Efficient knowledge management for supply chain organizations hinges on applying the right software and strategies. Knowledge management software helps capture knowledge, analyze it to identify positive trends and shortcomings, and enables easier sharing and collaboration. These, in turn, can help drive decisions that increase efficiency and enhance communication and innovation among the knowledge-bearers who drive each aspect of the supply chain.
How does knowledge management improve supply chain management?
Knowledge management can improve communications with suppliers, increase visibility of trends and practices to ensure supplier reliability, and ultimately increase efficiency and even reduce costs for your organization.
Sharing and developing knowledge and expertise is critical to enhancing supply chain efficiencies. Effective knowledge management allows supply chain managers to capture existing information related to inventory, demand, production plans, partner relationships and more while also encouraging collaborative sharing of experiential knowledge gained throughout the process.
Knowledge management software offers supply chain managers advantages over internal supply chain wikis because wikis can quickly become outdated and difficult to manage as more knowledge is shared and created. Beyond knowledge storage, effective knowledge management software can ensure that information is easily searchable, verified and meets the needs of the team or organization trying to access and use it.
Benefits of knowledge management in the supply chain
Knowledge management system examples in supply chain management include:
- Bridging Knowledge Gaps. Effective supply chain knowledge management allows those involved in various parts of the supply chain to identify where existing knowledge is located, how well it flows through critical parts of the supply chain, and where knowledge gaps exist. Once these gaps are identified, processes can be aligned through knowledge maps to ensure knowledge flows freely between the right people to encourage process improvement.