As a consulting practice working with a wide range of organization types, knowledge services and the support of knowledge services in knowledge strategy development are the focus of SMR International’s work. At SMR International, we define knowledge services as an approach to the management of intellectual capital that converges information management, knowledge management, and strategic learning into a single enterprise-wide discipline.
The purpose of knowledge services is to ensure the highest levels of knowledge sharing within the organization in which it is practiced, with leadership in knowledge sharing the responsibility of the organization’s knowledge strategist. The emphasis is on the development of a knowledge strategy that meets the knowledge-sharing needs of any community, organization, or business, thus providing a practical strategic framework applicable in any environment.
Building on knowledge services, the knowledge strategist serves as the organization’s knowledge thought leader, with a recognized and authoritative role in the development and implementation of the organizational knowledge strategy. With knowledge services as the foundation for the organization’s knowledge strategy, any organization – for-profit, non-profit, or not-for-profit – benefits from applying management, leadership, and knowledge services principles to managing information, knowledge, and strategic learning in and throughout the organization.
[These definitions and the management and leadership principles applied by SMR International in its work are described in Knowledge Services: A Strategic Framework for the 21st Century Organization (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2016) by Guy St. Clair, SMR International’s President and Founder. Additional content about knowledge services and the application of this management methodology is also given further attention in The Knowledge Services Handbook: A Guide for the Knowledge Strategist by Guy St. Clair and Barrie Levy (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2020). The latter book includes related subject-specific contributions by recognized experts in the field. Of particular importance, The Handbook also includes a detailed outline for the development of a knowledge strategy, a knowledge services glossary, and a special section describing – for the first time – established knowledge services principles “every knowledge strategist should know.”]
