KM as a partner to learning is an increasing trend, one that makes a lot of sense for many organizations but only if theyre taking a modern approach to learning. Here is an example of Mimosas knowledge management system that makes excellent use of images and videos. There is no single right answer to this, and Ive seen a lot of different models work, though increasingly Ive noted the top three most successful KM reporting structures are lines to the C-suite (specifically reporting up to the COO), owned by a for-profit business line, or operating alongside or within the learning organization. As a result, it is more prominently surfacing as a good investment, offering a long list of real business outcomes including improved employee satisfaction and retention, improved customer retention and acquisition, greater productivity, faster and more consistent upskilling of new employees, and reduced risk from outdated, incorrect, or obsolete information. Factors we consider include what were seeing in requests for proposals and requests for information; the strategic plans of organizations; priorities for KM transformations; internal surveys; interviews with KM practitioners, organizational executives, and business stakeholders; and the product roadmaps for leading KM technology vendors. Simply coming to the KMS, sharing and retrieving information from the articles written is old school. KM as a partner to learning is an increasing trend, one that makes a lot of sense for many organizations but only if theyre taking a modern approach to learning. Digital workspaces offer a simple way for all your departments and teams to fully focus on their own work and at the same time collaborate with other employees. We now understand that good KM practices and technologies are for literally everythingall your stuff, across the entire enterprise. Organizations are increasingly investing in AI, either for point solutions or as part of broad digital transformation efforts. When combined with the mature KM design and governance techniques we offer today, a new, highly mature breed of portals are being launched, offering significant gains for organizations in knowledge sharing, knowledge use/reuse, and overall findability and discoverability of content. Many others are still in a holding pattern of deciding what the future of work will look like. When it comes to knowledge management, you have two choices on-premise and cloud-based, more commonly known as SaaS. KM can capitalize on this by articulating exactly how the KM strategy will drive value for the business and then sourcing and correlating data to show that impact. With on-premise, you have to bear the cost and the headache of managing and maintaining your system. Were seeing a great deal of movement and investment in Knowledge Management. Brayn is a knowledge management expert. For the last several years of my KM trends articles, Ive written about Knowledge Graphs. Finding anything is a laborious process in the traditional KMS, as employees have to scramble through loads of data to reach the right article. This means your support agents can use the KMS to gain access to critical business information. Many organizations that have reached the concluding stages of their digital transformations have been left without the results they anticipated, as content is still not findable, silos are still stifling innovation and collaboration, and different types of content are still stuck in their native systems rather than being integrated into actionable collections. As I detailed toward the beginning of the pandemic, the quick shift to remote work has, for many organizations, shone a light on their poor (or poorly followed) KM systems and practices. with context and the business domain in order to power intelligent chatbots, content assembly, customized content delivery, adaptive learning, and semantic search and recommendations engines, to name just a few. Follow these trends to become well-positioned to leverage your business knowledge in ways that deliver tangible results. Please let us know by taking our 11-question KM Trends Quick Poll. When we study the KPIs for recent and future KM investments, the top objectives are no longer about saving money. But AI is becoming progressively better, cheaper, and easier to integrate into enterprise systems. An all-in-one knowledge management tool will meet all the necessary work requirements. Thats precisely why leveraging analytics for creating exceptional experiences is a major knowledge management trend. Its only when you get an inside view that you realize the existing gaps and inefficiencies. Todays knowledge management trends are in line with what employees want a seamless and engaging knowledge-seeking experience. To make the most of a SaaS knowledge management system, you need two things an internet connection and a device (laptop, mobile phone, or desktop), and the rest takes care of itself. Lauren Trees identifies trends in enterprise knowledge sharing and collaboration, researches cutting-edge ways to improve knowledge flow, and shares the findings with APQCs members and the knowledge management community at large. So, instead of logging in to a different system, support staff can use the KMS to access your customer support help site and resolve tickets as and when they arise. Now in year two of the pandemic, many organizations have decided to abandon their traditional views of the office and move to full work from home or hybrid environments in perpetuity. Its time to bid adieu to emails and welcome a quicker and more efficient form of communication Notifications. Besides knowledge sharing and collaboration, a state-of-the-art knowledge management system can even, A KMS provides endless possibilities. The resolved question directory keeps growing as your employees ask questions and get answers. Depending on the industry, this alone is a multimillion-dollar risk. As predicted. These seven trends represent where Knowledge Management is now and where it is heading, not just over the course of the year, but beyond. For organizations that equate their learning organization with required classes and traditional learning, a KM organization placed within will be stifled. If implemented, it can streamline the way knowledge is managed and shared across departments. AI may not make sense for you right now, but if employees are struggling to find and drive value from enterprise knowledge, its worth serious consideration. https://appserver-1ccee61a-nginx-17d2ac96c55c446e8cd14aa26f3436d2:14181/knowledge-management-trends-in-2022/, Sign up for the latest thought leadership, Taxonomy & Ontology Design & Implementation, As we move into 2022, Im excited to present my annual listing of KM