Benefits of Knowledge Management System

The many benefits of a knowledge Management System include :

• Improved decision making
• Improved customer service
• Enhanced employee skills
• Increased profits

Orchids Inc, wants to implement a Knowledge Management  System. The majority of their time is spent on their employees, processes and procedural issues. These places of information existed in the business but in bits and pieces. Orchids Inc. wants to integrate this information, fill the gaps and put pieces together into a single system.

The Knowledge Management System had all the key components that have been mentioned above :

• Document Management : Orchids Inc. started using several tools to manage documents, such as document version  control  system. This enabled it to standardize documentation standards, maintain versions and track changes that were made to any document into a single system.
• Search : The search facility enabled the managers of the retail outlets to effectively view the availability of a particular product at any of the wholesale outlets, which were included in the Intranet.
• Skills Database : All employees at Orchids filled up forms pertaining to their area of expertise, skills possessed and the number of years of experience for that skill This enabled them to identify and place employees according to their skills.
• Knowledge Portal : Orchids Inc. developed a portal that had all the integrated components of a Knowledge Management System. This portal provided a consistent user interface for all the components and pieces of a knowledge Management System.

A year after implementing the Knowledge Management System, Orchids Inc. realized a savings of nearly $1 million in revenue savings. Barriers to efficiency such as different geographical and time zones were got rid off. Quality information was made available to employees within a matter of hours.

A Knowledge Management System can be used as a powerful tool to change the characteristics of  a firm. Many companies have implemented it as a solution to many problems in organizations.

Knowledge Management has its own pitfalls. Even if the collected information is correct and distributed across an organization correctly, there is no guarantee that the data transferred will be converted into knowledge which can be put to effective use. Knowledge is purely behavioral  and environmental dependent that might not always equate to profitability.