What is Knowledge Management? By definition it is “the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge.” It is the systematic handling of all the information, data, and knowledge assets held by an organization with the purpose of creating value and meeting both strategic and tactical goals and targets, such as employee productivity and/or exceptional customer service.
The typical benefits achieved with effective Knowledge Management are:
- Employees feel empowered as they can quickly share tacit knowledge previously hidden from colleagues
- An increase in employee productivity as content that is needed to perform a task is accessible quickly
- Increased customer satisfaction when used in a customer service setting as users can quickly and easily find the content to help solve customer problems
Knowledge Management is not just the implementation of technology, it brings together people, processes, content and technology. An effective knowledge management implementation will use a knowledge management system which allows business process to be mapped into the technology, not the other way round. It will allow the automation of content delivery, through functionality to alert users to important information and tasks which should be completed.
Knowledge Management is therefore a multi-disciplinary approach, Knowledge Management is not, on its own, the implementation of a system but a process which is facilitated by IT.