trends. It can also jeopardize team productivity and performance. This system is incredibly flexible, secure, and budget-friendly. They give your employees a shared space where they can talk, work, and collaborate effortlessly. One of the major benefits of a knowledge-based management system is that it facilitates company-wide knowledge exchange. APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center) is the worlds foremost authority in benchmarking, best practices, process and performance improvement, and knowledge management (KM). As I, detailed toward the beginning of the pandemic. There are no exorbitant costs, hidden fees, or month-end surprises involved. Knowledge bots help you achieve just that. Companies today know the tremendous power of data and analytics. That makes customer support an important area that cannot be ignored at any cost. These organizations recognize the potential value of Knowledge Graphs, and they equally recognize the competitive advantage they can offer. But I also want to know what you think the future holds. Its the era of knowledge sharing and collaboration. Were now seeing a gradual evolution of thinking, with leaders recognizing KM as a potential value driver. The good news is that supply is meeting demand. APQC recommends you start by scoping out the knowledge problems your stakeholders care about and see if an AI-driven solution might meet those needs. We are also seeing Knowledge Graphs serve as the foundational layer within the emerging trends in the data management space, powering data fabric and data mesh architectures that seek to align and achieve economies of scale across multiple data initiatives and needs that are brewing within pockets of the enterprise. As your organization grows, employee strength increases, and departments expand, there can be an information overload in your KMS. When considerations for how knowledge, content, and data (collectively, content) should be connected across the enterprise are included as part of these digital transformations, these are, in fact, KM initiatives. But as always, there is a risk of following the shiny object, without a clear business case. The more flexible, clean, and customizable an interface, the better the end-user experience will be. They give your employees a shared space where they can talk, work, and collaborate effortlessly. Anonymous comments will be moderated before being posted. More focus is now given to content that is a rich mixture of text, images, and videos. The rapid changes and social distancing requirements of the past 18 months have only acerbated these problems. We are seeing leading KM teams use AI to: For KM teams that previously dismissed AI as out of reach, now is a good time to reassess. Were now seeing the resurgence of portals, this time less as a standalone product and more as a combination of leading technologies, including advanced enterprise search, headless CMS, and semantic engines like graph databases. One major reason behind this is the heightened convenience and accessibility it provides. Another key driver of this knowledge management trend is the rising need for instant gratification. A major benefit of this knowledge management trend is that the resolved questions stay in the KMS for other employees to refer to it in case they have similar questions. The intranet environment can turn complicated if every department doesnt have its own private space to manage knowledge and tasks. It should be, Its time to bid adieu to emails and welcome, Analytics is known for giving a glimpse of. Knowledge Capture and Transfer Series Part 1: Getting Knowledge Capture and Transfer Right, User-Centric Content Engineering to Improve Customer Experience, Knowledge Cast Mirna Lessinger of Atlassian, KM Strategy for a Multinational Software Company, EKs Allison Blanning to Present at 2022 SLA Midwest Symposium, EK Teaching Upcoming Agile & Design Thinking Certification for KMI, Enterprise Knowledge to speak at International Web Conference OmnichannelX, Wahl and Hilger Release New Book on Knowledge Management Systems. Organizations continue to amass information at alarming rates. In short, these digital transformations missed the KM, and stakeholders that have invested millions are still looking for the ROI. A KMS provides endless possibilities. In past years, Ive identified Knowledge Graphs as a growing trend, one where organizations were beginning to realize their value and experiment with their design and implementation. Emails have been the primary source of communication for quite some time now. The AI-backed search system decodes the search terms context and crawls through the content to deliver intelligent suggestions almost immediately. The promise of these portals, however, ended up falling flat for most organizations, which found them to be difficult to maintain. You want a culture where employees can contribute their knowledge, share suggestions, and receive feedback, but with some level of governance. One of the notable features of a knowledge management system is its ability to streamline user management and define each members roles and responsibilities. Knowledge should be tied to action to deliver real value in the form of cutting-edge innovations and streamlined internal processes. Some of the top trends that you clearly cannot miss out on are discussion forums, knowledge bots, AI and analytics, digital workspaces, flexible user management, and many more that are discussed above. With more than 1,000 member organizations worldwide, APQC provides the information, data, and insights organizations need to support decision-making and develop internal skills. Cloud-based systems give you the power to, Siloed working doesnt exist anymore. Organizations with mature KM programs (or those that have committed to developing one) are making multimillion-dollar, multi-year investments in designing and developing enterprise Knowledge Graphs. However, if your organizations learning strategy utilizes a complete learning ecosystem of training, performance support, and social learning with peers and subject matter experts, it is a strong candidate in which to place your KM organization. I spent the first decade of my career in the 90s and 2000s working on enterprise portal initiatives. Portals Are Back (Kind Of) I spent the first decade of my career in the 90s and 2000s working on enterprise portal initiatives. Here are a few KM trends and developments Im keeping a close eye on. A good user interface facilitates a smooth interaction between the user and the knowledge management system. Thats why AI-powered search that works at the speed of light is a prominent knowledge management trend for this year and all coming years. In short, these