Today’s organizations must embrace digital transformation to safeguard their institutional knowledge. Here’s how digital tools are evolving to help.
Institutional knowledge includes the insights, best practices, processes, strategies, and techniques developed over time in an organization. When institutional knowledge is concentrated in one person or department and unavailable company-wide, it creates information silos and slows daily work.
On the flip side, turning this knowledge into tangible and codified information and processes embedded in your organization means staff can easily access what they need and always know what to do and how to do it. New hires can quickly onboard and immediately contribute effectively to the organization.
How can growing organizations safeguard knowledge assets and prevent knowledge erosion? While collaborative training is one method, another is leveraging systems. Advanced technologies standardize routine workflows and allow your employees to focus on tasks that maximize their expertise and creativity.
When digital tools can take over the smaller, step-by-step processes (explicit knowledge), that leaves more space for teams to share tacit knowledge, the deep-seated experience that isn’t written down. Tacit knowledge is highly personal and intuitive, shaped by years of on-the-ground experience.
Institutional knowledge isn’t just about onboarding or training. Leaving information management processes up to the individual means this knowledge leaves with the individual. The following person must then figure out how the company information was organized and rebuild the process.
Whether or not you have a knowledge retention plan in place, knowledge sharing and processes are happening, day in and day out. However, structure will be a huge help in removing roadblocks to productivity. Shared access to knowledge assets and project-specific resources can reduce miscommunication and duplicated efforts, helping teams work more seamlessly.
The information abundance that today’s organizations deal with requires pattern recognition to keep up with the speed of information coming and going. Technology excels at identifying patterns and enabling you to apply the insights. By defining and automating your processes, you protect your business, making it more efficient and flexible for future change.
You’ll also get context to help you continuously improve. Your employees can work where and how they thrive—a streamlined system protects them from burning out on redundant tasks and frees up their expertise to do more.
Information management systems offer intelligent search, pattern recognition, and data analysis that can enhance knowledge accessibility and business longevity. By organizing data and locating patterns in real-time, AI-powered document management enables quicker, data-driven decisions.
Increased accuracy in filing and retrieval keeps essential information from getting lost in the shuffle. When you make your information secure but easily retrievable, you’ll also be better prepared for audits and can reduce compliance risks.
Document management systems have built-in compliance adherence—they help you meet industry-specific requirements by ensuring consistent and traceable documentation.
Read about how DocuXplorer clients have reduced their audit times from days to just a few hours.
Giving your staff access to the right tools helps enhance knowledge transfer and streamline workflows. But despite the usefulness of tools, application sprawl is a challenge you should keep in mind.
A 2023 Gartner survey showed knowledge workers use an average of 11 tools, compared to just six applications in 2019. As employees are inundated with more and more information and new applications to manage it, the ultimate goal is to find the right tools and integrations without creating more work and spending more money.
The right platform will simplify processes and quiet the noise. Document management systems like DocuXplorer provide a centralized knowledge library and a user-friendly interface to help you protect your information and improve your processes.
Your business can also reduce costs associated with data sprawl and redundant information storage by centralizing and optimizing your archive.
You’ll quickly get new employees up to speed on the system and automate core processes so your staff can focus on impact. With DocuXplorer Workflows, you’ll standardize repetitive processes (e.g., expense approvals) and set predefined steps. Your teams will have a unified view of information without being bombarded with irrelevant requests and notifications.
Your organization’s productivity takes a significant hit every time it loses an employee, someone is out sick, or even when the knowledge holders are stuck in meetings all day.
Preservation of institutional knowledge can be done in many ways. When coupled with clearly outlined processes, advanced document management software like DocuXplorer creates a secure knowledge library that everyone can access. Your staff won’t have to work so hard to find the knowledge holders and extract the information they need, and they won’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Quick search capabilities, automated workflows, robust security, and insightful reports can all be used to take your knowledge storage and sharing to the next level, increasing transparency and improving the daily work lives of your team.
A business that documents everything and seeks continuous improvement will experience fewer disruptions from turnover, more nuanced and effective training, and increased ramp-up times.
A document management system will protect and preserve what your business knows best. Ready to give it a try?
