The information age has transformed the way organizations do business. It has also transformed the way they measure their return on investment (ROI). Today, to have a truly competitive, fast-paced business positioned for profit, success and long-term survival, it is critical to look beyond the physical assets of the organization. It is rather essential to recognize the value of knowledge management and to strive for an improved ROI.

Perhaps, your organization might have recognized the value of knowledge and has spent its financial resources to obtain it. If so, your business might have been taking steps to formalize the collection of valuable knowledge gained….. If you have not started to take these steps, your organization is most likely wasting its resources by re-inventing knowledge, spending excess time locating difficulty to find knowledge, unsuccessfully absorbing and using the growing volumes of new knowledge flowing into your organization every day.

Pioneering businesses have been creating knowledge management systems to harness intellectual capital and create value. Peter Robertson, for example, is the executive vice president of the Chevron USA Production Co., who recently described the benefits of knowledge management as: “The fact is [knowledge management and best practice sharing] is good for business. The faster and more effectively we can share ideas, the better we can make our product, the better we can serve our customers, the better we can build a committed team of employees, and—bottom line—the better we can earn profits for our shareholders.

How does one harness intellectual capital for profit? This highlights steps organizations should expect to take when implementing a successful knowledge management system. However, the knowledge management system—that ultimately enables the organization’s knowledge management practices. At the outset, the challenges of knowledge management may sound daunting and perhaps esoteric. But it is indeed essential. To accomplish this, new software systems and processes have been developed to integrate with existing information systems and spread throughout the enterprise.

Knowledge Management follows three principles:
• build on existing resources and systems
• provide an immediate ROI on knowledge resources
• ensure that each step is a building block that provides a foundation for future enhancements
From these three principles, this presents a series of seven steps to implement Knowledge Management, as follows:
Step 1: Identify the Business Problem
Step 2: Prepare for Change
Step 3: Create the Knowledge Management Team
Step 4: Perform the Knowledge Audit and Analysis
Step 5: Define the Key Features of the Solution
Step 6: Implement the Building Blocks for Knowledge Management
Step 7: Link Knowledge to People

It is this practical approach to implementing knowledge management that brings real benefits to your organization. The flow goes thus:
Knowledge creation——- knowledge dissemination —– knowledge application —– Innovation

In conclusion, the innate desire to make your business grow is what you should thirst for by seeking the fastest means to enhance your daily activities. Thus, this will bring the best out of your business in terms of management team performance and turn over will be highly effective.