digital transformations missed the KM, and stakeholders that have invested millions are still looking for the ROI. This year, I am proclaiming 2022 as the. Today, with a plethora of options available, each trying to deliver a superior experience to the other, the user interface can give you the much-needed edge. Cloud-based systems give you the power to make information instantly accessible 247, whether it is 3 in the morning or eight at night. Organizational Learning The Key to Survive, Sustain & Succeed, FAQ Page Best Practices: How to Optimize Your FAQ Section, 8 Easy Tips to Make The Best of a Cloud-Based Knowledge Base, Effective Tips to Cultivate a Collaborative Work Culture, Best Knowledge Management Tools & Software, How to Build a Perfect Wiki for a Business, How to Build a Customer Service Knowledge Base, How to Create a Saas Product Documentation, Knowledge Management System: The Complete Guide. The reason is simple. The current, Text, when supported by media, is easier to grasp, and when presented in a beautiful way, it is a breeze to navigate. KM is now part of the digital workplace. Traditional knowledge management systems consisted of lengthy documents and guides. Perhaps more of a prediction than a full-fledged trend, were beginning to see momentum behind the use of KM technologies and practices to help mitigate information security risks. , but put simply, many organizations should be losing sleep over the content that has been left about, and KM can help to address that while solving a host of more traditional KM challenges as well. It is also an important reminder for KM practitioners and organizational leaders to take an enterprise view of their organizations and learn from past successes and failures of digital transformations. The pandemic accelerated trends already underway may be the signature phrase of 2021. , Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Graphs have grown to be a central part of the KM conversation, and the continued presence of COVID-19 drove many organizations to invest in KM and learning to support their work from home and counteract the cultural and productivity impacts of remote work. More mature KM organizations have, as a whole, fared better during the pandemic, and still others are now making significant investments in order to catch up and alleviate some of the problems the sudden shift to work from home has caused. AI is finally happening for KM powering data fabric and data mesh architectures that seek to align and achieve economies of scale across multiple data initiatives and needs that are brewing within pockets of the enterprise. We now understand that good KM practices and technologies are for literally everythingall your stuff, across the entire enterprise. Besides knowledge sharing and collaboration, a state-of-the-art knowledge management system can even help in customer support. Get in touch with EK, and we can help. As KMers, we know KM makes a difference to the bottom line. This term is used to express the dramatic organizational shifts in solutions, processes, and content that are being sought by organizations globally in order to keep up with technological advancements, maintain and grow competitive advantages, and leverage the knowledge, information, and data they have developed. Put simply, good KM should fuel learning and development in organizations that are ready to think about both learning and Knowledge Management in modern terms. Knowledge management has successfully evolved from a back-office activity revolving only around documentation to a super-powerful, AI-supported platform that helps you create, understand, and put knowledge into action. He has been published in CustomerThink, PointVisible and Apruve. All rights reserved. Thanks to the speed, accuracy, and seamlessness knowledge bots offer, this is definitely one of the major knowledge management trends of 2021. The promise of these portals, however, ended up falling flat for most organizations, which found them to be difficult to maintain. Modern knowledge management tools offer complete, 100% customization wherein you can change every inch of your knowledge base. In past years, Ive identified Knowledge Graphs as a growing trend, one where organizations were beginning to realize their value and experiment with their design and implementation. A knowledge management system is a social platform where information is shared, organized, and stored securely. Employees will be able to work collectively towards your intranet. And as always, KM should continually look for knowledge challenges and opportunities created by remote and hybrid work and align its strategic objectives to those issues. The big difference between portals of the previous decades and what were seeing now is that these are successfully integrating that wide range of content I identified in the second trend above, creating a true 360-degree view for organizations and enabling users to traverse one type of content to find, discover, and act on others. With more and more organizations realizing the tremendous potential of a KMS, the future of knowledge management looks bright. The workspaces are separate from each other, but they all exist under the same roof your companys intranet. How can the stream of knowledge management be untouched by this super powerful technology! And even when a KM team (often at a large professional services firm) made those investments, it didnt necessarily score a home run. Are you ready to seize the business value these KM trends can offer? Adoption lagged as many users preferred to interact with the content in its native locations. Depending on the industry, this alone is a multimillion-dollar risk. To offer feel-good experiences to employees, a knowledge management system must literally feel familiar to read and browse. Still others are dedicated to returning to the office but recognize that todays competition for talent means there will always be some percentage of remote employees. Two-thirds of KM and IT leaders say concerns about the ability to find enterprise information have increased since the pandemicand more than a third say they have increased significantly. Many others are still in a holding pattern of deciding what the future of work will look like. Are you an author with a fresh perspective? They will contribute their subject matter knowledge to relevant sections, vet content for any flaws, and take full responsibility for final publishing. People have been telling me that artificial intelligence was poised to take KM by storm for at least five years. I am often asked where Knowledge Management should sit with an organization. If implemented, it can, A major benefit of this knowledge management trend is that.