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#4.  What’s Your Company’s “Knowledge Management” Capability?

Many companies (especially distribution chains) have invested in InfoTech “solutions” for years. But, IF you surveyed your front-line, service employees with these questions, how knowledgeable would their answers be?

1. What is our #1 most-net-profitable-segment of customers?
2. Who are this location’s five, most, net-profitable customers in our #1 segment?
3. And, the 5, most, innovative, fastest-growing, target accounts in our #1 segment?
4. What are examples of the “heroic recoveries and extras” that we have done for these ten, key customers?
5. What service metrics do we continuously improve to know that we are delivering the best, total, service-value to our #1 segment?
6. What is the annualized, gross-profit-dollars/employee for this location? Why does that metric matter? How does it finance premium wages and reinvested, growth profits?
7. How does our customer-centric strategy win for all four, main, stakeholder groups?
8. Name those 4 stakeholder groups and explain the synergistic interdependence?  
9. Why should you and all care about any of these questions?

Even if everyone had the answers, knowing stuff is NOT making brilliant, consistent performance happen. Knowing wise-solutions is not wise-execution!

The “Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom” (DIKW) Noise

 Google-image “DIKW Pyramid”: a trite gimmick for the “Knowledge-Management” industry. This simplistic, DIKW noise may have all started by a 1935, poetic line by T. S. Eliot.

“DIKW” is catchy. And, it may spark deeper thinking about the upside for each of your company’s profit-centers.

But, what does DIKW leave out?  

1. Customer profitability analytics from Waypoint Analytics will help you to: answer questions 1 and 2 above; and zero in on question 3.
2. But, preferably a CEO must visit 5+ best (target) customers to redefine the service offerings and metrics for each target, customer segment.
3. You must then have the “execution wisdom” to - educate, engage, x-train and upskill - the team to continuously improve the metrics and do the heroics.
4. Next: rethink and redesign the underlying systems that lock in and scale perfect-service metrics.  
5. Once your metrics guarantee that your customers are getting: the lowest,  “total-procurement-cost”; and, the highest, uptime-productivity (by always having the goods they need at hand). What then?
6. Can you coach your reps to: sell your total-value; and leverage that into win-win, inter-company, automated, replenishment systems?    

Closing Questions

1. Does everyone have the answers to the survey questions?
2. If so, how many of your managers have the “Change-Management Wisdom” to execute?
3. How are you helping your managers to get wiser faster?