How technology enables information sharing and collaboration

By Doug Cooper, Intel of Canada

The business world is moving in to a new era in which technology is enabling knowledge workers to concentrate on fresh thinking and create high-value goods and services that drive competitiveness.

As leading management author Peter Drucker wrote, “to make knowledge work productive will be the great management task of this century, just as to make manual work productive was the great management task of the last century.”

Knowledge-based organizations recognize that processes, management practices and the social structure of the organization contribute to the efficient creation, sharing, distribution and the reuse of knowledge. This minimizes duplication of effort and encourages re-use of work.

Companies that turn hard-earned knowledge into new innovations, better products and customer insights create a competitive advantage and, for businesses in developed nations like Canada, being a leader in knowledge work is essential to staying competitive.

Two excellent examples of Canadian companies using technology to their advantage are Cargo Bed International and Transformix Engineering.

Cargo Bed International, an Edmonton, Alta.-based manufacturer of extendable truck beds, recently underwent a management change and, while already a moderately successful company, the new owners were aware outdated equipment and old-fashioned business processes were keeping it from being more productive and competitive.

“The company had become so focused on working on the business that it was not working on building the business,” said Tony Schiebel, President. “We saw a need to take the company to the next level by leveraging technology and identifying ways to increase efficiency and profitability.”

Recognizing traditional production processes and paper-based forms were holding it back, Cargo Bed streamlined its product offering from 20 models to two and outsourced production to a facility with high-end machining tools. Additionally, the company established a network infrastructure with updated servers to help the organization save, share and manage information.

As a result of the production and information technology changes, the company increased output of extendable truck beds from 1,300 to 3,600 units a year and increased sales from $1.2 million to $5.1 million—with the same number of staff.

Another example of a company using technology to free its employees to think more and provide increased value is Kingston, Ont.-based Transformix Engineering.

Transformix grew from a small company of four that designed a liquor inventory control system for bar owners to a full-automation solution provider. Today, 30 employees of varying backgrounds and ideas collaborate on the design and manufacture of complex continuous-motion automation equipment and one-off custom-built machines.

Transformix needed to update its data management system to capitalize on the increased flow of information being generated by its knowledge workers.

Robert Almas, Manager of Software Engineering, said Transformix’s old infrastructure, which used desktop PCs as servers, didn’t provide enough power to help the team plan for growth. “The company had some good base technology, but we needed more centralization of information and an easier sign-on process.”

Almas implemented two servers to help the organization capture and share information. The first server hosts Microsoft Exchange and the second is used to manage information and files. Transformix also created a single sign-on process for its engineers that eliminated the need to manage multiple identities, speeding up the administration of user accounts and giving the engineers more time to innovate.

Almas says the company’s engineers no longer worry about how to manage information, leaving them more time to focus on designing and building equipment and contributing to the company’s projected 30 per cent growth.

As more Canadian companies appreciate the role of the knowledge worker in increasing company value, expect to see the number of companies like Cargo Bed International and Transformix Engineering—companies which harness the power of technology to provide knowledge workers with the freedom to innovate—increase,” Schiebel said.