently opened KSL (http://www.csc.com/newsandevents/news/734.shtml). Not only does the lab provide a rich environment for continuing KM research within CSC and for training, using abstract to tangible problems, of CSC consultants, but it also enables CSC to showcase its KM program and prowess to existing and potential clients. Binney and colleagues ran several interesting scenarios demonstrating how KM robustly supports different business needs.

Both speakers fielded questions during their respective presentations, and a vigorous Q&A and discussion session continued after the conclusion of the meeting when participants were able to meet new colleagues and share anecdotes and ideas stimulated by the CSC’s robust presentation of its CKP.