Knowledge management software

This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (May 2009)

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (November 2008)

Knowledge management software (KM Software) is a subset of Enterprise content management software and which contains a range of software that specialises in the way information is collected, stored and/or accessed. The concept of knowledge management is based on a range of practices used by an individual, a business, and a large corporation to identify, create, represent and redistribute information for a range of purposes. Software that enables an information practice or range of practices at any part of the processes of information management can be deemed to be called information management software. A subset of information management software that emphasises an approach to build knowledge out of information that is managed or contained is often called knowledge management software.

KM Software in most cases provides a means of individuals, small groups or mid-sized businesses with ways to innovate, build new knowledge in the group, and/or improve customer experience. Knowledge management tools (software) includes a range of about 1,500 or more different approaches^[1] to collect and contain information to then build knowledge that can be searched through specialised search tools including concept building tools and or visual search tools that present information in a connected manager not originally conceptualised by those collecting or maintaining the information database.

Range of KM Software

KM Software ranges^[2] from small software packages for an individual to use, such as brainstorming software, to highly specialised enterprise software suitable for use by hundreds of employees. Often KM Software provides a key resource for employees working in customer service or telephone support industries, or sectors of large corporations.

KM software, in general, enables the combination of unstructured information sources,^[2] such as individual word processed documents and/or .pdf formats, email, graphic illustrations, unstructured notes, website links, invoices, and other information bearing collections, such as a simple thought, through to a combination of millions of interactions from a website, and through that combination enables the seeker to obtain knowledge that otherwise would not have been discovered.

Groupware

In Europe through the 1990s,^[3] KM Software was almost synonymous with groupware^{[4][unreliable source?]} and groupware in this context is most popularly IBM's Lotus Notes. However, as Internet connections deliver faster Internet, such as through broadband, many On-demand products have evolved and are now leading suppliers of software.^{[5][unreliable source?]}

Visual Search

One of the departures from the almost standard keyword search approach are those group of companies developing visual search techniques. A common visual search approach is the tree traversal where a folder is opened and inside the display of that folder are further sub-folders. This tree traversal approach relies on the naming of folders to provide a rich enough indication as to what is contained in the next folder or level of folders.

References

See also

• Comparison of knowledge management software

External links

• KM World Top 100 Companies
• Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, June 2003
• Lockheed Martin Intelligence Systems
• Lotus Notes superior installation in Europe
• "Blogging the Intranet" article