What Is A Knowledge Management System (KM tools)

Recent reports have indicated how a business can enhance its productivity by over twenty percent and information search timings by over thirty percent with knowledge management systems. 

Updating business knowledge is therefore necessary for making a business more cost-efficient and productive. Robust KM tools help to capture and distribute such knowledge. The software processes, updates and shares such information so that it can be utilized for enhancing business performance.  

The knowledge management system meaning is simple. It is used for creating and sharing content with employees, clients and other stakeholders. Content or knowledge so prepared can be formatted using some built-in modules. Some knowledge management system examples for formatting of information are automatic cataloguing, metadata capturing, permission controls and rich text editing. 

Information so created can be shared across teams before it finally gets passed on to customers and clients. Once these solutions are deployed for aligning a business’s knowledge base, you can be assured of improving your customer and client experience. The inbuilt ticketing and feedback system makes it possible to collect customer reviews as well as answer customer queries. 

Why Use a Knowledge Management Solution

Different organizations use knowledge information system for varied purposes. KM software is particularly useful for companies dealing with multiple types of data and knowledge bases. As you deploy a knowledge management system software, here are some its key uses: 

• Monitoring data
• Analyzing information
• Sharing knowledge or data
• Capturing data
• Document management

KM tools are a requisite for all types of enterprises as the successful implementation of knowledge management solutions would help with:

• Managing and capturing information
• Searching and retrieving the existing information
• Disseminating knowledge, information and data to its requisite users
• Facilitating communication across teams
• Analytics and reports to help businesses grow
• Boosting net promoter score for improving the agent’s quality
• Self-serve for effective ticket management

In the digital world, most tasks and decisions are data driven. The best knowledge management platforms thus make it easy to provide information quickly to each member of a team.  

There are two key factors that make the application of knowledge management tools and techniques so viable for companies.

• Multi-lingual support- Knowledge management information systems are multilingual in nature as a result it is easy to prepare knowledge base in the language of your choice. The best KM software solution would ensure that catering to a global audience is never a difficulty for its end user. 
• Enterprise-wide deployment- Knowledge management system software can be deployed across an organization easily. This is essential for avoiding corporate silos as well as reducing administrative overheads.  

Types of Knowledge Management Systems

Solve complex knowledge problems with these knowledge management system types:

• Enterprise-Wide Knowledge Management System

Enterprise-wide knowledge management systems represent a group of wider activities undertaken for collecting, sharing, applying and distributing digital content/knowledge. This type of knowledge management system is based on portals, communication tools and search engine for disseminating knowledge. This knowledge is then applied for assessing an employee's expertise and storing unstructured/structured data.

The enterprise-wide knowledge management system has the following three variants: 

1. Structured knowledge systems for storing structured documents
2. Semi structured knowledge systems for storing and organizing semi structured information
3. Knowledge network systems for transforming unstructured knowledge into explicit information.

Built-in modules within Enterprise KMS:

1. EDIS (enterprise data integration system)
2. Knowledge collector
3. Enterprise talent map
4. Knowledge community management map
5. ERP (enterprise resource planning)

• Knowledge Work System

The second type of km tool is designed for knowledge workers like scientists, engineers and such advanced professionals whose job is to create specialized knowledge. Once this knowledge is ready, the tools make sure that it is integrated we’ll into the business process. 

Knowledge database, knowledge repository and knowledge graph are what comprises this type of knowledge management system. Based on the field, kind of data and business goals, organizations pick the technique best suited for their work. 

Some good examples of Knowledge Work Systems:

1. CAM/CAD Systems: Used by factory managers, designers and engineers to control the industrial design/manufacturing process.
2. Virtual reality systems: Used by architects and medical professionals for three-dimensional object simulation. 
3. Investment workstations: Used by finance professionals for portfolio management and analyzing trading mechanisms.

