In this episode of Redefining AI, Lauren Hawker Zafer and Zach Wahl, CEO of Enterprise Knowledge, talk about An Enterprise Knowledge View of Knowledge Management. They discuss that knowledge management should touch and connect every part of an organization, and especially align with the five elements of knowledge management, i.e. people, process, content, structure and technology. Being aware that these five elements are always in flux and adjusting them regularly also means looking at the process as a journey rather than a project with an end state and approaching it with an agile mindset.
Addressing the power balance between humans and technology in knowledge management is another critical point. To make the most of your knowledge management system, it is important to adopt a holistic approach and balance the five elements mentioned above, rather than only focusing on having the best technology. That means that mapping knowledge, establishing information flows and pointing out the relationships between the different elements is paramount to making the most of the technology, and the quality of this information depends on the humans who provide it. The vision for these processes in the future and the exact human skills required to maximize these efforts are also part of the discussion in the podcast.
While knowledge management values are indisputably relevant for organizations, they need to be translated into business values to showcase the hard ROI they bring. It is important to keep this bigger picture in mind when setting out on this knowledge management journey to maximize its success.
Zach has over 20 years of experience leading programs in the knowledge and information management space. He has worked with more than 200 public and private organizations to successfully strategize, design, and implement information management systems, including knowledge bases, intranets, content management, document management, taxonomy management, and websites (eCommerce and informational).