Outsourcing as an IT management strategy for knowledge management in sub-Saharan Africa

Knowledge management (KM) could be defined as the ability to create and retain greater value from core business competencies. IT is one of the enablers of knowledge management. Its availability, management, and right application could increase the success rate Of knowledge management efforts of organisations. Due to lack of human resources with required skills and lack of adequate IT infrastructure (ITI) in sub-Saharan Africa, IT outsourcing could be a better approach to IT management for an organisation considering KM. In this paper we present part of the outcome of an empirical research and an in-depth analysis of a case organisation where IT outsourcing seems to contribute to a high performance in knowledge management efforts. We suggest that organisations in sub-Saharan Africa that are considering knowledge management could look at the possibility of outsourcing the management of the information technology component in order to have more focus on the other enablers of KM.