What is Knowledge Management?
Knowledge management is about getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time. That sounds pretty simple but choosing the system that’s right for your enterprise can be a tricky endeavor. It must be accessible, secure, and integrate smoothly into your existing information ecosystem. And today, it must facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration just as easily for remote workers as it does for in-house staff.
The three main areas of enterprise KM are:
- Knowledge accumulation
- Knowledge storage
- Knowledge sharing
Ultimately, your enterprise knowledge base software solution should enable better employee experiences and enhanced customer experiences while creating a learning culture where sharing knowledge is encouraged and those who need information find it easy to locate.
7 Benefits of Enterprise Knowledge Management Software
Big or small, every organization can benefit from knowledge management software. Here are just seven benefits of adopting KM software.
- Better and Faster Decision-Making
An enterprise KM system uses structure, search, support, and more to facilitate good organizational decisions. By leveraging varied experiences and improved collaboration, your enterprise is better positioned to identify goals, gather relevant information, and evaluate options.
- Streamline Workflows
Enterprise KM helps you define standards, formats, and templates for capturing critical information. This streamlines processes and reduces the time and energy spent creating materials, all while setting a basic level of quality across the entire company.
- Speed Up Projects and Help Teams Improve
KM focuses mainly on the creation, distribution, and consumption of knowledge within an enterprise. Enterprise KM software speeds up and improves the cycle. Teams spend less time on repetitive tasks and spend far more productive time in knowledge application, delivering more value to customers.
- Leverage Existing Expertise
Sharing existing knowledge quickly is a huge part of enterprise KM. Employees can rely on the knowledge of others in their own problem-solving process and accomplish their tasks much more efficiently.
- Promoting Repeatable Processes and Procedures
When employees tap into the same information for how things are done, it leads to predictable and high-quality results and allows them to be consistent in how work is accomplished.
- Reduce Communication Overhead
Enterprise KM solutions emphasize the ability to learn new knowledge as quickly as possible. When employees can retrieve and understand existing knowledge, they don’t require additional help. Numerous email exchanges with experts are eliminated, as are lengthy meetings.
- Automatic Customer Service
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of enterprise KM is how it improves the customer experience. Self-service portals, FAQs, visual guides, and chatbots enhance customer satisfaction and can help enterprises reduce support costs.
How to Implement Knowledge Management
There are a variety of enterprise knowledge management systems available to support an enterprise’s KM practices. Tools like cloud-based KM software makes access to knowledge easy for limitless stakeholders in your organization, no matter which device they use or where they’re located.
Thanks to cloud-based KM solutions, it’s easier than ever to implement an enterprise KM system. Modern solutions offer user-friendly, straightforward features and options designed to facilitate knowledge sharing. Whether you’re implementing a solution for one team or the entire enterprise, the process is the same:
- Know your audience.
- Make it easy for everyone to access the information they need.
- Promote knowledge sharing to drive high adoption.
Managing your organization’s assets effectively is one of the essential conditions for success. Enterprise knowledge management makes it easier to manage what is arguably your most valuable asset: the combined knowledge of your employees. It provides a foundation for continuous process improvement across the enterprise and helps you deliver mission-critical information above and beyond the competition. Implemented correctly, it makes knowledge easy to find, update, and trust, a winning combination for any enterprise.
