History+of+KM

You may be familiar with the saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention" and necessity is what precipitated the development Knowledge Management, however not all at once or in a simple fashion.
 * KM developed out of necessities created as a result of trends and technological advancement.**


 * The first trend** was the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) fad of the early 1990s; organizations cut back positions and reduced staff. However the unexpected result was that when positions and staff were eliminated, so was key knowledge.

In addition, concerns that information would be lost due to (Y2K),1999 -2000 change created the necessity for information back up, and management as well as modernization of organizational infrastructures.
 * The second trend** was technology; the increase of available data and information became less manageable. Suddenly, in the 1990s, the capability of the personal computer accelerated, processing speed and memory grew rapidly and the Internet became a practical reality.


 * The third trend** was the explosion in content, information, and knowledge caused by the rapid growth of the Internet and corporate intranets, data warehouses, and databases. This explosion in the amount of data, information, and knowledge and its easy availability to decision makers of all ranks led to a loss of information and knowledge control by managers. This loss of control served as a driver to managerial awareness that there was a problem that needed to be solved.

==The fourth trend was organizational issues of maintaining business value and reducing risk of litigation and overall liability by managing human and intellectual capital better. A shift in many American businesses to a service-based economy led to an increasing focus on an organization’s skills and capabilities as well as sustaining these capabilities by retaining high-value employees. This served as a driver to managerial awareness that employee knowledge was a valuable organizational asset. ==