AI Knowledge Management: How AI is Used in Knowledge Management

Knowledge management has been around for as long as organizations have existed. Over the years, it has evolved with the technology in place. Take the advent of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), for instance. In the mid-90s, organizations found a way to simplify their knowledge management processes by digitizing their documents with OCR technology [1].

A few decades down the line, artificial intelligence came into play – and it completely revolutionized knowledge management. With artificial intelligence, organizations can now be able to organize, analyze, and share information seamlessly.

In this article, we take a closer look at how artificial intelligence and all its associated technologies are revolutionizing knowledge management and the potential benefits of implementing AI in knowledge management processes.

How is AI used in knowledge management?

Traditional knowledge management processes were primarily centered around document management. While most organizations still rely on these processes, the need to adopt advanced sharing and remote work capabilities has revealed numerous bottlenecks in the traditional system.

However, with artificial intelligence, organizations can effectively adopt a hybrid model, enabling them to enjoy the benefits of traditional knowledge management systems with current technologies like generative AI, smart chatbots, and intelligent collaboration tools.

Some of the most notable applications of AI in knowledge management include:

Smart chatbots

Traditional chatbots relied on their programming, which typically included specific keywords tied to predetermined answers for each query. Smart chatbots take this up a notch by utilizing natural Language Processing (NLP) technology to understand user queries and provide answers from large datasets in their training data. [2]

This facilitates instant access to user-specific information, which makes them more effective in providing personalized customer service and document-searching solutions.

Discover more about Conversational AI: How to build a conversational ChatBot?

Collaboration tools

Collaboration boosts workplace performance significantly, with recent studies suggesting that organizations that promote collaborative working environments are five times more likely to outperform their peers. [3]

AI knowledge management collaborative tools can further enhance the process by supporting real-time communication, group problem-solving, and document sharing. Other artificial intelligence capabilities like predictive analytics can help anticipate individual employee needs and suggest relevant meeting schedules or documents based on their behavior, thus improving the employee’s effectiveness.

Intelligent search

Traditional search algorithms rely on keyword matching to generate search results. In most cases, this can be quite restrictive since the keywords used in the query might not match user intent.

AI knowledge management software integrates semantic understanding into search queries, ensuring search results align with user intent. This way, employees can better retrieve precise, contextually relevant data without putting much emphasis on finding precise keywords.

Virtual assistants

Virtual assistants are a relatively new addition to the world of business. These artificial intelligence-driven systems leverage NLP to understand user commands and then utilize automation capabilities to execute diverse tasks.

When leveraged correctly, virtual assistants can set reminders, parse content, and summarize lengthy documents, thus making them more engaging and easily skimmable.

Proactive knowledge discovery

Organizations are no longer limited by the amount of data they can collect – the problem comes from how to handle it and derive meaningful insights. Knowledge management software actively seeks out new and relevant knowledge, ensuring that the organizational database is always up to date.

Benefits of implementing AI in knowledge management

Artificial intelligence and its associated technologies have permeated nearly every aspect of business, including knowledge management. When properly leveraged, AI can help businesses simplify processes, be more efficient, and take more proactive intelligent business solutions.

Here are a few benefits of implementing AI in knowledge management:

Seamless knowledge recovery

Traditional knowledge management systems rely heavily on the workforce to create, update, and retrieve information. The result was often hours of tedious, painstaking work that didn’t yield particularly impressive results, at least not compared to modern standards.

With AI knowledge management platforms, organizations can store all pertinent information in a central database. Employees can then access and share information on the platform, allowing seamless extraction of bite-size knowledge relevant to the employees’ search intent.

Real-time knowledge network

How well do you know your employees? Better yet, how well do you know their experience and expertise on various subject matters? While this might be simple for a startup with about a dozen employees, it’s nearly impossible for managers to keep track of employees’ expertise when the number exceeds a few thousand employees, especially if they’re scattered across branches in different countries.

In such cases, organizations lose out on their employees’ potential to solve problems and innovate, leaving potential organizational capabilities untapped.

However, with a proper knowledge management solution, organizations can map out their entire knowledge network in real time. These systems actively learn from every interaction with employees, allowing them to accurately identify individual subject matter experts in seconds.

What’s even more impressive is that new employees don’t have to build on their organizational knowledge when they sign up. They can simply search within the platform and get all the information they need.

Breaking down language barriers

Recent research from Forbes shows that an outstanding 65% of business executives admit the existence of language barriers between managers and employees. [4] These language barriers often lead to miscommunication, difficulty in collaboration, and, ultimately, a significant decrease in productivity.

Furthermore, since most businesses today also operate in the digital space, where employees interact with people from all over the world, language barriers have become incredibly concerning for organizations.

Some of the best AI knowledge management platforms can translate more than a dozen languages in real time, facilitating easy communication and document sharing among employees and customers, regardless of their native language.

Providing knowledge tailored to individual preferences

AI knowledge management platforms utilize machine learning technologies to actively learn and understand how employees use the platforms and for what purpose. The systems then curate knowledge on the employees’ feeds and tailor it to their individual preferences.

Consider a sales executive who likes to stay updated on the latest products and updates features, for instance. In this case, the sales executive’s feed will most likely feature extensive data on the company’s products and other relevant information based on their interactions with the platform.

Intelligent decision-making support

Any organization that seeks to stay competitive in the current business landscape must be able to make decisions quickly, efficiently, and accurately.

Any organization that has been in business for some time has an extensive database ready to be utilized for intelligent decision-making; the only thing missing in most organizations is an effective system for analyzing and presenting the data.

Artificial intelligence-powered knowledge management solutions can effectively analyze and find patterns, trends, and relationships in data, enabling organizations to derive helpful insights and make accurate predictions.

Enhanced scalability

According to a McKinsey report, despite most businesses having the desire to scale, only a meager 22% of businesses launched over the past decade have managed to scale successfully.

While poor management and lack of resources may have played a role in the organizations’ inability to scale, the systems used in their day-to-day operations should also share the blame.
When it comes to scalability, particularly where business systems are concerned, what matters is the systems’ ability to handle vast volumes of data without negatively impacting user experience and efficiency.

Fortunately, AI-based knowledge management software comes with cloud computing capabilities, enabling organizations to handle more data as they grow their operations without affecting their systems’ performance.

Final thoughts

Knowledge management has come a long way from the traditional methods of filling tons of physical documents to what it is now – a robust platform where organizations can store, access, analyze, and share documents seamlessly across various devices and locations.

AI document management may be a recent addition to the world of business, but it’s already revolutionizing business processes. As the technology evolves, we’re bound to see the innovation and subsequent adaptation of more beneficial features that will further streamline document management practices. If you are interested in transforming the document management process in your organization, learn more about AI consulting services and feel free to contact us!

References

[1] Wikipedia.orgю Optical Character Recognition. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition. Accessed on November 17, 2023
[2] Blog.cfte.education. Chatbots: Traditional vs Conversational AI-Powered. URL: https://bit.ly/40PmNCB. Accessed on November 17, 2023
[3] Forbes. com. New Study Finds Tat Collaboration Drives Workplace Collaboration. URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2017/06/22/new-study-finds-that-collaboration-drives-workplace-performance/?sh=436fe8fe3d02, Accessed on November 18, 2023
[4] Forbes.com. Rosetta Stone Report. URL: https://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Rosetta_Stone_Report.pdf. Accessed on November 18, 2023