100 companies that matter in KM

A lot of people have asked about the criteria for inclusion on the list of 100 Companies That Matter In Knowledge Management (see p. 20). Folks wondered why we didn’t have a nomination form on our site and whether they should e-mail or fax nominations to us. Well, as I mentioned in this column some time ago, we update our list (as we will every year) to generate interest and discussion about knowledge management tools and services. It was never designed to be an award program—we’re limiting that for now to the KM Promise and KM Reality awards we announced at KMWorld 2001 and will be presenting at our 2002 conference Oct. 29 to 31 in Santa Clara. And we have never wanted to give the impression that these are the only companies that matter in KM.

The job is always tough because knowledge management involves so many disciplines: document and content management, business and competitive intelligence, portals, supply chain management, workflow, collaboration, partner and customer relationship management, intellectual asset management, infrastructure and so on. And, the technology is moving at a still-dizzying pace.

Those of us who put the list together—KM practitioners, theorists, customers analysts and editors—know one thing for sure: Limiting the list to 100 companies was an extraordinarily difficult task. We could have very easily doubled its size.

And, just as we did last time around, we’re setting ourselves up to take the heat that comes from including one company and excluding another. Last time, we failed to include some key organizations, and some companies we chose have flamed out altogether. I heard about those sins of omission or commission, believe me! But however angrily the conversations or e-mails began, they ended with the desired result of creating the list in the first place—improving dialog and the understanding of knowledge management’s role in the enterprise and, increasingly, small- and medium-sized businesses.

Inclusion last year certainly doesn’t guarantee being on the list this time, but that said, the list does acknowledge some of the organizations leading the way in the knowledge economy. Their inclusion is based on the velocity and impact of their innovations and/or for strengthening and creating new infrastructure for KM initiatives.

Any list such as this is a work in progress, and so it is with this one. We’re always on the lookout for groundbreaking new solutions or elegant modifications to existing ones. As we move through 2002, we’ll likely add a few companies and make necessary changes caused by mergers or acquisitions. Visit our site regularly to check on any updates. Plus, we encourage you to spend time on the companies’ sites to get to know them and their solutions better.

We should emphasize again that the list is really a signpost for the evolving and expanding knowledge management universe. We invite discussion and encourage you to contact us regarding KM tools and services you find especially valuable. Vendors: Ask your customers to tell us how your solutions have benefited their business. Analysts: Give us a heads up when you discover especially interesting software and emerging trends. Theorists: Keep us apprised of you work.

80-20

Accenture

American Productivity & Quality Center

Applied Semantics

Arbortext

Ariel Performance Group

AskMe

Autonomy

Baan

Banter

BCI Knowledge Group

BEA

Brio Technology, Inc.

BroadVision

Business Objects

Cadenza

Cerebyte

CEYONIQ

Changepoint Corporation

Citrix

ClearForest

Cognos

Compaq

Computer Associates

Convera

Correlate

Crystal Decisions

Cytura

DigitalOwl

Divine

eGain

eiStream

Enfish

Enigma

Entopia

Epicentric

Ernst & Young

eRoom

Factiva

Fatwire

FileNet

Forrester

Gartner Group

Hewlett-Packard

Hummingbird

Hyperion

Hyperwave

IBM

IDC

iManage

InfoImage

Interwoven

Intraspect

J.D.Edwards

Kamoon

Kana Software

KGain

Knexa

Knowledge Management Software

Knowledge Systems Design

KPMG

LexiQuest

LexisNexis

Lotus

META Group

Microsoft

Moreover

Netegrity

Northern Light Technology

Open Text Corp.

Oracle

Ovum

PeopleSoft

Peregrine

Plumtree

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Ptech

Quiver

SAP AG

Selectica

Semio

SER Solutions

Siebel Systems, Inc.

Siemens

SiteScape

Smartlogik

Softheon

Sopheon

Stellent

Stratify

Sun Microsystems

Sybase

Symtrax

Tacit Knowledge Systems

TheBrain

ThoughtShare

Tower Software

Ultimus

Verity

Vignette

Xerox