• Customer Relationship Management System

Customer Relationship Management Systems are meant for keeping track of interactions done with a customer. The knowledge management software type for customer relationship management helps ensure that the concerned employees in a company are up to date with a customer's past interactions, purchase history and queries. In these tools is inbuilt marketing automation mechanism as well for tracking marketing campaigns and sales.

• Applicant Tracking System

Applicant Tracking System is an HR (human resource) knowledge management solution designed for handling hiring and recruiting processes. Companies use this platform to accept online applications and identify the right candidate using appropriate keywords. This type of knowledge management system also helps with managing the entire interviewing and onboarding process.

• Feedback Database

As the name suggests, this type of knowledge management system is helpful for dealing with employees and customer feedback. Organizations even use this system to collect feedback from beta testers and product testers. The ultimate goal of deploying this knowledge management software type is to improve a company's offerings.

• Shared files & projects

Knowledge base software offers collaboration tools for facilitating communication between and amongst team members. Every stakeholder and team member has the option to add comments, share information and files to keep everyone in loop. This knowledge information system module is considered important for tracking a project's progress.

Applications of Knowledge Management System Across Different Businesses

Knowledge management tools helps create knowledge bases that make it easy for companies to add data, tag all information in them and move it around across teams. The application of knowledge management system among corporates are:

• Documentation and certification
• Search data using topic or the relevant keyword
• Organizing training videos
• Predictive search engines for SEO friendly content
• Relevancy reviews and performance feedback
• Syndicating knowledge for quick access
• Enterprise intelligence for better collaboration

Here are some of the other applications of knowledge management system in MIS across different business processes: -

• Enterprise Resource Planning

1. Managing business intelligence
2. Human resource management
3. Security and business collaboration
4. Business process integration
5. Interactive product catalogue

• Customer relationship management

1. Cross selling, upselling and telesales
2. Implementing feedback systems
3. Identifying the targeted customers
4. Tracking new and current customers

• Decision support system

1. Data access support
2. Sequential and interdependent decisions
3. Facilitating interpersonal communication
4. Automated managerial processes

• Development processes

1. Describing the context of all data/information
2. Identifying the stage of information systems
3. Establishing priority rankings

• Security and ethical issues

1. Preventing unauthorized accesses
2. Maintaining data consistency
3. Security controls for the entire computing system
4. Code of ethics and professional conduct

• System development

1. Data flow and context diagrams
2. Critical success factor
3. Business system planning
4. Analysing user requirements
5. Detailed analysis of activities
6. Database design

Must-Have Knowledge Management System Features

Set up a knowledge base website and save resources with knowledge management system in MIS. Document all activities, collect feedback and assess team’s performance with these applications. Here is a list of modules that make these processes possible:

• Multimedia and rich text editing

To make information easy to understand, popular knowledge management platforms provide multimedia and rich text editing support. These tools are used to add videos and screenshots to data as well as modify the text using the font change option. 

• Language controls

Knowledge management solutions provide language controls or multilanguage support for managing transformation workflows. To connect with a global audience, language controls make it easy to present information in the target audience’s preferred language. 

• Analytics & reporting

Analytics and reporting in KM software make it possible for companies to measure their business performance over a period. For instance, the ticketing system lets you analyse your ROIs. You can also use this tool for checking the number of views received by an article or reading the customer feedback.

• Feedback collection

Feedback is a good way to asses how well an employee has been doing. Using a knowledge information system, it becomes easy to attach feedback options to every work. For example, you can add question like ‘whether or not the article was helpful?’ and add to it options yes/no for gathering visitors’ feedback. 

• Permission control

Permission controls within knowledge management software help ensure that only those content pieces that have been properly reviewed get published. Fine-tuned permission controls within knowledge management tools thus make sure that no content is published without a final review. 

• Automatic cataloguing

Knowledge management system software is based on document events for helping companies set business logics automatically. You can also use this module for automating the recurring tasks to minimize the possibility of errors and decrease costs.  

