On the technical side, the storage infrastructure will have to become more distributed as a more geographically dispersed work force signs onto NKO. The problem is acute aboard naval vessels, which have low-bandwidth network connections. Caching alone won't solve the problem, because information is so specialized that it's nearly impossible to anticipate what to cache locally.
NKO also has to prove it can do more than sign up a lot of users and host chats. Admiral Moran and others say the ultimate goal is to improve fleet readiness. How exactly that will be measured and whether NKO can even accomplish its mission in any demonstrable way remains an open question Short-term metrics include better retention of users, lower training costs and the ability to train sailors while they're aboard ships rather than bringing them back to the classroom.
"The Navy is pretty good at measuring short-term goals," O'Dell says. "But I don't see how they will measure fleet readiness."
In her recent study of 29 organizations using knowledge management, the major difference between those organizations that achieved high returns on their KM investments and those that didn't was how clear they were about the way in which the ultimate goal would be measured. (The median annual expense was $6.4 million, and O'Dell estimates the 12-month ROI to be $15 million among this group, with no ROI difference between the first year and subsequent years.)
"Clarity about where you are going helps you get there," O'Dell says. "It's easy to get caught up in the activity measures. They need to keep their eye on the ball."
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