Where KM Belongs in the Organization?

There are many ways to organize the KM function in and organization. There is no 'right' way but there are clear pros and cons to each.

1. Enterprise or Divisional. Enterprise KM leaders are best position to identify cross-divisional synergies and rationalize what initiatives should take place at the corporate versus business unit level. Divisional KM leaders are best positioned to understand the specific business and its processes to identify ways to drive revenue or create efficiencies.

Divisional lead models may make most sense when the business units of a company are diverse.

2. Business versus Technology.
Whether at the enterprise or divisional levels, KM initiatives led by the business are well positioned to support the core goals of the business as well as consider other typically KM success factors; leadership sponsorship, culture issues, business process integration, etc.

KM initiatives driven by Technology need to take extra measures to ensure business support and adoption, and avoid the common pitchfall of deploying a cool new technology or system for technology's sake versus focusing the mission around core strategic business drivers. The latter is the same risk of deploying Web 2.0 technologies without a business mission in mind.