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How do I create a business case for Knowledge Management

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Building a business case for knowledge management involves demonstrating how it can bring value to your organization by improving efficiency, decision-making, and overall business performance. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to build a compelling business case for knowledge management:

  1. Understand the Organization’s Objectives:
  • Align knowledge management objectives with the overall strategic goals of the organization.
  • Identify specific challenges or pain points that knowledge management solutions can address.
  1. Define Clear Objectives:
  • Clearly articulate the specific objectives of implementing a knowledge management system.
  • Focus on areas like improving collaboration, reducing duplication of efforts, accelerating problem-solving, etc.
  1. Identify Stakeholders:
  • Identify key stakeholders who will be impacted by or can influence the success of knowledge management.
  • Tailor your business case to address the concerns and priorities of different stakeholders.
  1. Quantify Benefits:
  • Demonstrate tangible benefits such as time savings, cost reductions, increased productivity, and improved decision-making.
  • Use metrics to quantify the impact of knowledge management on key performance indicators (KPIs).
  1. Highlight Risks and Mitigations:
  • Acknowledge potential challenges or risks associated with implementing knowledge management solutions.
  • Provide a plan to mitigate these risks and address concerns proactively.
  1. Showcase Success Stories:
  • Share examples or case studies of organizations that have successfully implemented knowledge management and achieved positive results.
  • Highlight specific outcomes, lessons learned, and best practices.
  1. Cost-Benefit Analysis:
  • Provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis that compares the investment in knowledge management software with the expected returns.
  • Consider both short-term and long-term costs and benefits.
  1. Timeline and Implementation Plan:
  • Outline a realistic timeline for implementing knowledge management.
  • Present a phased approach with key milestones and deliverables.
  1. Technology Requirements:
  • Identify the technology tools and platforms required for effective knowledge management.
  • Provide a justification for the chosen technology, considering scalability, user-friendliness, and integration capabilities.
  1. Training and Change Management:
  • Highlight the importance of training programs to ensure successful adoption.
  • Address change management strategies to overcome potential resistance from employees.
  1. Measuring Success:
  • Define key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the success of knowledge management.
  • Establish a feedback loop for continuous improvement.
  1. Financial Projections:
  • Provide financial projections that illustrate the return on investment (ROI) over time.
  • Consider factors such as increased revenue, cost savings, and improved customer satisfaction.
  1. Presentation and Communication:
  • Craft a clear, concise, and compelling presentation that tells a persuasive story.
  • Use visuals, charts, and graphs to make your business case visually appealing.
  1. Get Feedback:
  • Seek feedback from key stakeholders during the development of your business case.
  • Address any concerns or questions raised by stakeholders.
  1. Review and Refine:
  • Regularly review and refine your business case based on new information, changes in the organization, or feedback received.

By following these steps, you’ll be better positioned to build a comprehensive and persuasive business case for knowledge management software within your organization.

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KPS Universal Knowledge listed on Azure Marketplace

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The KPS Knowledge Management System is now listed on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Please click on the link below to view the Overview page.

https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-gb/marketplace/apps/knowledgepoweredsolutionsltd1664361033155.kps_saas_km?tab=Overview

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Knowledge – The lifeblood of your organization

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What is the lifeblood of your organization? Many would say their “employees” are the most vital to the life and health of their organization. Others might suggest their “customers” or “customer service” are the keys to their survival. Still others might offer “cash flow” as what’s needed to keep their organization alive and functioning well.

Truth is, the lifeblood and most valuable resource of your organization is knowledge.

 

Knowledge, or the intellectual knowing and understanding of a matter, is what sets your organization apart from all the rest and gives value to the products and services you offer in the marketplace.

Functionally, a knowledge management system will collect, store, and retrieve knowledge, find sources of knowledge, monitor knowledge use and needs. It helps automate the knowledge management process and creates efficiencies by providing key players with more time to spend learning from and applying data insights, information, and knowledge.

 

Knowledge management as a discipline seeks to accomplish effective use of a company’s knowledge assets, to increase productivity, improve staff morale and transform service delivery.

But knowledge doesn’t grow on trees.

 

You can’t manufacture knowledge the way you would a car’s alloy wheel or a glass light bulb. Knowledge resides within people — your current and future employees need this knowledge to accomplish needed tasks.

 

Universal Knowledge, a KPS flagship knowledge management system, uses “Natural Language Processing” and “Fragment Technology Search Functionality” to enable knowledge sharing across an organization’s entire information estate.

