The importance of knowledge

In an organisation that has a DEFINED business strategy, it’s almost certain that one or more individuals are required to hold some form of certified qualification to be able to conduct processes effectively.

In an organisation that has grown ORGANICALLY, skills used to build the business, will often have been learnt hands-on over a number of years. Knowledge is passed on from person to person.

The value of knowledge can be seen in our everyday life, prior to 1996 the internet as we know it practically didn’t exist. Yet now we use it for almost every piece of knowledge we wish to gain, a couple of clicks, type in the search term and you will be looking at a massive amount of shared knowledge.

The visible effect of the value of that shared knowledge, is the speed at which technology has and continues to advance

In the organisational environment, knowledge is built up over a number of years and has to be shared within the organisation. It also has to be protected, this is our intellectual property and it is not always intended to be shared.

Business has competitive issues to deal with, required knowledge can be so specific that it is not available anywhere else!

To help focus on the importance of maintaining organisational knowledge, ISO introduced into ISO 9001:2015 and other standards, the requirements for “Organisational knowledge”.

ISO9001:2015 says:

The organization shall determine the knowledge necessary for the operation of its processes and to achieve conformity of products and services.

This knowledge shall be maintained and be made available to the extent necessary.

When addressing changing needs and trends, the organization shall consider its current knowledge and determine how to acquire or access any necessary additional knowledge and required updates.

This implies you won’t be able to perform if you don’t have the knowledge, make sure if you don’t have the knowledge available internally, that you can get access to it externally.

The practicality is, if you’re thinking about embarking on a new project, you need to consider the knowledge and skills that will be required. Otherwise you won’t be able to conduct that project effectively.

By using ZEBSOFT you are using our knowledge, to help you and your business.

You may have knowledge in your business you are unaware of, this may result in paying a recruitment consultant, a significant fee to find knowledge in the shape of a suitably qualified individual.

ZEBSOFT’s people module has been designed so that you know of the knowledge you have at your disposal.

Do you really know what your people can do? Possibly not, this could be because we don’t ask enough questions. An organisation was hit by a ransomware virus. The organisation had a great reliance on information technology. Things then went from bad to worse and two essential servers became nothing more than scrap. The significant aspect of this story is that they had employed a Computer Scientist, he worked in an unrelated area of the business doing a low-level job, he was taking time out. Nobody knew! After the fact it was established he could have taken some steps that may have reduced the impact.

ZEBSOFT creates an environment for the management of knowledge that if used correctly will always display the knowledge you have in your business and where it can be accessed.

Speed up your planning process and reduce your HR fees.