Conclusion 03: Acceptance

Simply because a KM system is installed doesn't ensure that it will be adopted. KM systems seem to gain reasonable levels of acceptance among employees, with only 12% reporting either somewhat or extremely negative responses. Yet respondents indicated that their post-implementation adoption rates were substantially lower than anticipated, with more than a quarter of respondents reporting zero adoption.

Adoption rates were nearly half what was expected. While 52% of those answering expected system usage to exceed 50%, that goal was achieved by only a quarter of respondents. And though few believed employees would completely ignore the system, that apparently occurred in 27% of the cases—a pretty dismal result.

Two thirds of respondents reported some resistance on the part of end-users to their KM projects, and it was most likely to come from middle management down. Both middle management and general staff were cited by 22% of respondents as offering resistance, while just 12% pointed to senior executives, and 7% cited their board of directors.

To encourage use of a KM system, the most likely incentives (if they can be called that) include selling employees on the benefits of the system, cited by 66% of CIOs and "general reinforcement from management" (63%). Very few in our sample used financial compensation (14%) or job description changes (12%).