The Knowledge management process centres on a comprehensive identification and analysis of all the available sources of information found on the world wide web, carried out through a collaborative effort by all company departments in order to create, share and implement useful data deemed beneficial to the company as a whole and to specific business objectives. It is a process which, since its inception in 1991, and thanks to the use of knowledge management systems, employs IT/A.I. technology and software to sift through and analyze in real time all the text and language data found on social media, websites, professional/consumer blogs and other internet sources, and extract from them relevant data—including structured ideas or concepts—that can be helpful in optimizing the internal organizational infrastructure of the company, improve its level of competitiveness—especially thanks to the ability to forecast fluctuations in customer demand and satisfaction with a service or product— and propagate the learning of new skills among the workforce.
To this effect, KM promotes an inter-disciplinary approach through which a company can enter into a relationship with multiple fields of knowledge from other industries and integrate that knowledge into their business strategies, managerial policies, and decision making process, while reaching multiple customer audiences in the process. Through semantic technology KM systems can recognize human behaviour, trends and patterns among consumers and deliver the available information in real time, transforming the internal company infrastructure into a homogeneous whole where important and innovative concepts are shared, recycled and perfected through the input of all company levels—thus ensuring a mutual and reciprocal exchange of information to the advantage of all parties (clients, customers, partners, and external participants from other areas of industry).
Its biggest strength is the introduction of innovative ideas and business strategies which were previously unknown to the company and which can aid the company to identify a solution to a problem before it even develops. KM helps the company gain new expertise in other areas of human industry and activity and as such it promotes the free exchange and inter-change of ideas and the integration of innovative learning processes among multiple industries that will promote higher levels of employee efficiency, overall productive capacity, and consumer satisfaction/loyalty. For this reason, more businesses are recognizing the significant impact of KM systems and how they are a necessary tool to increase competitive advantage. Small and medium businesses especially need to implement the KM process to survive vis a vis bigger players in a highly competitive and saturated market, and it gives them a jump-start to increase their visibility and consolidate customer loyalty while attracting larger audiences. Naturally, cost/benefit analysis is needed before KM implementation, and lack of budget or skilled IT resources may be other factors that could prompt a business to reconsider the choice. This is why it is highly preferable for new participants to seek the advice and employ the external services of professionals specializing in the knowledge management processes, such as Expertsystem, for example.
