The explosive emergence of Internet as information revolution has changed the way people live today. The Internet enables interaction from people around the world and creates a network age. In this network age, we are freely having an access to all human knowledge and this why we are becoming a knowledge worker. Drucker (2007) states that “Today the corporation needs them (knowledge workers) more than they need the corporation”. A knowledge worker is as one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. However, sometimes a knowledge worker may have many problems with the information overload (included text, audio and pictures) that comes from many communication channels or devices such a desktop computer, mobile phone, and fax machine. These problems may affect the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge worker in the workplace while they have an important role in their company.
Thus, assuming a knowledge worker as a person that using many internet services such as email, instant messaging and VoIP, a knowledge worker needs a communication technology that is able to handle many forms of information/messages. That communication technology is called Unified Communication. Carter (2008) explains that “Unified Communication is a continuously evolving technology that impacts people from both the private and business sector; it is a structure of communication technology that allows for the automation and unification of all types of human communication tools and devices within the same context”. Unified Communication helps knowledge worker or manager in a company, to handle much information that comes from many communication devices to be integrated in one single communication system. This will help a knowledge worker or manager to make a better decision making.
On the other hand, Tapscott (2006) sees a strong, on-going linkage between knowledge workers and innovation. He describes social media as a service or tool on the internet that now drive more powerful forms of collaboration. Knowledge workers engage in ‘’peer-to-peer’’ knowledge sharing across organizational and company boundaries. With an Internet service like social media, a knowledge worker could even create many new innovations that give a competitive advantage to a company.
Then we understand that the Internet service plays as a backbone for shaping a good knowledge worker for business competitive advantage. People using Internet service provider to have an internet access. Some people using free public Wi-Fi connection for accessing Internet service such as checking email, instant messaging and engaging with people around the world with social media/ social networking sites. In the future, Internet service will be supported by IP-NGN (Internet Protocol Next-Generation-Network). The main idea behind NGN is that one network transports all information and services (voice, data, and all sorts of media such as video) by encapsulating these into packets, like it is on the Internet.
Internet services and its infrastructure are very important to support information management in a company. Some company using fast connection Internet Service Provider to enable its employee working effectively and efficiently. If I am the information manager, I will allow and trust the employees to access information from Internet and using the services, and I will encourage them to access multimedia content though it will cost the bandwidth heavily. The Internet Services will help the company to manage the employee’s knowledge and become more competitive.
References
Carter, Jeff. (2008). Unified Communications 100 Success Secrets Discover The Best Way To Unif Your Enterprise, Covers Unified Messaging, Systems, Solutions, Software and Services. Published by Lulu.com. (pp.24). (Digital Version)
Drucker, Peter and Elizabeth Haas Edersheim. (2007) The Definitive Drucker. McGraw-Hill Professional. (pp.11). (Digital Version)
Tapscott, Don and Anthony D. Williams. (2006). Wikinomics. Penguin Group, New York, NY. (pp.324). (Digital Version)
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