The Importance of communication &collaboration technologies in KM (knowledge Management)
Knowledge management systems are designed with the aim of improving performance, facilitating easy sharing of information, to increase a company’s competitive advantage, and as a strategy towards continuous improvement of the company. Various communication tools are incorporated in the processes of knowledge management. These communication and collaborative technologies are differentiated by their respective functions in the knowledge management process. The tools are used for example in collecting and codifying information, sharing and leveraging the acquired knowledge and also in the creating new knowledge (ICASITKM Central, n.d, Para 1-4). Examples of collaborative technologies used in knowledge management include data ware houses, data search engines, retrieval systems and data modeling tools. This essay addresses the importance of communication and collaboration technologies, reviews the challenges of integration faced by Cigna Health care and finally concludes with a discussion on voice application technologies.
Communication and collaborative technologies have made it possible to use artificial intelligence systems in developing computer systems that can behave like humans. These systems are often developed with the ability to emulate human expertise; their use makes it possible to accomplish physical tasks at relatively short periods of time. Systems based on artificial intelligence also allow the users to make quick inferences based on the information that is relayed through the knowledge management system.
Collaborative tools enable people to easily work together and share information and data. By using collaborative tools, people are able to participate in virtual online meetings and discussions as well. Examples of commonly used collaborative tools in KM include chat, white board, audio, video, file sharing tools, online paging and texting tools, instant messaging, presentation tools, online group calendars that enable people to view schedules of team members and offline paging. These tools allow people to communicate over long distances and in a fast manner (Jacko&Sears, 2003, p.588-589).
These tools have also eliminated the need for costly travel across vast distances for meeting arrangements among employees who come from diverse geographical locations for they can meet virtually using some of the tools stated above. Collaborative tools are also of great significance because there is a clear demonstration that a company can make significant savings in time and operational costs like decreased travel arrangements. Businesses operating across separate locations can harmonize their business operations to the extent that they can run in a pararell manner across the diverse locations.collabarative tools have also made the process of decision making a lot more faster, easy and efficient in organizations. In addition, collaboration and communication technologies improve coordination and adaptiveness by workers and this contribute to worker productivity and organizational processes are positively enhanced. These technologies are also attributed to better communications flow within organizations (Rao, 2005, p.106).
Conversations captured through collaboration and communications tools in a KM system continues to accumulate and the organization can accrue a memory of informal knowledge within itself, this can be retrieved by new employees to guide them pertaining how particular problems were handled in the past. Similarly organizations can retain useful information created by resourceful employees who at one time may need to leave the organization (Romaldi, 2002, p. 1360).
Review Article: Cigna Healthcare
Cigna Health care is an insurance company under the Cigna group of companies which offers various forms of health insurance and other health management services in many parts of the United States. Prior to the year 2001, the company had undertaken to implement a program that meant to revamp the use of information technology (IT) in its operations. The company launched the program and its customer Relations Management initiative in the year 2002 at a cost estimated to be One billion dollars. The company faced some challenges in integrating the new IT program which was meant to facilitate the transfer of its subscribers numbering around three and half million to the new system. The result of these challenges was the demise of a significant number of customers who were dissatisfied with customer service.
The demise of customers was in part due to a malfunction of the new IT system as noted by Bass (2003, P.1, Para, 3).Bass continues to report further that the other possible reasons why Cigna Healthcare incurred significant losses was due to poor decision making by the managers particularly in regard to price calculation and their failure to anticipate the nature of competition in the market. The company had directed a lot of resources in the project but the outcome likely suggests that this was not a timely investment. Bass points out that the implementation of the system was done in a hasty manner without due consideration of how the system worked. The company also over looked the role of crucial employees like customer representatives due to its urgency to increase productivity and cut costs using the new system.
Despite the problems after the launch of the program, the management took quick remedial steps like hiring new and experienced employees like project monitors and application developers who effectively handled the crisis. The company also mainstreamed its workforce to cut additional costs. The management instituted thorough testing of the systems and this was done slowly to avoid earlier mistakes. Employees who left the company signed non disclosure agreements, this was important in protecting the name and public image of the company. The managers who tried to integrate the IT strategy at Cigna also had a clear purpose of what the program was meant to do and they had aligned the system according to the needs of the company(Bass, 2003, p.6, Para 1, 3, 7).
In light of the challenges experienced by Cigna health care, Buono &Poulfelt (2005p. 194-196) are of the opinion that the integration team should not be overly involved in the informal aspects of the process but it should instead consult with experienced experts at the beginning of the process. This would avoid the problem of having to hire the experts at advanced stages of implementing an integration program in a situation where everything has gone wrong. This kind of collaboration can bring more success than relying on internal expertise as was the case with Cigna Health care.
According to Al-Ali( 2003, p.106) planning before and during the implementation of an integration strategy is the surest way of avoiding problems like the ones experienced by Cigna Healthcare. This would mainly involve aligning the KM strategy with relevant business processes in step wise fashion. There is also the important need to carefully determine which resources are sufficient to facilitate this. This requires that sufficient time is also allocated for planning, implementing and evaluating whether efforts of integration are successful or not.
