Why is management of knowledge and information systems a crucial issue?
Konwledge information systems management are not, in themselves, new. As long as organisations have existed, they have needed to work with knowledge and information in order to operate effectively, and even ancient organisations possessed information systems to meet that need. What has changed since the middle of the twentieth century, when electronic computers first became practical organisational tools, is the power of the available technology, the pace at which technological change is occurring, and the increasing emphasis that organisations put on knowledge and information systems as the key to effective operation, and, where appropriate, competitive success. The management of its knowledge and information systems has become a central concern of just about every contemporary organisation, for organisational survival may depend upon it. In October 1992 a new computer-aided despatch system was introduced at the London Ambulance Service. Within twenty-four hours the system had failed,
