Expert Systems in the Knowledge Management Era

Abstract

Knowledge management is currently attracting a great deal of interest in the business community. Organisations are increasingly coming to regard their knowledge as a key asset and resource. How it is supported and developed are seen as issues of strategic importance. Meeting these needs requires interventions in four key dimensions: people, process, technology and content. Expert, or knowledge-based systems, as one of few disciplines deeply engaged with the issues of knowledge, thinking and decision-making, can potentially play an important role in knowledge management. In this paper the author draws on practical experience and original research to explain the knowledge management phenomenon and illustrate the practical role that expert systems can play, and are already playing in this emerging field.