Voice technology applications
Voice technology applications are used in various settings and are designed to accomplish different tasks and often designed for a specific population. The use of voice as an interface in human –computer interactions is mainly due to the motivation that voice is more ‘Natural’ compared to other forms of interface like the keyboard ,touch screen and the mouse. Feelings can be expressed through voice hence the tendency for people to prefer voice interface. Voice application technologies mainly belong to two categories namely; those used for speech in put (Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and those for speech output (digitized or synthetic Speech) (Roe, Wilpon&National Academy of Sciences U.S, 422-423).
One type of voice application is one which enables the users to receive verbal feed back by making dial. When a user dials up the application, the computer takes the call can initiate a dialog with the caller. In this type of voice application the computer plays a prerecorded message and transmits this information to the caller just like the voicemail or answering machine does. Voice application technologies make use of speech recognition software which enables the soft ware to compare spoken words from a caller with the stored pool of words within the computer. A good example where this type of voice application is used is in the automated train timetable announcements and instructions for use of mobile telephones, automated banking (Artelt, 2009, p.43).
Voice application is now frequently being used in house ware management.The application is mainly used for giving instructions and is based on speech recognition and processing. People are then able to communicate through a central communication management system. The equipment needed for facilitating communication includes a wearable computer that has a headset and a microphone. People can then receive and give verbal feed back through the system. The equipment that is worn enables communication between the wearer and the central management system through radio frequency or local area network. (VoicePicking.com, n.d, Para 1-4).
VoIP (voice over internet protocol) has promoted the application of voice technologies in that it allows the transmission of voice communications over IP networks like the internet. The nature of communication are similar to that among people the difference being that the messages are communicated through a network using units called datagrams which can be equated to a letter inside an envelope. It is possible to develop soft wares that can facilitate the performance of different for performing different tasks for example voicemail (Wallingford.T&Wallingford.W,2005,p.12-14).
Some companies providing voice application services include IntelePeer, Inc which provides voice services through its brand product IntelePeer Voice Peering. This product can be used in enhancing communication between departments in a hospital and also in conferencing services for it does not require any capital investment. This product also allows direct connections (IntelePeer, 2010, Para 4). Intele peer provides this service to a diverse market compared to Google’s voice service, Google voice. Google also offers voice application services through its product Google Voice launched in to the market in the year 2009.This product allows faster communication among employees in various health care settings and is also free. Though hailed as a wonderful product, Google voice can only be used within the United States.
Another company provider of voice application services is Data systems Corp. its services of interactive voice response, voice broadcasting and Automatic Call distribution can be integrated into health care service providers to enhance customer relations. A major constraint of these products can be linked to the need to employ skilled employees and that customers must have equipments compatible with those of the health care company in order to enhance the business processes.
Possibilities of using voice applications in Health care Industry
There is a greater possibility of using voice application across the health care industry. The cost of developing customized voice applications is relatively low with a high return on investment. Developing the application also requires basic technology and the process of setting up a single application takes a short period. These applications can also be used within diverse sectors in the healthcare industry like the manufacturing industry, transportation and logistics, internal communication within healthcare institutions and in improving customer relations management (Artelet, 2009, p.62-64).
Customized voice applications can be developed to address various challenges in the main components of the health care system. These main components are: healthcare consumers, health providers and public and private agencies involved in the organization, planning, regulation and coordination of health care (organizations of the health care system).Voice applications for example can be developed to assist in interpretation where a language barrier exists between the patients and health professionals. A nice example is the health care interpreter network (HCIN) of Northern California which is considered to be the worlds first call center using video and voice application based on VoIP, this has improved communication between professionals and clients at the Joaquin General hospital(Cisco systems Inc,2007,p.1).
Physicians often experience various challenges in diagnosing and treating chronic conditions such as heart failure, mental disorders and hypertension. There are indications that the use of intelligent systems for example interactive voice response systems (IVR) will increase in prominence in the coming years.IVR has been found to provide reliable information just like the one obtainable through clinical interviews.It has also enabled medical personnel to obtain valuable information from patients who are less likely to report health problems to clinicians (Piette, 2000, Para 1).
Intelligent systems will also find their use in addressing the challenges of integration.Various forms of integrations are being witnessed in the health care industry. Horizontal integration is increasing among providers of the same services like hospitals, payers, and employer’s.similarly there is an increase in vertical integration between providers e.g. hospitals and physician groups, payers and providers, and between payers and providers (Ross et al, 1998, p.335). It’s common to anticipate any of the above forms of integration will present unique challenges to those managing the integration process. Some of the challenges are related to knowledge management between the integrating firms, to accomplish this task, there has been a tendency to use interactive voice management tools like IVR, Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Voice XML.
The need to produce drugs and avail them in the market within a short time is a notable challenge in the health care industry.Byrom (2002,p.36) explains that pharmaceutical companies have resulted to using technology in managing clinical trials to reduce the cost and ensure efficiency. The author continues to explain that IVR is being used to enhance the management of clinical drug supply chain in clinical trials and also in accelerating the recruitment of research participants, a process that is difficult to control and a common cause of delays in these types of studies.
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