Knowledge is any set of information, skills, or understanding that a person gains with their experience. In organizations, this knowledge needs to be passed down continuously and effectively. Robert Boyce says “Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied”. Therefore, it is pivotal that the right person receives it at the right time. However, this process can be quite repetitive and inadequate.
A Knowledge Management System can benefit an organization by eliminating these challenges and increasing the output in such a scenario. A KMS is essentially a system that aids the employees in collecting, updating, and serving the information on a tool. While implementing this at Cerebranium, we considered certain points. Firstly, the information that is documented should be easy to find and share. Secondly, the user interface of the application used should enable the team members to easily contribute to the knowledge base. Thirdly, the software must work the way you do, and not otherwise, and lastly, technology should encourage human interaction and cooperation, especially in the present times when it is not feasible to meet physically.
Each organization deploys a Knowledge Management System in different ways according to its suitability. Some of the tools we actively use at Cerebranium to support a Knowledge Management Culture are:
Trello for project management and task organization at a team level. Members within the team can easily track, manage and share their work with the team.
G-Suite for an integrated workspace. Teammates can work together on multiple tasks and gain insights from their colleagues.
Slack for effective and secure communication.
These tools help us in making our virtual workspace more productive and customizable, but we also believe that to sustain and increase productivity levels, we should keep exploring different tools. For instance, we recently asked our team to try the applications Monday.com and Confluence. This helped us in understanding the efficacy of tools used presently and if we require any alternatives. Thus, KMS not only assists our team in collaborating better but also in ascertaining the challenges faced by them. Some other reasons for integrating such a system at Cerebranium are:
It facilitates the employees with quick and relevant information.
Encourages collaboration among team members
Aids the team in monitoring and analyzing the organizational knowledge.
It creates a smooth onboarding process by making the new teammates accessible to existing knowledge.
Provides dedicated workspace to each team (Development, Design, Marketing, Operations, Sales, etc.)
Although KMS supplements knowledge management, it is not an end in itself. Knowledge management has been there for centuries, even before any kind of network or technology existed. The generations before us have managed well, but looking at the current scenario where companies rely heavily on data, information, and knowledge on a day-to-day basis, deploying KMS becomes crucial if the organizations intend to prolong their success.