 

Universal Knowledge empowers your employees to share their knowledge with your entire organization in an efficient and secure manner.

 

Following are 3 ways Universal Knowledge empowers use of your organization’s most valuable resource — the collective knowledge of your employees.

 

Foster a Culture of Knowledge Sharing Within Your Organization

 

Think of it this way. Your organization represents a living entity. And the knowledge that flows within it represents its lifeblood. In order for your organization to benefit from the collective knowledge at its disposal it must be circulated.

Daniel Barris, one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and innovation experts, suggests…

“To make knowledge sharing work, you need to engage in a process I call “knowledge pull,” where you create a shared understanding of what knowledge is, and then pull the knowledge from them.

First, realize that all knowledge needs both context and content. For example, a good storyteller can’t just give you the punch line. They have to set it up first by giving you context—the punch line that follows is the content. The same is true with your knowledge pull approach. You have to get people to share the context before the content has any meaning.

Universal Knowledge provides your employees opportunity to share both the context and content of their knowledge with your organization at the moment of highest clarity. Whether in the office or on the road, Universal Knowledge’s mobile capabilities empower your staff to contribute to the growth of your organization when and where relevant topics of interest come to mind.

 

Provide Focused Refinement of Knowledge Transferred

 

Knowledge can be shared with your organization via Universal Knowledge, ensuring the curation process is mapped according to YOUR vetting processes. This ensures that all submissions are accurate and compliant before they are deployed for use throughout your information estate.

Think of it like a blood transfusion.

You’d never transfer the blood of a donor directly into the veins of a patient without first making sure that it’s clean and compatible with the recipient’s blood type.

So too with the transference of your employees’ knowledge into the heart of your organization — it must first be confirmed true. Universal Knowledge allows you to ensure all relevant review and approval processes are adhered to through providing central and automated alerts.

Additionally, ideas shared may require ongoing ideation before they are considered ready for deployment. Such collaboration can also be done through Universal Software.

 

Deliver Timely and Accurate Information Where It’s Needed Most

 

When infection occurs within the body, white blood cells rush to the area to fight it. Similarly, when the body is cut or damaged in some way, platelets amass to form a protective scab over the wound.

Universal Knowledge delivers timely and accurate information when and where it’s need most.

Never again, should new hires or inexperienced staff feel unsure of the answers they give when asked questions related to your organization. Universal Knowledge is there to support them every step of the way.

Consider how Indiana University Health chose Universal’s Knowledge Management System to improve their customer service. As their case study relates…

“Universal knowledge, KPS knowledge management solutions, were chosen due to their ability to capture and maintain up to date information, with a powerful natural language search and fragment technology enabling representatives to find up to date clinic and physician information at the touch of a button.”

To know what such empowerment feels like, just imagine yourself driving in a city where you’ve never gone before. You’re nervous. But you have a GPS on your phone and as long as your phone remains charged, you’re good. You don’t have to worry about getting lost at all because your GPS feeds you the directions when and where you need them. At your moment of greatest need you have nothing to worry about because your GPS keeps you on track.

So it is with Universal Knowledge, it keeps you on track when relating your organization’s knowledge and content to others.

 

A successful Knowledge Management System implementation will provide the following benefits:

 

  • Promote collaboration within and between teams
  • Quickly share tacit knowledge previously hidden from colleagues
  • Increase employee productivity
  • Quickly and easy find the content to help solve problems
  • Make use of existing content as the KMS will do the hard work to find the nuggets of valuable information

 

The benefits of developing a knowledge sharing culture in any industry facilitates the transfer of invaluable tacit knowledge from experienced employees and make it available to all those who need it. The benefits of knowledge sharing are to effectively leverage your intellectual capital, the biggest asset for any company.

 

Enabling a process, particularly through the use of a knowledge management platform, allows employees to provide feedback, suggest edits or request new knowledge, ensuring all employees feel valued. Those with the tacit knowledge can be recognised for their efforts in providing much needed information to all that require it, empowering them to continue the good work.

 

Knowledge exchange can only be effective if a single platform is utilised, otherwise information and knowledge will be missed, or information duplicated. This creates an unnecessary administration over head at best or provides incorrect or incomplete information at worst and if your organisation is customer facing, the implications of providing incorrect information can be far reaching.

