The various benefits of a knowledge management tool

Posted by SharonEvans on February 5th, 2014

Do you know why humans are so much superior to other species? This is because we have a mind of our own that allows us to opinionate. We can speak out what we think and this allows us to make decisions that take us forward as a species. But the fact that all of us have some opinion of our own is also a problem sometimes, especially when there is a need for collaborative decision making. However, there are people that have solutions for this problem. Among one of the most effective solutions is knowledge management.

A knowledge management tool for collaborative decision making contains a host of features. And all these features come neatly packed for the benefit of an organization. There is cost involved in using such a tool but there are many vendors that allow for free trial periods so that one can sample the goods before they opt for purchase.

The knowledge management tool for collaborative decision making helps in the retention of knowledge. In this case knowledge refers to the various decisions that are taken in an organization. Basically it can be used for record keeping. Instead of someone sitting and typing in an MS-Word or an MS-Excel file they need to feed the data into the tool. And once stored it stays there forever. For subsequent meetings the data can be fetched and the group can use the data for more effective decision making. This tool helps in one big way and that is it commits a group to action once a decision has been made. Everyone knows that the decision made would be stored so their commitment levels go up.

The data retained in the knowledge management tool can also be used for other purposes. It can be used by the various stakeholders for strategic learning and it can also show who is supposed to do what. There are also notification alerts built into this tool for collaborative decision making so that no one misses out on an important action. An organization can also track the way an individual takes a decision and this can help in the creation of a leadership pipeline. Decisions can be reviews by peers and external partners because it can be shared easily.

Since a knowledge management tool today would most likely be on the cloud sharing of data is much more convenient. One simply has to have the username and password to log into the server and fetch the required information. For any organization this is a most comprehensive solution because there is no hardware required in the management of such a tool and one doesn’t need to set up complex networks. And of course, data can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

Today technology aids collaborative decision making and it uses something as simple as a knowledge management tool. If you want to sample one such tool use Google and there will be many such tools to choose from. Ensure that you are happy with a tool before committing to purchase.

A knowledge management tool offers an enterprise various benefits and one of the most important benefits is the ability of easier and more effective collaborative decision making.