There’s not too much new under the sun but Open Text came up with an interesting spin on the need for ECM last week. In a press release, the firm suggested that with many baby-boomers approaching retirement, there comes a parallel increase in risk of loss of business knowledge.

OK, so it’s not an entirely new insight. I’ve heard of the baby-boomer issue applied several times with reference to mainframe and other datacentre stalwart systems that depend on one guru who holds all the keys, knows where skeletons are buried and is the single source of all the know-how to keep the wheels turning.

You could also quibble and say that with changes in attitudes to careers and retirement, the twilight of the baby-boomers probably isn’t a phenomenon that will strike hard outside certain areas such as the public sector where switching between employers is not so common.

But where Open Text is surely right on the money is in suggesting the effects of this brain drain where “a big chunk of knowledge, context and process know-how walks out the door with newly retired staff”.

I had a horrible feeling that Open Text’s answer to this problem would be to buy more of its software but, to be fair, it suggests some practical advice such as:

the setting up of mentoring programmes

creating groups where retiring records professionals work with HR, IT and corporate legal executives to protect knowledge assets

moving away from paper processes that are anathema to the new generation of professionals

To a lot of you out there, this is just common sense but basic knowledge management and succession planning are all too often honoured in the breach.

For me, however, the big issue here is that of the “bastard operator”: the selfish employee who owns a domain and won’t share knowledge because it weakens a personal fiefdom. Any stories of how to handle this type would be worth sharing -– providing you’re willing to share the knowledge, of course…