 

Remote working and hybrid working has pushed the knowledge sharing requirement to the fore, relying on a colleague’s instant knowledge and availability is not practical, a knowledge sharing platform and culture must be implemented to ensure employees can do their jobs and customers can be well served.

 

To summarize, your organization’s knowledge is what gives you an edge and makes you unique in your approach to solving complex problems.

The knowledge that flows within your organization represents its lifeblood. In order for your organization to benefit from the collective knowledge at its disposal it must be circulated.

There are 3 ways Universal Knowledge empowers use of the collective knowledge of your employees.

 

  1. Fosters a Culture of Knowledge Sharing Within Your Organization
  2. Provides Focused Refinement of Knowledge Transferred
  3. Delivers Timely and Accurate Information Where It’s Needed Most

 

Knowledge Management Software provides organizations the ability to share, refine and deploy knowledge assets throughout their entire knowledge estate.

 

If you would like more information about this powerful software solution, please contact us.

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KPS gains ISO27001 : 2013 Certification

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ISO 27001 is recognised worldwide as the standard for information security management.

Knowledge Powered Solutions has shown that we have reached the high standards set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) through our achievement of the ISO 27001 certification.

To gain the ISO 27001 award, Knowledge Powered Solutions proved that we could not only prevent but defend against potential data system vulnerabilities. This achievement was due to our comprehensive suite of information security controls and the management system we introduced to ensure these controls remain efficient and continue to meet our customers’ needs.

An annual audit is carried out by an external third party to ensure our systems continue to meet the stringent requirements set out in the ISO 27001 standard.

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How Long Does It Take to Implement a Knowledge Management System?

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In our modern digital world, every single business, large or small, possesses a large amount of information and data, and with each passing day, the amount continues to grow.

If companies wish to benefit from and use this data properly, there is a pressing need for a system to be in place that can collect, store, and manage it efficiently and effectively. This is known as knowledge management and it is typically managed by a Knowledge Management System (KMS), something that can be implemented by any business.

Implementing a Knowledge Management System

 

Implementing a KMS can help prevent your company from wasting time, money, and other resources on the discovery, collection, and overall management of key data. The time it takes to properly implement a KMS depends on your company processes and how much information and data you currently possess, collect and wish to manage in the KMS.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to implementing a KMS and timeframe depends on various factors.

For some organizations, particularly smaller start-ups, implementation is instant and seamless. This is quite the contrast to larger organizations or those that are more complex by nature where successful implementation can take days, weeks, and, in rare circumstances, months.

 

Aiding the Implementation Process

 

Whilst the overall implementation timeframe is largely beyond the control of an organization, there are several things that can be done to help facilitate the implementation process and make it more efficient.

1. Know your objectives for knowledge management

Prior to selecting the knowledge management solutions for you and undergoing the implementation process, it is important to define your objectives and goals.

Identify both short and long-term goals and objectives that take account of your organization’s overall problems and help to support what drives your company forward. Your short-term KMS objectives should help to ensure that your knowledge management endeavours are on the right track and your long-term objectives should help to manage the bigger picture.

2. Consider more than technology alone

Successful implementation of knowledge management considers more than technology alone, this is something that many organizations fail to understand. Whilst technology addresses how you choose, configure, and utilize the tools that enable knowledge management, you should also consider:

  • People—your organization’s people represent how you increase the ability of individuals within your organization to disseminate their knowledge
  • Processes—these help you establish governance and best practices for the facilitation of accurate collection, management, and sharing of knowledge
  • Content—it dictates how you control and modify organizational structures to facilitate cross-discipline awareness and expertise
  • Measurement—all this should be continuously measured and analyzed for ongoing success and maximum benefit.

It is important to know that alone, technology cannot deliver a comprehensive solution; you must ensure that technology supplements the above four components before starting your knowledge management project.

3. Prepare for change

Knowledge management is not just the application of a technology solution, it involves a change to the way your employees share the knowledge that they possess, collect, and develop. Lots of companies struggle to prepare for the change that a KMS brings and this can cause a delay to realizing the benefits.

By moving away from a “knowledge is power” attitude that curtails knowledge sharing through the rewarding of individual performance, you start to get maximum benefit out of your knowledge management affairs and move towards a knowledge-driven organizational culture.

Often, organizations are unaware that this is the case and fail to prepare for the changes that knowledge management brings. Whilst employees may be resistant to these changes, it is important to persevere.

