Over the past few weeks, several of our members have asked me whether APQC has any articles on selecting software to support KM approaches. In general, APQC aims to be vendor-neutral, and we don’t promote specific software solutions. However, we do have some articles on what to keep in mind when building or buying applications to enable knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Here are some general articles about selecting tools for KM:
- Work with Your Organization’s Existing KM Technology and Build Capabilities over Time
- With KM Technology, Emphasize Functionality over Integration
- Employing Intuitive Knowledge-Sharing Tools
If you are specifically looking at tools for community-based knowledge sharing, I would recommend the following articles:
- Emphasize Speed and Simplicity when Designing Communities of Practice
- Make Sure That Software Supporting Communities Serves a Clear Business Purpose
- Create a Common Look-and-Feel for Community Web Sites and Home Pages
We also have reports and articles focused on social media and other more advanced capabilities. Here are a few examples:
- Social Networking in the Enterprise
- Social Networking and Expertise Location at Eight Best-Practice Organizations
- Using Knowledge: Advances in Expertise Location and Social Networking
- The Role of Evolving Technologies: Accelerating Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer
And finally, here are some case studies and presentations related to KM software and technology decisions:
- Case Studies on Web 2.0 and Social Computing (multiple organizations)
- Smarter Work with Social Networking (IBM)
- Structuring a Valuable Content Management System (Lexmark)
- Five-Stage Approach to Implementing a Knowledge Management System (Infosys)
If your organization is in the process of selecting tools and technologies for KM, I hope you find these resources useful. And if there is an article or case study on this topic that you’d really like to see, please let me know in the comments section!