Knowledge Management can change the way you do business (Pt1-The Challenge)

This is Part 1 of a TBD # part series:

1. What & Why KM – The Challenge
2. Who & How KM – The Alignment
3. Identifying Experts & Assets – The Analysis
4. Where & When KM – The Project (phase 1)
5. Advanced KM – The Project (phase 2)

Please leave me any comments or questions you may have in between posts so that I may incorporate any ideas or suggestions you may have.

What is Knowledge Management (KM)?

Before I answer that question, see if the following sounds familiar to you:

1. There is no effective knowledge capture and dissemination process within my organization
2. The time to onboard new internal personnel or to train partners takes much longer than we would like
3. New capabilities that are continuously being added each release are also not well communicated due to the lack of resources to evaluate, define and articulate not only each isolated feature, but also the myriad of use cases that combine these capabilities into complete solutions deployed in the real world
4. Worse, in some cases outdated or incorrect information is being used and communicated
5. Staff are frustrated and often complain about lack of content, when content that exists is not being leveraged or found

Internal staff communicates with each other through the following channels/mediums:

• Internal information presentations and collected best practices
• New Product Launch info sessions
• External training which is also leveraged by internal teams as part of on-boarding
• Product marketing conference calls for product positioning/messaging
• A “portal” containing a Wiki and technical documents, which no one uses
• General broadcast requests for help to anyone via annoying email blasts CC everyone
• Internal cross-group presentations and meetings, which are repeated infrequently

External Communication with partners, customers and prospects takes place through:

• Product documentation, samples and templates
• Individual roadmap presentations to customers and partners
• A CRM hosted knowledge base and bug/enhancement request logging system
• In person annual users conference and regional user groups
• External product marketing white papers and documents
• Specialized internal preview documents created for customers and partners by product management
• Externally delivered training courses as part of certification and product sale

Due to a combination of lack of resources, inconsistencies, lack of commitment and infrastructure issues, both internal and external use of the channels previously listed have been known to be inaccurate, siloed, out-of-date or inaccessible. This has been documented to affect implementations that may need to be “rescued”, re-architected through the use of limited key personnel. The result is cost inefficiencies as well as lowered customer satisfaction.

Why Knowledge Management (KM)?

If any of the above resonated with you, you have identified one of the most powerful, but as yet untapped opportunities in organizational process, development and execution. There is an old saying “knowledge is power”. That reference was focused on keeping a tight hold of information individually and leveraging it for personal gain. In today’s dynamic, fast moving business environment, “knowledge is still power” but power which should be leveraged for the good of the company, it’s partners, customers and prospects.

As such, I define KM as the Consistent capture and efficient dissemination of accurate information internally and externally. Whose ROI can be measured by process efficiencies, increased productivity, improved customer and partner satisfaction and ultimately greater profits.

In Part 2 I’ll describe how to begin thinking about KM, who should be involved and where to start.