4. Be ready for the demands of implementation

Implementing a KMS requires leadership and resource. If you are ready for the challenges that lay ahead due to sufficient preparation, you should find that implementation will be infinitely easier and a lot more seamless.

So long as your organization is recognizing and publicizing the value and benefits that knowledge management is bringing with it, particularly to your employees there will likely be a lot less resistance. As you go through the implementation process and get to grips with knowledge management, regularly reflect on the short-term benefits and continue to focus on your long-term goals.

Implementation Needn’t Be Complicated

Whilst implementing requires focus, leadership and resource it doesn’t need to be complicated and by being prepared, the process will be far quicker and more efficient. Although implementation time depends on many factors there are steps you can take to streamline the process.

Organizations that take the plunge and implement a knowledge management system very quickly begin to see the benefits, they manage data and information, enhance decision making, become more effective and ultimately impact on an organizations results.

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Benefits Of Using Discussion Forums in a Knowledge Management Environment

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1) Introduction

This blog explores how Universal Knowledge can help businesses enable inter and cross departmental collaboration by discussing three areas where forums within knowledge bases can add benefit for internal organisations.

By developing the collaborative feature of discussion forums, Universal Knowledge is expanding its functional capabilities and providing additional business value. Knowledge users can now collaborate and connect more effectively and have a place within Universal to capture and track new ideas. By including an online platform for conversation between its user base, Universal Knowledge can assist organisations to enhance effective communication surrounding knowledge within their information estate.

The inclusion of discussion forums confirms Universal Knowledge as a core tool within internal organisations, strengthening the existing collaboration features, such as the existing communications platform, expert escalation of questions and feedback features.

To view the KPS Knowledge Management Solutions click here

2) Forums As A Tool To Begin The Process Of Knowledge Creation

Forums are a powerful tool to help teams work together to publish new documents. What started off as a simple discussion around new ideas, can often evolve into valuable knowledge which could be used to the benefit of the whole business. For instance, early discussions may end up guiding the creation of a new product and/or services.

Using forums as an aid to create content may significantly improve the quality of knowledge documents produced. Recently, in a Deloitte White-Paper it was established in the department of operations research, knowledge experts created content based on various biases. For instance, when an operations employee needed to generate new knowledge to solve a problem, they often tended only seek information that confirmed their initial assumption and ignore all other contrary evidence that disagreed with their held beliefs.

The use of Universal’s forum feature can help mitigate any bias problem that many businesses face when dealing with the creation of new knowledge. Instead of letting employees become insular, Universal Knowledge’s experts are encouraged to actively communicate with each other when in the process of creating new knowledge. They become motivated to react in a collaborative manner, to one another’s perspectives and experiences, and thus use forums as a springboard to negotiate the construction of new ‘unbiased’ content.

See how discussion forums are incorporated into the KPS Employee Knowledge Sharing Solution click here

3) Forums As A Tool To Discuss How To Improve Existing Content

Knowledge users can utilise Universal Knowledge’s forum feature as a suggestion box on existing knowledge items to discuss improvements on live documents. Used in this way, a forum can let teams share thoughts on crucial issues on a piece of content already in existence which may be outdated and in need of revising.

By allowing users to collaborate to quickly validate the merits of an idea on existing sources through the use of forums, Universal Knowledge can help speed up the process of iterative thinking and thus has potential to speed up the innovation process. A study by the Department of Industry found that companies that make use of collaborative technology are more likely to innovate in comparison to businesses that do not collaborate. In concurrence, the heavyweight accounting firm PWC states that using a collaborative approach can be remarkably effective as it increases the levels of motivations and participation, pulls teams together and therefore provides a fertile ground for knowledge capture, resulting in more innovative results.

By utilising forums within Universal Knowledge, users will have access to open-minded employees who can quickly validate any ideas or changes that need to be made on existing knowledge articles, which will in turn help speed the process for innovation. In this way users have the ability to collaborate around different ideas deciding whether suggestions have any merits or alternatively, can help save time by burning through bad ideas.

See how discussion forums are incorporated into the KPS Employee Knowledge Sharing Solution click here

4) Help All Users Within The Knowledge Base Seek Assistance And Support

Universal Knowledge’s new discussion board feature is a great way for members of a group within the Knowledge Base to seek assistance and support. The forums within Universal Knowledge allow employees to locate and discuss ideas with the right people (e.g. from proposal writing to sales prospecting) who are outside the employee’s explicit network, enabling the right conversations to happen irrespective of geographic location.

