Companies can no longer run away from the responsibility of finding ways to leverage corporate knowledge. This can be done using technology and other company practices.
Traditionally, knowledge management systems focussed on capturing and centralizing knowledge to make it readily available at a later date. Today, the focus is no longer about the knowledge itself but on those who share, hold, and use it. Organizations, therefore, cannot afford to ignore the important place of knowledge management.
Here are reasons why organizations must work to adapt knowledge management systems:
Faster Access to Knowledge and Information
Through knowledge management systems, organizations can make it easy to find information and its holders. In other words, organizations have access to all the information that potentially exists in the organization. The result is increased efficiency and productivity allowing employees to work in a much better way. With all the available knowledge, there is no need of redoing what has been done before.
Improving the Decision-Making Process
Knowledge management makes it easier for the employees to make faster and better decisions. After all, they are able to access the pool of knowledge available in the entire organization whenever they need it. Information management systems allow each individual access to the experiences and opinions of various people in the organization. That way, they are able to develop additional perspectives that can then influence their choices. Interesting: Types of Business Technology Solutions
Promoting Cultural Change and Innovation
Knowledge management systems usually collect information from all the experts in the organization. The employees are, therefore, encourage and enable the exchange of ideas, access to the latest information, and collaboration. People are, therefore, to better think of innovative ways of doing things. The organization, as a whole, is able to undergo the cultural changes it needs to make it better even as it adapts to the changing organizational needs.
Improving Efficiency
Every business organization needs to be more efficient in its business processes and at the operating units’ level. After all, the workers have quick access to resources and information from across the company. Knowledgeable workers have no excuse but to act faster. This was the subject of a 2011 study in which it was suggested that social collaboration has the ability to improve business processes and, generally, the performance of the organization.
Increasing Customer Satisfaction
With increased sharing of knowledge in the organization together with cross-collaboration, the customer is the one who benefits most. That’s because of the increased value of the products and customer experience. Using Knowledge management systems, customer service departments are able to give all the answers to a customer’s queries. This can lead to a drastic shortening of the time taken to improve products or services.
In a 2014 Study, it was established that giving an employee or client improved access to contextual information reduces customer service response time by between 20 percent and 80 percent. The customer satisfaction would definitely be guaranteed.
In today’s dispensation, no organization can survive without a proper information management system. Employees need to find ways to collaborate more to the advantage of the organization.