Knowledge Management

The World’s Leading Authority on KM

Knowledge management (KM) is an indispensable core business practice. Although you can’t manage the knowledge in people’s heads, you can manage the processes and tools that capture and transfer knowledge and best practices.

Having established KM as a discipline, APQC has 20+ years of experience in KM with the best organizations in the world. APQC has researched and compiled the enduring principles and emerging opportunities to successfully manage knowledge. Its clients benefit from the world’s most authoritative collection of KM best practices, case studies, implementation guides, assessments, training, maturity models, and design and implementation plans.

Read on to learn how to create a robust enterprise KM program.

What is knowledge management?

Knowledge management connects employees to each other, to knowledge assets, and to those with useful experience. These actions accelerate the rate of learning and cut down the risks of not knowing and repeating mistakes.

• Knowledge is information in action.
• Knowledge management (KM) is a systematic effort to enable knowledge to grow, flow, and create value.
• A KM program institutionalizes and promotes systematic knowledge-sharing practices.
• KM approaches such as communities of practice and lessons learned formalize and enable knowledge sharing.
• And KM activities such as planning, measuring, and training are things KM professionals do to support the program. 

KM is not a short-term goal that can be achieved and forgotten about. It is not a series of discrete activities and approaches. A KM program must be a cohesive effort and a permanent part of an organization’s operations.

We love working with APQC…and find that they are an international hub for gathering companies and organizations that participate in knowledge management.

Kevin Gannon,
U.S. Navy, Carrier Team One

 

Why do I need to manage knowledge?

Many organizations face a pressing need to retain critical knowledge before employees retire, leave, or change positions. A KM program can address this need, as well as:

• Bring new hires up-to-speed quickly
• Capture project lessons for reuse
• Prevent the loss of technical knowledge
• Expand innovative capabilities
• Build a knowledge-sharing culture
• Accelerate the rate of learning for all employees
• Provide inexperienced employees access to more experienced employees

Taking a systematic approach to managing knowledge also contributes to the bottom line. APQC has found that KM programs using solid principles gain $2 for every $1 spent—a healthy return on investment. Organizations also benefit from intangibles such as culture-building, faster socialization of change and new employees, and the cross-fertilization of ideas.

What do I need to know to succeed?

The discipline of KM has established frameworks and practices. The processes for implementing thriving programs are well-researched and tested. There are core KM capabilities and specific best practices for KM approaches. Successful KM programs require a comprehensive, informed approach to:

• strategy,
• governance and resources,
• knowledge flow processes and methods,
• technology,
• knowledge and content,
• people and culture, and
• measures and milestones.
   

Do you have the edge?

Quite simply, APQC leads the way. Read the latest from APQC's very own Carla O'Dell and Cindy Hubert with their new book:

The New Edge in Knowledge: How Knowledge Management Is Changing the Way We Do Business.

Additional KM Content from Apqc:

• Cutting the Cost of Not Knowing: Lessons Learned Systems People Really Use (Best Practices Report)
• License Customized Implementation Guides - APQC is now licensing KM implementation guides in the areas of strategy, measurement, and communities of practice (CoPs). 
• Assess your Knowledge Management Program. This short 15-question assessment is designed to help you determine the current state of implementation at your organization.