What is knowledge management?

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of managing, creating, using and sharing collective knowledge within the organisation. Good knowledge management is the ability to store information where it is accessible and can be found by a user, like a wiki, or employee intranet.

If knowledge isn’t available where it’s needed in an organisation, it can be extremely expensive to a business because people are using the time to try to find the information they need, as opposed to completing outcome-goal steps.

By taking advantage of the organisation’s collective knowledge in a knowledge management system (KMS), better operational efficiencies are achieved. These are typically supported by a knowledge base, and are almost always at the heart of knowledge management, providing a single place to store information and easily access it.

Any Company with a knowledge management strategy report achieves these business outcomes faster, thanks to an increased rate of organisational learning and collaboration across teams. And more organisation-wide processes – such as training and on-boarding – become automated, all of which leads to reports of greater employee satisfaction and lower turnover.

Regardless of the tool you select, only a few programmes can fundamentally change the way that your organisation works. Knowledge management is one of them.

Knowledge management process

While at this highest level knowledge management is how it happens, it is the management of knowledge to be created, to be organised in a firm, to keep on sharing.

For example, knowledge creation. You start creating knowledge when you acquire one. Acquiring one can be from inside the organisation using the resources of the organisation (employee), or outside the organisation (partner or service). So this is called ‘Knowledge’ or ‘Knowledge or Experience’ the one you actually have learned and acquired something about the specialised topic. After acquiring or learning, the next step maybe what is the purpose to use this one, how would you implement or work on it, and where.

Organisation of knowledge . After identifying the way the knowledge is packaged, the next stage in the process is to further set it up or organize the knowledge such that it is arranged in a knowledge management system for further use in the future. As a result, this stage in the process involves the arrangement of knowledge such that there is protection of the knowledge which are also known as security measures and schemes whereby legitimate users can only see the information required for their work. This is a critical outcome of knowledge management because if knowledge is gained but not arranged or structured orderly, the knowledge gathered is only useful knowledge when such information is sought after at the time the information is actually gathered. Most of the time though, it turns out that by the time the need for this information arises, the knowledge is lost or misplaced and cannot be found when it is needed.

Sharing of knowledge. The last step of the knowledge organisation is the sharing of knowledge. The sharing of knowledge will comprise of all training activities on knowledge which might include knowledge training or knowledge exchange wherein knowledge can be exchanged or developed through knowledge discussions with other members in an organisation.

Types of knowledge

The first step in any discussion on knowledge management is to contemplate the types of knowledge and how different types of knowledge can be shared in the organisation.

The information knowledge management covers can generally be broken down into three main types:

1. Explicit knowledge is knowledge and information that can be effectively codified and taught, such as how to replace the toner in a printer and equations.

2. Implicit knowledge is knowledge about how best to apply explicit knowledge. You might advise a new apprentice by describing in detail the steps she would need to follow to complete the job, ‘Explicit! Explicit!’ you would shout, waving your arms. But if you are an experienced co-worker, you might also think about your implicit knowledge of the situation, the various options open to you, and the knowledge you could use to select the best approach for the apprentice’s particular circumstances. By applying and sharing implicit knowledge, the experienced employee can help the team operate better.

3. Since it is learned experientially instead of intellectually, tacit knowledge is more intuitive, and harder to share with others. It has been defined as know-hows, innovative thinking, and understanding body language.

While getting knowledge management systems in place for tacit and ‘implicit’ knowledge may be the mammoth of the organisation, if you have the right procedures in place that ensure all information deemed relevant — before the rocket launches or the product reaches the consumer — is stored and circulated, then you can be relatively sure it won’t be lost as staff retire or move on.

Harnessing all the brainpower in your organisation will benefit the overall business, instilling best practices for daily operations, enhancing situational awareness, improving employee intuition for making course corrections, and augmenting organisational capacity.

Examples of knowledge management

Staff retiring

The longer an employee works for an organisation, the more knowledge they acquire and the greater their skills become. This is why staff usually retire with a knowledge bank that the business needs to extract through the use of effective knowledge management processes so that the company minimises the inevitable disruption and can avoid skill gaps amongst the workforce.

