Sometimes when we write about Laserfiche and all its bells and whistles, we get so granular talking about the technology that we don’t reorient ourselves back to the considerable organizational “business” efforts. With this in mind, we’d like to discuss the components of an overall information management initiative.
To successfully manage knowledge in any organization, you need leadership and support from people, defined processes for managing knowledge, appropriate knowledge content and IT tools, and a clear vision for meeting business needs. So, you need people, processes, technology, and strategy.
People= Staff and Managers
The people component in knowledge management refers to employees within your organization who create, share, and utilize knowledge in all possible ways and the managers who plan these efforts. Human resources are one of the main reasons behind any organization’s success and are the number one asset that needs to be accommodated.
Effective knowledge management requires thinking, planning, innovating, and execution, which can only be achieved through human involvement (until AI improves). That is why it is critical to understand the role of your people in the knowledge initiative, sharing activities, and leveraging their expertise to support business goals.
Assuming you, the reader, are a senior manager, your primary responsibility is to promote a culture of knowledge sharing, ensuring that employees receive adequate training and incentives for sharing knowledge and improving their communication and collaboration skills. Motivating employees to share knowledge with their colleagues consistently can be challenging. This involves continuously engaging them, obtaining their buy-in, involving them in streamlining workflows, and providing them with the best technology available.
Process Automation Feeds Efficiency
Knowledge management is to enable individuals to access knowledge quickly and efficiently. The lifecycle comprises creation, identification, collection, review, sharing, access, and knowledge utilization. Ensuring this workflow is efficient is crucial to optimize the entire knowledge management process. Plus, you’ll want to use automation for those tiny tasks that take time so you can strategically use staff elsewhere.
Some examples of a typical KM flow include knowledge mapping, knowledge transfer, communities of practice, and knowledge audits. Most organizations rely on advanced technologies to automate these workflows. These technologies should have the below functionalities to provide the most added value.
Intuitive search- A transparent and efficient KM program should always rely on fast access to information. Having an intuitive search that allows your employees to locate knowledge quickly is mandatory.
Collaboration- Organizations should make collaboration on important KM activities simple. An effective KM system should allow stakeholders to collaborate on content generation, review, and publication from a single dashboard. Versioning is also a critical component.
Integrations- We always consider integration as one of the most critical factors. In almost every situation, your organization must integrate several products to make up your processes—for example, Laserfiche+ERP+E-commerce= FOIA requests.
We’ll give you time to mull this over. Next week we’ll discuss technology and strategy!
