“Knowledge management” (KM) as a separate function/department never really existed, reason being that it always was merely a role as part of the business functions it belonged to. Knowledge management systems and processes therefor were merely loosely coupled domain specific solutions as well.
I believe “semantic AI” will therefor give an important re-boost to your knowledge management. Knowledge workers will feed and validate taxonomies & the ontology. They will work together with data scientists and data-engineers, bringing structure into the unstructured bulk of content in the silo’s of data. Traditional as well as modern apps (like bots) will then be able to provide ‘in context’ advice and recommendations to your customers and business partners, deepening the relationships with them. DevOps practices will need to be extended to DataOps practices (see also https://mlflow.org/docs/latest/index.html), to align Semanic AI-outcomes with application outcomes.
The technology is out there. The data is out there. The practices are out there. The knowledge workers are out there. That’s all you need to start engaging your knowledge workers to collaborate together to bring their collective wisdom to your customers and business partners for sustaining and growing your business.
Start small, but start. It takes time to change. Start by creating the right company culture, then get the people engaged with the right mindset and finally get the processes & tools right. Change is always hard. It will help you transform from an old style hero-culture (where some individuals have the core knowledge on markets, products, customers, …) to a scalable and profitable knowledge company. It will help you understand how to win in the world where not information, but integrated and context rich knowledge will be the revenue driver.
And last but not least, you do not have to be a giant company with your HQ in the US. This is a “Winner takes it all”-market. With that aspiration to win, with knowledge workers in a specific knowledge domain, I am sure that with the blend of local knowledge with smart semantic technologies & practices, you will thrive. Engage to be wise.