This means finding the ‘actionable information’ to remember, and determining how best to store and distribute it.

Employee transfer or promotion

Because staff working at the same company move among various positions, they have to acquire new competences and expertise in accordance with the job requirements of the position they assume.

Sound knowledge management practices make it easy to supply this information so that things can be handed off as seamlessly as possible.

Knowledge management Ideas and Benefits

A more efficient contact center

Self-service tools like internet-based FAQs that allow customers to find the answers to routine questions on their own before calling deflect inquiries into the contact centre, reducing the number of queries – and costs. For agents, a knowledge management system provides a single repository to which all agents have access to help them maintain first call resolution and reduce average handle time.

Increase stakeholder collaboration

A knowledge management system can enable connections between employees anywhere in the organisation, and customers who are likely to have the most relevant and engaging answers. Lean on employee learnings to inform the creation of living knowledge articles for your customer service agents and field service workers.

Consistent CX and speedy issue resolution

Customers experience gets better when information is more accessible This is because that information become readily available for the customers, as long as they can get consistent and accurate answers in just one dialogue or having access to easily self-service all kinds of articles and knowledge.

Optimise onboarding and training processes

Make knowledge articles available before your contact centre agent is asking the customer for information. This will prevent them from having to ask multiple times.

Improve the agent experience and reduce agent turnover

Boost agent satisfaction, reduce agent churn and lower service call-handling times in your contact centre by giving customer service agents quick access to the information they need to do their jobs well.

Lower operational costs

Keep your operational costs down and maximise your staff’s expertise, while making your service as responsive as possible to the needs of your users.

Steps to implement a knowledge management system

1. Identify your business problem

Figure out the business problem(s) that you need to solve, and those problem areas that might hamper your ability to solve them. Then, map the desired outcomes of your Knowledge Management implementation against those problems and goals.

2. Plan a change management strategy

Prepare your employees for the change that is ahead. A systems implementation involves changing both processes and the way employees think about their job responsibilities, and managing user expectations always takes far more effort than the technical issues.

3. Create a team

Appoint a leader and a ‘tiger team’ of cross-department/cross-functional experts to identify and break through processes and solve issues.

4. Perform a knowledge/content audit

Determine what kind of knowledge – and where – will be needed to solve the business problems outlined in Step 1. First, organise content by categories reflective of your goals and objectives. Then, measure the breadth and depth of information stored in your databases, on the web and within the experiences of your employees.

5. Identify the critical features that the knowledge management system requires

Write an inventory of non-negotiable characteristics that your KM system needs in order to support your primary business problems – Step 1; examine all your technology needs and rank them in order to enhance IT overall.

6. Establish implementation phases

Roll out your knowledge management solution phase by phase: each stage encompassing part of the solution, laying the foundations for the next stage, delivering rewards, and delivering a calculable ROI. The phased approach ensures that the end-state goals can be broken up into smaller, more achievable chunks.

7. Postimplementation evaluation

Once the system for managing knowledge is operational, check which areas are operational successfully and which are not working according to expectation. Rectify whichever areas of the system for managing knowledge needs to be improved so that the total knowledge management system works towards your objectives.

In Closing

Knowledge management is the direction of the future for any industrial size of companies. The benefits are there if you pay attention. Most of the successful businesses have a good model, and that model is awaiting you to follow it.

As knowledge management systems grow up, we will see knowledge management platforms place into a more dynamic, secure, nimble, and adaptable nations. It is time that you invest in a knowledge management software or solutions cater to bring more productivity and return on investment to your organisation by improving operational efficiency. It will eventually help you provide better customer experience that in turn reduces churn. When your workforce is able to find the right information at the right time to make decisions, you are enabling them add value to your organisation. This also add up in increasing chances of the returns of the knowledge management’s initiative. If you follow the best practises, you can confidently match up to the trends.

For more information or a tailored training session feel free to contact our team.