Communities of Practice as a tool to support the GCIO function

Abstract

A Community of Practice (CoP) allows practitioners of a clearly defined domain to share knowledge, experience, and best practices. It provides a social context for practitioners, often distributed across multiple organizations, and emerged over the last few decades as a fundamental mechanism for knowledge sharing, management, and generation within organizations. Best practices, innovations, and solutions to shared problems first emerge within CoPs. These are, and must be perceived as, an investment in organizations' future and competitiveness.