About a year ago, Dr. Michael Koenig wrote in these pages that unlike many business "fads," knowledge management didn't fall into the typical 10-year pattern of boom and bust, with four or five years of explosive growth, followed by a slightly longer period of almost equally dramatic decline. His conclusion: KM is here to stay.
That's not to say it hasn't had its detractors—some early, ill-conceived and overly ambitious initiatives left such a bad taste in some people's mouths, marketers avoided the term altogether. However, as we began assembling this list 12 months ago, it became very clear that the extended business community has readily (if not proudly) embraced the term—and not just in the very limited sense of a call center FAQ database. Rather, vendors are embracing knowledge management—as we at KMWorld always have—as an attitude, not an application. As such, then, knowledge management should extend to the very core of a firm's mission.
Companies of all shapes and sizes acknowledge that providing the right information at the right time to the right people is the purest and most effective way to give value. So, if there is a single trait shared by the companies listed below, it is their determination to treat their entire constituency chain, from top to bottom, with respect and without hubris. Clearly, attitude alone doesn't warrant inclusion on the list, attitude must be accompanied by elegance in the design and implementation of their software.
So, are these the "best" companies? Not necessarily. Countless others could have been included, but the ones listed here distinguished themselves to our panel of judges because of their role in creating, enhancing or defining a market. Equally as important, they demonstrate the all-too-rare quality of facile, agile planning and execution.
View from the Top
Please take the time to visit the Web sites of our 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management. And, in our View from the Top section, you can learn about many of the companies from the point of view of their top executives.
ABBYY Software Abrevity
Antarctica Systems
Appian
Apple
Aquire
Astoria
Attensity
Autonomy
Avenue A/Razorfish
AXS-One
BA-Insight
BEA
Brainware
Business Objects
CA, Inc.
Captaris
Citrix Systems
Clarabridge
Connotate
Contextware
Convera
Coveo
Deep Web Technologies
DICOM Group/Kofax
Dieselpoint
DocZone.com
eGain
Ektron
EMC/Legato/Documentum/Captiva
Endeca
Engenium
Exact
Exalead
Expert System
EXSYS
Extensis
FAST
FatWire
Global 360
HandySoft
Hewlett-Packard
IBM/Lotus/FileNet
Innodata Isogen
InQuira
Insightful
Interwoven
Inxight
ISYS Search Software
IxiaSoft
KANA
Kazeon Software
KNOVA
KnowNow
Liberty IMS
Lockheed-Martin
Mark Logic
Mercado
Metastorm
Microsoft
MicroStrategy
MindTouch
Mondosoft
Nervana
Noetix
Northern Light
Nstein
Open Text/Hummingbird
Oracle/Stellent
PaperThin
Percussion
QL2
Quantum Art
Really Strategies
Recommind
SAP
SAS
SAVO
SchemaLogic
Serena Software
SharePoint
Siderean
SiteScape
SpringCM
SumTotal
SupportSoft
Tacit
Talisma
TEMIS
Teragram
TheBrain
TOWER Software
Traction Software
Vivisimo
Visual Sciences formerly WebSideStory
X1 Technologies
Xerox
XyEnterprise
Xythos
ZyLAB