Branimir Valentic
September 10, 2013
It’s no secret anymore that knowledge is seen as one of the most valuable assets – for individuals, as well as for organizations. There are many frameworks, standards or methodologies used inside organizations… but they rarely take knowledge as officially as ITIL does.
Knowledge Management is a process inside the service transition stage of the service lifecycle, with its purpose being to:
The main benefit is that, as time elapses, the organization grows from a knowledge point of view. To prevent knowledge from getting lost, as well as being able to manage services throughout the whole lifecycle, the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is used. SKMS is a set of tools and databases used to manage (i.e. collect, store, update, analyze, present and archive) organizations’ data, information and knowledge.
ITIL uses a simple, yet logical structure to present Knowledge Management: Data-to-Information-to-Knowledge-to-Wisdom (DIKW).
Data, information and knowledge are stored in SKMS. SKMS is used in everyday life to manage infrastructure and services, solve incidents and problems or to make strategic decisions. SKMS contains many different types of data, information and knowledge, such as:
Well, there are some specific tools for managing knowledge inside the organization. But, there is much more happening in the IT Service Management tool industry. Market leaders as well as many of the smaller vendors include Knowledge Management process support inside their tools. I think that this is good for IT Service Management due to several reasons:
Without knowledge, you are nothing!
It used to be so in times when knowledge was not taken seriously, and it will be even truer in the knowledge era in which we live. If you don’t take your knowledge seriously – the customer will notice, competition will take advantage and your employees will go where knowledge is considered to be a valuable asset. It’s never too late to start your knowledge management process, but you have to start. The sooner you begin, the sooner you will experience the results of living in a knowledgeable world.
You can also download a free sample of our Knowledge Management (KM) Process template to learn more.