How to Keep Your Company Knowledge-Driven
To the average Joe, it may seem like knowledge management has all but disappeared from headlines during the past few years. However, the reasons for this may not be as apparent. It’s popular to think of KM as a stable but reproachable industry, especially as leaders are not swayed by quickly-rising business fads.
Nevertheless, KM serves an important role in IT departments and corporations large and small. It may be difficult to address all the pain points at once, but by doing so you can keep your company knowledge-driven and make the most of your investment. Here’s how:
Participate in knowledge management events around you
There are many knowledge base conferences and groups such as KMWorld – still in operation with no signs of declining. Conferences act as a forum where fresh ideas are debated and dissected and are an excellent chance to absorb the latest in knowledge management trends.
Keep a knowledge retention process in place
As your workforce leaves or retires, what approaches do you have to safeguard their expertise? Consider setting up a creative and non-intrusive approach to keeping them connected to their former communities. Get the dialogue started.
Don’t skimp out on your workforce
The most valuable asset is not a company’s knowledge library – it’s the team members and their level of motivation. Empower everyone from data miners, trend analysts and content curators to work together to make better business decisions.
Give end-users customization options.
How engaged are your end-users within your system? Consider allowing comments, ratings and APIs to make life easier for your audience. Give them the right tools to manage potentially overwhelming levels of information in the optimal way.
The right knowledge base system works in tandem with your company and educates your team at the same time. Remember: the boost in productivity and efficiency will be worth the effort you put into crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s of your knowledge system.
