The world is experiencing a knowledge revolution, and businesses are not left out. Every day, as more insights are made possible through the use of cutting edge AI processes, more valuable information is being created. With the increase in knowledge available to enterprises, more and more businesses are turning to knowledge management systems that can help them collect, organize and store their knowledge resources.

Quite simply, if information is an asset (which it undoubtedly is), knowledge management systems help businesses better organize and exploit that asset for maximum yield. It may be tempting to dismiss knowledge management as another tech fad that only companies with money to burn indulge in. But there is so much more to these systems than that.

What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge management (KM) refers to the administration of knowledge. It stems from a recognition of the powerful value that knowledge represents to an organization and the adoption of processes to store and exploit that knowledge. Simply put, KM provides organizations with a way to leverage corporate knowledge. Since knowledge is an important asset for businesses, KM principles dictate that it should be used effectively to increase efficiency and profitability.

Knowledge management systems (KMS) help organizations collect, organize, store and exploit the knowledge available to them. When used properly, these systems create and share resources rapidly while providing contextual insights about the information.

Every businesses creates knowledge, regardless of its size. Yet, very few are aware of the powerful potential in that knowledge and how it can be used to increase growth and productivity. Lew Platt, former CEO of HP described the situation best when he said “If HP knew what HP knows we would be three times more productive.”

When a business creates knowledge, it does something more than just collect data. Knowledge is data that has been shaped by context and enriched by experience. If your business is not already using this knowledge through a KMS, then you may be losing much more than you realize.

Today, companies around the world are investing in KMS. For instance, global accounting firm, Ernst & Young has an Accelerated Solutions Environment. Through this system, it has several teams involved in creating, storing and automating knowledge. The system has led to a 44% increase in revenues and allowed its consultants to remain competitive.

Types of knowledge management systems

There are many types of Knowledge Management Systems that serve many purposes. For instance, a KMS may be internal or external. Internal KMS are used to collect and exploit information that is crucial to the internal operations of a business.

External KMS, on the other hand, provide knowledge bases that customers and agents can use for self-service. Other types of KMS include:

• Content management systems
• Organization intranet and extranet systems
• Data warehousing and mining systems
• Document management systems
• Decision support systems

KM helps your business stay organized and up-to-date when it comes to your business information horde. It helps your company keep an eye on what knowledge you actually have, document this knowledge for quick and convenient recall, and derive insights from the same.

More importantly, it keeps your employees from having to “reinvent the wheel” every single time. Businesses face all sorts of unique challenges every day. Using a KMS allows for documentation of the strategies used in dealing with these challenges and the context behind those strategies. This way, the businesses prepares a ready resource that can be called upon when similar challenges arise.

Apart from these, there are numerous other benefits that KM holds for businesses. They include the following:

• Increase customer engagement: KM allows your business to invest in best practices that create happy customers. Up to 70% of customers expect a company’s website to include a self-service application. Customers don’t want to have to wait before they can have their service issues solved. By implementing a KMS system, you can give your customers the means to solve their own issues, while freeing up your employees to tackle other tasks.
• Scale teams more effectively: There are two main challenges that businesses face when scaling: managing volume and complexity. As the business scales, teams will have to handle more customer volume and increasing complexity in operations and processes. A well-crafted KMS can ensure the business puts in place a database with repeatable and context-laden resources. Issues relating to task management and execution will be taken care of with the system in place.
• Share enterprise knowledge: Organizations with a strong onboarding process can improve employee retention by 82% and productivity by 70%. Although there seems to be a consensus that businesses should spend more time on onboarding, that time can be used elsewhere. An easy-to-use KMS system can take care of all the major points of onboarding. It reduces the time that new employees spend looking for someone to help them figure out tasks and increases productivity instead by giving them all the tools they need.
• Collect, store and organize valuable information: If your best employee left today, how much knowledge would they take with them? No business likes to be put in this position. By implementing a KMS system, businesses can create a network for knowledge sharing that ensures continuity, even when valuable employees leave.
• Provide even more insights: Perhaps the most important benefit of using a KMS is it helps your organization know what it knows. Better, it gives you the tools to act on this knowledge and derive even better insights that help you tweak your processes for maximum efficiency and productivity.

When a good KMS is in place, it stimulates culture change in an organization. It breeds a disposition to collaboration and knowledge sharing. It also creates a “network effect” through which every part of your organization can truly connect. The guys in tech can see and understand what the sales people are doing, making everyone work smarter and better.

There is a common misconception that knowledge management, like many other cutting edge tech tools, is for only large organizations. You might think your small business does not have the massive amounts of knowledge that require a management system. But small businesses benefit just as much from using KM. Just providing a self-service system for customers can mean the world to your businesses, especially as your business scales.

Since your team will not always have the extra time to deal with customer support tickets, having a KMS will help increase productivity and save you the cost of hiring more employees strictly for customer support. This is just one advantage that comes from creating your own KMS. Imagine the multiplier effect that it will have when you fully embrace the culture of collecting, storing and using your most valuable information.

Knowledge Management the i3solutions Way

i3solutions has been building knowledge management systems to foster the discovery, collection and sharing of knowledge for more than 20 years. As such, saying we are highly experienced at what we do is a bit of an understatement.

We have created custom solutions for clients that fuse the power of cognitive computing with social networking to create tools that people actually want to use. Our extensive expertise in numerous KM tools such as WebSphere, Sitecore and SharePoint means we have what it takes to fulfill your needs.

Let us show you the amazing things your business can do with our next generation knowledge management systems. Contact us today to start a conversation.