Collaborative information and knowledge management environments: The ‘what’ and ‘how’

Information and knowledge management has obviously acquired immense value in business analysis and strategic planning. Targeting towards this direction, the role of collaborative systems and collective knowledge tools becomes highly important in supporting the exploitation of business knowledge and the harnessing of collective intelligence. Although existing technological advancement appears today more mature than ever in providing a stable technology framework, the use of which can lead to innovative knowledge management techniques and mechanisms, architects still struggle to define fundamental principles, strategies and integration approaches in designing and implementing successful collaborative information and knowledge management environments. This article aims at identifying all critical operational and technical requirements posed by such demanding enterprise solutions, and presents an overall system architecture that demonstrates all their indispensable characteristics. In addition, it proposes effective integration practices for achieving a greater level of maturity and predictability when building modern collaborative information and knowledge management environments.