What is Pull technology

An Intranet (or internal Web) is a network designed to serve the internal informational needs of an organisation (e.g., a municipality) using Internet concepts and tools (Averweg, 2007; Turban, McLean & Wetherbe, 2004). The cost effi- ciency of utilizing Internet technology has opened the door for organizations to use this same technology to share information within the organization (Botha, 2004). Information technology (IT) thus plays an important role in organizations. Given that advances in IT have made it easier to acquire, store and disseminate knowledge than ever before, many organizations are employing IT to facilitate sharing and integration of knowledge (Kankanhalli, Tanudidjaja, Sutanto & Tan, 2003). An Intranet is an application of technology within an organization for the purpose of information dissemination, communication, integration, and collaboration (Telleen, 1997). Knowledge Management (KM) describes “the primary focus of these efforts has been developing new applications of information technology to support digital capture, storage, retrieval and distribution of an organization’s explicitly documented knowledge” (Zack, 1999). In this chapter it is argued that, when aligned, organizational strategy and technical resources (e.g., IT) provide a sound framework to support KM within an organization. However, the question arises as to whether an organization is making the best investment in its IT resources and whether it is managing knowledge in the right way. One technical IT resource in an organization is an Intranet. Every major organizational process should be regularly evaluated and the evaluation should be purposeful and completed (Debowski, 2006). One method of evaluation is a survey. Debowski (2006) suggests that survey “evaluations take a number of forms … and may be conducted via telephone, e-mail or mailouts”. In this study the evaluation selected by the author is e-mail since the purpose and benefits of an e-mail survey justify the cost.