The Next Evolution of KM: From Service Provider to Enterprise Capability
How KM Can Enable Enterprise Knowledge
Business leaders increasingly see the need for the capabilities that knowledge teams have been building for decades. The future of KM is about becoming enterprise-focused, no matter where the KM team sits.
Regardless of structure and scope, the overarching goal of KM is to deliver value to the business by improving productivity and operational efficiency, realizing returns on AI investments, and enabling access to the skills and knowledge needed for a future-ready workforce (apqc.org/resource-library/resource/business-knowledge-collective-intelligence-new-edge-performance/apqc. org/resource-library/resource-listing/activate-what-you-learn-closing-gap-between-learning-and-doing).
To do this, KM teams need to take the following three steps to shift from a “departmental” to an “enterprise-enablement” mindset:
1. Connect KM to enterprise priorities.
2. Clearly define KM’s role.
3. Build an ecosystem for enterprise knowledge.
Connect KM to Enterprise Priorities
APQC research and conversations with members consistently point to the need for leadership buy-in to give KM the authority to operate strategically rather than simply respond to requests.
Ogletree Deakins offers a useful example. With backing from the firm’s senior leadership, chief knowledge officer David Boland expanded KM’s scope and capabilities around data, automation, content, and client-facing services (apqc. org/resource-library/resource-listing/km-revenue-source-pushing-boundaries-ogletree-deakins).
Boland’s team also worked closely with strategic groups such as the Administrative Stakeholders Group, composed of department heads charged with aligning KM initiatives with the firm’s business priorities. KM leaders meet with the group regularly to ensure transparency and alignment on shared goals and gather feedback on KM projects.
Over 3 years, the KM team tripled in size, supported 90% of the firm’s innovation projects, and helped create new, revenue-generating offerings. Initiatives such as these demonstrate how KM has more opportunity to influence value when its leaders understand the business priorities that should shape knowledge investments.
Chart: Top KM Opportunities
Clearly Define KM’s Role
APQC’s members have seen greater integration of KM within the business and across functions. They report seeing increasing opportunities for KM to do the following:
♦ Participate in business and strategy discussions.
♦ Work with business areas to define problems and opportunities.
♦ Connect KM with process, performance, learning, and AI initiatives.
♦ Coordinate governance and ownership across functions.
♦ Help business teams make knowledge usable in their workflows.
As KM moves toward a more enterprise-focused model, it becomes increasingly important to be able to clearly explain what KM owns, influences, and enables. See “Governance” below on how to clarify KM’s role and define “who does what” when it comes to knowledge work across the organization.
It’s important to note that as KM is treated more as a business capability and strategic partner, our purpose should not be to persuade everyone else to adopt KM terminology, but rather to help solve business problems using knowledge capabilities. In the opening scenario, the retiree’s manager is unlikely to report needing “a knowledge retention practice.” The problem is more likely to be framed as, “Our key expert is retiring.”
The KM practitioner’s job is to translate business problems into understandable knowledge capabilities. Here are a few examples:
♦ KM language: “Improve content management.”
♦ Business language: “Help employees find trusted process information faster.”
♦ KM language: “Capture tacit knowledge.”
♦ Business language: “Reduce the business risk when critical experts leave.”
♦ KM language: “Provide expertise location.”
♦ Business language: “Help teams find the right person before they reinvent the answer.”