The Costs and Benefits of Knowledge Management and Collaboration

Companies with highly effective internal communications have 47% higher total returns to shareholders over companies with poor internal communications.

When employees understand their overall role in a company and what they can do to contribute to the overall success of the business, 91% will work towards that success. When employees do not know how they can contribute, the number of employees working towards business growth is only 23%. A company’s objective is not only to share job requirements and duties, but to enable and publicize effective ways for engagement and interdepartmental communication. Communicating to employees that their wealth of knowledge can have positive effects outside of their department is crucial in creating a successful collaborative ecosystem.

Did you know that employee engagement can add $13,000 net profit per employee because of the increased productivity? Or that communication barriers can cost companies up to twice that amount per worker per year due to productivity loss?

The Business of IT

More and more IT decisions are being made by business managers because of the importance of quick and efficient communication. As costs of travel continue to rise and schedules continue to get busier, executives are finding it is becoming more difficult to have face-to-face meetings externally and internally. Most employees say they waste time trying to contact people, which delays decision making. Knowing this, an overwhelming majority of executives say that better collaboration software capabilities would make a big difference to the company’s success, helping it both expand and grow.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge management enables businesses to compete for customers. By compiling information on customer behavior, product information, and base trends, businesses are more targeted when supporting initiatives and increasing agility for market expansion. And by allowing employees a digital platform to communicate and collaborate internally and externally, processes are moved forward without the delays of physically finding decision makers. Of course, how information is dispersed and utilized through technology is largely a by-product of company culture. Creating a culture of openness is important for innovation to thrive.

As innovation heightens, so too does the threat of security breaches. Balancing accessibility with rules and authentication is important in any business lifecycle. This means that creating an ecosystem in which people, technology, and processes not only depend on each other, but are propelled by each other, is important to breeding success.

Where Knowledge Management Matters in Life Sciences

Life Sciences executives say that the decisions for which speed and sophistication matter most, are:

• Growing an existing business
• Collaborating with competitors
• Shrinking and existing business
• Entering a new industry or starting a new business
• Corporate restructuring

Forty-one percent of Life Sciences executives expect to make a big decision at least once per month, and 50% of those executives will revisit the decision within 3-to-6 months to adjust for new information. Without streamlined, centralized knowledge management, executives will find it hard to make educated decisions about the future of their companies.