How to make knowledge available through good research

Knowledge sharing is a particularly important issue for companies. Improving processes, increasing competitiveness, strengthening the corporate culture and the link between teams... The benefits are numerous. Fortunately, in the digital age, there are  tools to facilitate information sharing.

How can you take advantage of knowledge management in Microsoft? We introduce you to Mozzaik365's Advanced Search feature and its benefits.

1. Knowledge management, what is it and why is it important?

Knowledge management is a process that aims to share and/or organize knowledge within the company, through various tools and methods. It came about in the middle of the 80's in the United States from a real need to manage knowledge better, from storing it to sharing it. It aims to build a knowledge base that can be easily tapped into, particularly through the circulation of information between employees.

And the stakes are high, since according to a study by the Information and Management Association, an employee spends an average of 7.5 hours a week looking for information without finding it!

Moreover, due to the evolution of teams, rapid changes within organizations and the ever-increasing turnover (in 2021, the average turnover rate in France was 15%, according to INSEE), the risk of information loss is increasingly high in companies.

Knowledge management allows to overcome these shortcomings by strengthening the management, organization, storage and rationalization of the company's information and knowledge.

🎯 To get your project off to a good start, check out our guide to setting up your knowledge management strategy
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2. The two forms of knowledge

There are two types of knowledge:

• 📢 The first is explicit knowledge. It is the one that is expressed in an articulated way, through documents, videos, computer systems, etc. It is transferable in a physical way: for example, technical data sheets, processes, product catalogs, charters, testimonials, sales techniques... The challenge of explicit knowledge lies in its storage: the documents must therefore be easily accessible.
• 💭 The second is tacit knowledge. It represents the largest part of knowledge in business. It is an innate knowledge or acquired by a person, not transcribed on a support: for example, the know-how or the experience acquired in a particular field is a tacit knowledge. In fact, it is more difficult to formalize. The risk of losing this knowledge is also greater, when an employee leaves, for example. This shows the importance of converging tacit knowledge with explicit knowledge.

Moreover, we note that the circulation of knowledge is an evolutionary flow, and not a simple storage of data similar to a fixed library. Adapted tools are then necessary to facilitate the sharing and saving of knowledge.

3. How to save company knowledge with SharePoint?

Digital tools are invaluable for circulating information and safeguarding knowledge.

With SharePoint, it is possible to create knowledge management spaces and structure them according to the company's needs. For example, you can create spaces dedicated to accounting, HR, marketing, sales information, etc.

But in fact, what is it really about?

SharePoint is a work software developed by Microsoft, which allows to store, organize, share and consult documents between colleagues. To do this, SharePoint sites are created as secure spaces for creating and sharing files.

With Mozzaik365, you can add features to SharePoint and create a DMS whic is fully integrated with your Digital Workplace. This allows you to centralize your teams' knowledge and make it available to all employees. Each employee can enrich the content with his or her own knowledge, and tag management and advanced search make the process of circulating information within the company more fluid.  

SharePoint also allows collaborators to produce files adapted to each need: videos, checklists, wikis, tutorials, etc. And if you want to limit the publication of files to certain people only, you can create validation workflows or manage access rights in detail. Simple and practical.

📌 To go further, find out how to turn SharePoint into a DMS

4. How to make knowledge available through the search feature?

Information may be stored, but it is of no use if it is not accessible to all employees. Microsoft's Search feature is therefore essential to enable users to find the information they need and to navigate the database without wasting time.

🚀 To go even further, discover the Microsoft tools dedicated to knowledge sharing
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As such, the Microsoft Search algorithm is capable of fetching information from multiple sources and learning through artificial intelligence. By setting up this feature correctly, it is possible to optimize the user's experience. And to establish the best settings, you can call on an integrator.

Concretely, the search function is composed of 3 elements:

• A search bar;
• Filters;
• An area that displays the results and customization elements.

The search must be relevant to bring up the right documents for each word typed in the bar. To do this, Microsoft Search explores titles, the knowledge base, and also authors, tags, content and other criteria generated by the AI. The results are presented with action buttons (download, share, edit, open in browser, etc.) so that the document can be used as quickly as possible.

Suggestions are also provided to help you get there even faster. For example, if you type "human resources" in the search bar, suggestions related to this keyword appear.  

💡 To know: Information can be grouped by topic to get an overview and find the right information easily.  

However, there are some limitations when using Microsoft's native search.

In this sense, Mozzaik365 wished to push further the Microsoft Search with its new component of Advanced Search by bringing some essential features:

• Impactful design ;
• The setting of filters/verticals and suggestions according to different user groups for an ever more personalized experience;
• The refine feature to allow dynamic search;
• Allow its users to set up their own tool according to the rights granted;
• Set the rules for the operation of the " advanced search" widget in order to adapt it to the space in which it is integrated;
• More relevant action buttons to limit the number of clicks.

A search feature must be lively, fluid and adapted to the uses that the members of an organization have of it. It is therefore important to understand how the document database is used, by surveying users and carefully analyzing KPIs. The figures obtained in this way can be used to optimize the search for information and improve the user experience by resolving sticking points.  

Conclusion

Today, there are many tools to promote knowledge sharing. Thanks to SharePoint and the search feature, all forms of knowledge (videos, texts, documents, tutorials, etc.) can be saved, structured and consulted easily by all members of an organization. The search feature is scalable and allows you to feed the knowledge flow and ensure that each collaborator has quick access to all the information.

When it is mastered, knowledge management allows to create links within the company, to optimize processes but also to spread new skills. This is a huge benefit for organizations, which must now work to circulate information using the tools at their disposal.