The State of Knowledge Management: 2014

TSIA’s second annual knowledge management survey is complete, documenting the people, process, and technology components of technology service knowledge management (KM) programs. This year’s survey examined core metrics and practices related to knowledge capture, sharing, and maintenance, as well as forward-looking elements such as video, crowdsourcing, and expertise management. KM is no longer just of interest to technical support and call centers. The survey was open to all TSIA disciplines, and 44% of the 400-plus responses were from groups other than support services, including 21% of responses from professional services organizations.

Improving KM is seen as a key way to improve efficiency, and a third of respondents said they could improve productivity by more than 30% or more if they were sharing knowledge effectively. Companies often “reboot” their KM programs, with 45% of respondents saying they were on their third, fourth, or fifth knowledge platform, yet overall satisfaction with existing technology is not high. When asked to rate their current tools, employee-facing knowledge systems averaged 5.0 on a 10-point scale; customer-facing systems averaged 4.9.

With multiple industry forces driving interest in knowledge management, companies need to invest in process as well as technology, including incorporating more performance objects related to the capture and sharing of knowledge into performance reviews. On the technology front, service executives wanting to better meet the needs of both employees and customers should evaluate emerging tools to streamline knowledge sharing, as well as analytics to identify content gaps and automate knowledge maintenance.