KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: DEFINITIONS AND CHALLENGES

From the beehive to the company: the importance of Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is not a recent concept, far from it. Emerging in the 1990s , this discipline quickly established itself as a strategic lever for businesses . For the Davenport Group, knowledge management is " the systematic use of company knowledge to improve its operations . "

Companies like Microsoft , iconic in the world of knowledge management, are renowned for their culture of innovation and their ability to adapt quickly to market changes . To this end, the Redmond-based firm uses knowledge management tools to share skills and expertise among its employees , whether they are in the United States, India, France… or anywhere else in the world.

These tools, such as internal wikis and discussion forums , allow us to capitalize on existing knowledge and make it accessible to everyone. It is this ability to transform collected information into useful knowledge that makes Microsoft, even today, a leader in its market. And also a magnificent hive of activity.

From monitoring to intangible assets: a natural evolution

How is this knowledge acquired in the first place? This is where competitive intelligence comes in. In business, competitive intelligence is the process by which information is collected, analyzed, and disseminated . It allows the company to stay up-to-date on the latest market trends, technological developments, competitor activity, and many other key factors.

Intangible assets , at the other end of the spectrum, are the end product of effective information and knowledge management . Here are some common examples of intangible assets:

• A knowledge base
• Intellectual property
• An organizational culture
• A network, relationships, an address book
• The expertise of your employees

These examples illustrate that the challenge is not simply to gather relevant information. It is also necessary to structure it to simplify access and make it truly useful .

Google , another champion of knowledge management, is today one of the world's largest technology companies. One of the reasons for its success lies in its ability valuable intangible assets from its monitoring . This intangible asset is its unparalleled understanding of user behavior on the internet . Thanks to constant monitoring and the analysis of billions of search queries, Google has been able to develop increasingly tailored services and optimize its advertising revenue.

You don't need to be Microsoft or Google to benefit from monitoring tools. Even if your organization is small, you can still fully leverage the tools and methods of Knowledge Management. But before implementing such processes, you first need to understand what goes wrong when you try to do without them …

HOW THE LACK OF STRUCTURE IN NIGHT WATCH WORK IS EXPOSING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Business intelligence: an often untapped treasure

Why are not all companies able to transform their intelligence gathering into a valuable intangible asset like Google?

One reason is the lack of structure in the monitoring work . In the absence of a clear strategy and coordination between the different stakeholders, monitoring can quickly become an isolated and unstructured task.

Pharmaceutical companies often provide a striking example of this. On the positive side, many engineers conduct in-depth research on specific topics . On the negative side, without coordination, each individual carries out their own research in isolation . The knowledge thus acquired is rarely shared with the rest of the company and risks being lost when the employee leaves.

This situation is unfortunately common in many organizations and hinders the effectiveness of knowledge management. It is even more prevalent in roles where individual monitoring is essential, relegating the collective interest to a secondary concern.

The illusion of easy information: the trap of the digital age

At the same time, the information age has radically changed the game. Today, thanks to the internet, businesses have access virtually unlimited amount of information . But this abundance of information is a double-edged sword. Without a structured monitoring strategy, businesses can easily be overwhelmed by this mass of information. We've all experienced that at some point.

Let's illustrate this… Your company may have an online sales website . Thanks to the internet, you have access to a wealth of information about your competitors, customers, suppliers, and so on. Without a proper monitoring strategy, this information can become a deluge of indigestible data . You then risk finding yourself paralyzed, unable to sort through the relevant information and make informed decisions.

IPMETRIX: A POWERFUL TOOL TO FINALLY TURN YOUR MONITORING INTO AN INTANGIBLE ASSET

IPMetrix: a lever for transformation

Fortunately, there are tools that can help businesses overcome these challenges. IPMetrix strategic intelligence software is one such tool. Thanks to its advanced features, it allows companies to structure their intelligence gathering , collaborate on information , and capitalize on their knowledge .

For both SME managers and R&D directors, IPMetrix can quickly become a major asset. It allows them to structure their competitive intelligence work and transform it into an intangible . Thus, even if an employee leaves the company, the knowledge they acquired is not lost. It is stored in IPMetrix and remains easily accessible to all other members of the company, far more so than in a murky Excel file.

An intangible capitalization tool

IPMetrix is ​​more than just a monitoring tool. It's a true knowledge management platform that literally creates your intangible . For example, you can build a centralized knowledge base , create detailed competitor profiles , or develop industry expertise . Once these assets are created, all you have to do is populate them and, most importantly, use them.

With IPMetrix, monitoring does not disappear: it is capitalized and shared, thus contributing to strengthening the company's knowledge base.

THE FUTURE IS "JUST BADLY DISTRIBUTED"

Just like pollen for a bee, information is your most valuable asset . But it's only valuable if you know how to transform it. Each of your information sources and pieces of knowledge must be leveraged so that your monitoring helps you create useful intangible assets . This is the role of Knowledge Management , and tools like IPMetrix can contribute significantly to this.

The future belongs to companies that can make competitive intelligence a strategic asset by structuring their intelligence gathering approach and capitalizing on acquired knowledge. The honey of the digital hive is within reach of those who know how to extract it. As science fiction writer William Gibson said, “The future is already here – it’s just poorly distributed.” It is up to each company to equip itself to capture its share.

TKM also offers a complete suite of software to support you in your innovation projects.