• Audit trails

Knowledge management systems provide configurable audit trails for documenting the sequence of all activities. Such documentation captures information like timing of any specific procedure or event. 

• Metadata capture

Metadata capture is a feature through which you can transform documents into business-ready data. It is this automated metadata capturing module that makes document processing easy and effective.

Benefits Of Using Knowledge Management Software

Improving employee productivity, decision-making and streamlining task flows are some of the benefits of deploying knowledge management systems. Let us have a look at the other benefits offered by the software: 

• Easy to use

Knowledge management systems are easy to use and set up. You don’t require any coding knowledge to start using these applications. 

• Content suggestion with search option

As a company grows so does its data. KM tools offer search mechanism to help you search the exact information you have been looking for. The search bar option with a knowledge management platform also provides content suggestions as you type any text. 

• Customizing knowledge base

Application of a knowledge management solution would ensure that all your content can be customized with ease. Through this feature, you can attach your company’s logo, brand name and other styling materials to your knowledge bases. 

• Team collaboration

The best knowledge management tools offer various collaboration features for assigning roles to different team members. You can assign roles like contributor, editor, administrator and such with KM tools for streamlined task management. 

• Intelligent integration for task management 

Knowledge information systems make managing of multiple tasks easy and quick through its intelligent integration capabilities. You can thus integrate any of your third-party applications like CRM, survey and ticketing with the existing knowledge management solution.

• Metrics for knowledge base

Knowledge management system software offers key metrics for assessing the performance of your data or articles. It uses indicators like total number of articles written, searches done, successful/failed searches, broken links and author links for measuring a knowledge base’s performance.

• Feedback forms for knowledge management

Feedback forms make it easy to collect information on the relevance of a content piece. You can always revisit and update the content based on such feedback for more views and traffic.  

Top 5 Knowledge Management Examples For Small Businesses

Given here are some of the best knowledge management system examples that you can deploy for managing the data. 

ServiceNow Knowledge Information System

ServiceNow is an efficient knowledge information system designed for managing customers, employees and agents. The software offers multiple methods for filtering and sorting the data along with a contextual search option for content suggestions. It also provides a self-service portal for helping teams and customers alike to browse through knowledge bases.

Key Features:

• In-context knowledge creation
• Feedback management system
• Knowledge demand insights
• Article versioning
• KCS or knowledge centreed services

Document360 KM System

Document360 KM system is a knowledge management software designed for creating knowledge base for companies. Besides an intuitive user interface, the software offers important modules like version control, category manager and other customization tools. Integrating with third-party applications is easy with Document360 KM system. 

Key Features:

• Knowledge base portal and site
• Easy documentation
• Multilanguage localization
• Difference viewer
• Advanced search
• Category manager
• Article lifecycle

Bloomfire

Bloomfire knowledge management platform is relied upon by businesses for improving the performance of their customer support teams. What makes the software unique is the robust AI engine on which the entire application runs. Collaboration is easy too and so is its content management capabilities. 

Key Features:

• Customer insights
• Audience segmentation
• Digital asset management
• Benchmarking and market research
• Content management

LiveAgent

Forums, feedback buttons and widgets, LiveAgent is one of the best KM tools for boosting the knowledge base of a business. Aside from an intelligent search function, the platform offers a management module too for handling the branding profile. You can also use LiveAgent knowledge management system for tracking codes and developing external knowledge base for clients/customers. 

Key Features:

• Universal inbox
• Ticketing
• SLAs or service level agreements
• Contact fields
• Agent management
• Spam filters

Atlassian Confluence

Publishing, organizing and accessing company information is easy with Atlassian Confluence KM system. Here you would find detailed feedback management functionalities along with dynamic content management capabilities. You can create projects and share them across teams with this knowledge base software. 

Key Features:

• Permission controls
• Page tree
• Practice integration 
• Real-time editing
• Commenting and notifications