In this light, Universal’s forum feature can act as an intranet help desk within your business. This outcome will negate the repetition of tasks across the organisation and can therefore lead to productivity gains and cost savings. For instance, employees may ask a question on a particular topic and receive a helpful answer. By using Universal Knowledge’s forum, employee answers can be recycled so next time an employee has a similar question they can first search the forums section and see previously discussed conversations on any given topic relevant to their initial query. Using this self-service culture within an organisation can be invaluable and lead to substantial profitability benefits, since employees within an organisation with relevant expertise only have to complete an answer once for the benefit to be realised across the entire business.

See how discussion forums are incorporated into the KPS Employee Knowledge Sharing Solution click here

5) Creating A Return On Investment For Knowledge Base Discussion Forums

A key consideration for making discussion forums effective for a knowledge base solution is having the right strategy. This is because the return on investment from collaboration tools is complicated by the fact, that even if the company deploys the world’s best collaboration tool, it does not necessarily mean that adoption will follow. A successful deployment almost always depends on effective user education and fundamentally changing user behaviours.

To help make the project a success, we will run workshops with you to uncover critical success factors before anything is implemented. For instance, we will work with you to help convey to your employees that there is a clear purpose to the use of discussion forums. We will run training sessions to help staff realise their posts will have a direct impact on a particular issue or will provide some tangible benefit (for the organisation, or for other staff).

In summary, the nature of collaboration through the use of discussion forums within Universal Knowledge has the power to enable collective innovation, reduce bias issues and allow for productivity gains and cost savings.

For help and advice with your Knowledge Management business case click here

To view the KPS Knowledge Management Solutions click here

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KPS amongst Business Software’s Top 5 Knowledge Management Vendors for 2017

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For the 2nd year running KPS’s Universal Knowledge, Knowledge Management Software has been selected by Business Software to be amongst the Top 5 Global Knowledge Management Software Vendors for 2017.  KPS is naturally delighted to be chosen to be amongst the best knowledge management software providers around the world.  This is due to the fact that we have a feature rich, scalable knowledge base which can be used by organisations of all sizes.  Universal Knowledge offers an excellent investment opportunity for any company wishing to add new Knowledge management software to their organisational environments.  It also offers a fantastic opportunity for organisations wishing to upgrade to or change their existing knowledge management software to reduce ongoing operational knowledge and maintenance costs.

The value offered by Universal Knowledge to all organisations is shown by the number of FTSE 100 and 250 companies choosing to improve their knowledge management by using Universal Knowledge.  By continuing to invest in knowledge management software those organisations understand how knowledge management solutions improve the bottom line and improves their competitive advantage, even during difficult economic conditions.  By valuing knowledge management software these organisations are showing how they continue to believe in both the tangible and intangible.

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Easy to Integrate Knowledge Management Software

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Making Knowledge Available from Existing Systems

A comprehensive set of APIs links KPS knowledge management software to your existing systems. This makes information available at the point of need, without people having to open a separate application to find it.

By embedding the knowledge management tool into your call handling application, you save time and ensure successful adoption. Customers also benefit, because they get the right answers faster. As a result, you both improve the customer experience and reduce operational costs.

To find out more about our knowledge management software, please contact us >>

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Easy to Maintain Knowledge Management Software

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Tools for the Job… at Your Fingertips

KPS software is designed for ease of administration, resulting in a system you can maintain and improve with minimal effort.

Comprehensive out-of-the box reporting gives clear insights into what people are searching for, what they are finding, and what the gaps are. This enables you to plan effectively for content improvements and also identify staff training needs.

Make the Most Effective Use of Your Resources

Using the information provided by the reports, you can focus resources on the problem areas rather than wasting time creating and updating information no-one needs or uses. Where information is frequently requested, you can pro-actively help the user by pushing the information before searching, in the form of a template-based response.

Key maintenance features also include:

  • Simple content creation process, using templates and style-sheets to save time and put the focus on writing clear, useful and relevant material.
  • ‘In the workflow’ short-cuts that guide the content creator and save time while creating, editing, checking and publishing new content.
  • A simple but comprehensive security model that extends online (via LDAP integration). This manages access and visibility to content based on user credentials, so allowing the distribution of different content to different user groups such as service agents and self-service customers.
  • Automatic extraction of keywords and associated words without any manual intervention, meaning new content is immediately indexed and listed in relevant areas and content pages.

To find out more about our knowledge management software, please contact us >>

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