Successes and failures of a knowledge management system

ByFelix Smith

Knowledge management is one of the vital tools for business success. It directly impacts the way your business operates. No matter what industry you work in, a knowledge management solution can be useful for businesses of all sizes and types.

So, what is knowledge management?

Knowledge management is a technique to organize and share knowledge within an organization. Not only does it improve employee capabilities but also contribute to enhancing their productivity by providing them access to the appropriate information at the right time.

While it seems like knowledge management is a recent invention, actually, it has its roots in the 1980s. The first term, knowledge management, came into existence in 1987. As the businesses started to move to digitization, knowledge management attained more attention. And now, knowledge management solutions have made information management and sharing a breeze.

So, if you’re looking forward to opting for a knowledge system, it can turn out to be the best option. However, before you go ahead, you need to know the advantages and disadvantages of knowledge management. In this guide, we will discuss the same.

Advantages of knowledge management

  • Better organization: You can’t expect to run your business without information sharing. With a KMS in place, you can not only manage your company’s crucial data but also streamline your business processes. A KMS makes it easier to find, reuse or recycle the information, enabling you to be better at your work.
  • Organized business processes: When your employees get access to the relevant information at the right time, it will aid in creating better services and products, enhancing the chances that you beat your competitors. 
  • Improved decision-making: With a KMS in place, your employees can use the data to find useful insights, which further aid in making informed decisions. Not only will this help you develop a better business strategy but also enhance your business productivity. And with informed decisions, you will be able to provide quick solutions to various problems.
  • Easier sharing of expertise: A knowledge system will allow your employees to share their experiences and knowledge with their coworkers, which will not only help them enhance their skills but also ensure they use your intellectual capital completely. Apart from this, it helps improve internal communication, employee engagement and collaboration.

Undoubtedly, a KMS has a long list of benefits. But, like everything else, it has some disadvantages. So, let’s check out the major issues you may encounter.

Disadvantages of knowledge management

  • Integrating it with business strategy: The biggest challenge companies face by implementing a KMS is aligning it with the existing business strategy. Undoubtedly, you already have set your goals and objectives, but if your KMS can’t be integrated with your business strategy, you may not be able to achieve those goals. So, when choosing a knowledge platform, make sure you consider your business strategy.
  • Absence of effective knowledge capturing methods: You have to define the ways to capture the knowledge to ensure effective use of knowledge management. Finding the relevant info via a KMS search function is not enough – it should allow you to capture, store, process, analyze and share the information easily. And for this, you may have to spend a little more on tools and training.

The bottom line

Undoubtedly, a knowledge management system can turn out to be a boon for an organization. However, it must be implemented in the right way, and all your employees must know how to use it to get the most out of it. Misuse of a knowledge platform won’t do anything good; instead, it will only harm your business. So, keep the aforementioned points in mind when opting for a knowledge management solution.

 

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