There has been a lot of talk about knowledge sharing platforms and the pluses and minuses they can bring within a company. As expected, one of the main conclusions was that these platforms are able to remove communication barriers among team members. They also increase the ease and efficiency of information transfer.
Sharing knowledge is a very important element in assuring a business’ prosperity. However, just one-third of organizations manage to define a corporate knowledge strategy and start using a solution to encourage it. The negative part is that just 20% of companies consider their knowledge-sharing efforts are efficient.
There were a lot of cases in which employees implemented a knowledge sharing solution organically, by helping each other out. Even though this is not enough in most situations, it’s definitely an excellent start.
Aside from establishing a corporate knowledge sharing strategy and promoting this culture, there are several other ways a KM platform can impact an organization.
Let’s take a few moments and talk about some of the most important ones.
How a knowledge sharing platform can change your organization
1. It boosts employee engagement
The main purpose of using a knowledge sharing platform remains, of course, improving customer experience. But this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have other… “side effects” as well. One of the most important is improving the engagement rate between employees.
Companies from all over the world took notice of this and the results are already showing a positive impact. A knowledge management platform creates a collaboration environment in which everyone is heard, while actions based on their feedback are taken.
The results aside from improving the relationship between all team members involved in the knowledge sharing process? They also feel happy, as their feedback is taken seriously and their input starts gaining weight.
2. Knowledge sharing reduces the costs of training
It’s no secret that training new employees generates some of the biggest costs within a company. In most cases, a new team member has a lot of information to accumulate and this takes a lot of time. This is where a knowledge sharing platform comes in.
In short, it can be a great resource for training new ‘recruits’, since they don’t have to rely solely on manuals and documents created by trainers in the past. Using a platform is actually an ideal situation, considering that all knowledge comes from current and previous employees.
The knowledge sharing platform gives new employees access to invaluable information. It also provides all the resources they need, in order to quickly integrate into the new environment.3. It triggers sharing insights, discoveries and experiences
3. It also triggers sharing insights, discoveries and experiences
Each day is a chance for employees to discover new aspects about the company they work in, both internal and external. Still, not all this knowledge ends up being captured somewhere and is eventually lost.
When employees begin using a knowledge sharing platform, they can share their everyday discoveries with ease. Therefore, people from across the company will have access to new information. This gives the entire team an overall profitable advantage. Plus, everybody feels great after finding out that something they added to the knowledge base is considered useful by their colleagues.
4. Sharing generates new ideas
Multiple studies revealed that most companies which are successful at knowledge management are gathering new ideas and thoughts from employees. How? Through a shared internal communication platform, of course.
This allows employees to easily contribute new ideas since all they have to do is write them down in the dedicated section of the platform. As a bonus, they can also comment on others’ ideas, thus stimulating an engaging discussion around which ideas should be used.
Surveys can also be created within a knowledge sharing platform. This has the potential to generate a lot more response than a basic survey sent via email would do. And even though responses are private, employees can still mention their participation and create a ripple effect which eventually attracts others as well.
5. A platform helps develop a supportive corporate community
From a specific point of view, the concept of knowledge sharing acts as a very efficient way of developing a close community.
Yes, the Internet is and will always be a great way of facilitating the search for knowledge and information collection at a very fast pace, but let’s not forget that not everything you can find online is dependable.
Through a private knowledge sharing platform, a business can store valuable information in a secure online space, accessible just to specific users. By this, the shared information will always remain consistent and relevant.
A dedicated knowledge sharing platform allows a company to store huge amounts of valuable information in a secure place, accessible to employees anytime they need it. This, in turn, helps build a community, as individuals work as a team, adding supportive insights. They can also revise previously shared information that may have errors.
Conclusion
The conclusion is simple: incorporating a KM solution into the culture of your business can mean a step further for corporate success.
If you’re interested in finding more about the benefits of knowledge sharing, we’ve discussed them at length in this article. The article shows how it can improve the way information is managed within organizations.
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