Summary

Too often organisations can get drawn into introducing a technological solution for managing their knowledge before having fully considered what it is that they are trying to manage or assessing the organisation’s readiness for new systems. HR, as we have seen in this chapter, has an important role to play in asking some basic questions about how best to address the information needs of employees, in order for them to perform at their optimum. This chapter also sets out some practitioner tips, drawn from the wisdom of different knowledge management practitioners, to help with the decision-making process when selecting technological solutions for managing the organisation’s knowledge.

The chapter has discussed some of the different types of technologies available to help locate and connect people with specific expertise, as well as technologies to facilitate collaborative working. It has also raised some questions about how these new technologies could be used as a tool to help HR become more effective too, thus reflecting the different users and usage of knowledge management technologies.