About three years ago I worked for a year as the Global IC Manager of Advanced Services since then I have become very interested in the field of Knowledge Management. Capturing, organizing, assessing for quality and using knowledge is an extremely powerful toolset for Sun to master.

With the increasing rate of change in the industry, a more open global economy and increased access to information over the internet good knowledge management is the key to enable us to optimise the benefits of these changes.

I am convinced that effective Knowledge Management is the key to the overall viability of Sun, from capturing the competitive advantage in the industry  to decreasing cycle time and the cost of providing technology and services to a customer. Sun is in an excellent position to capitalise on these as the two essential components of successful knowledge management are an open culture and the infrastructure to support the sharing of information. Many cultures foster an environment where "knowledge is power" the more you know that others do not the more valuable you are to the company. This type of "knowledge hoarding" is not the sort of behaviour that should be or is rewarded at Sun. Another element of an open culture is an individuals willingness to learn, growing an individuals knowledge base should and is rewarded and facilitated by open support and opportunities.

Even in a culture of openess and sharing without the right tools to support it any efforts to significantly share knowledge are doomed. With IC Create, MySales, MyMarketing, AIM, CEPedia and many others Sun has to be in a fantastic position to capitalise on this area. All we need is to change our behaviours to ensure we constantly share what we learn and what we are working on.