Knowledge management has been an important topic of conversation for many years, and companies are investing more and more in it. Often, the challenge is to refine numbers into operation and tables into action. When the goal of knowledge management is to create a competitive advantage, traditional financial reporting and passive reporting are no longer enough. So how can you make the use of information a part of everyday activities and decision-making?
Employees are also increasingly interested in knowledge management. They want to know how the company is doing, how successes are measured, and how all this can be influenced in their work. Clear reports, the availability of relevant information, and shared knowledge capital enable the transition from knowledge management to working with information.
Shifting the focus from data collection to data sharing – reporting increases common understanding
As much as 55% of the data collected in companies is not actually used. Therefore, instead of collecting data, the focus should be shifted to data processing and sharing. The effectiveness of the data is dependent on how it is shared and presented. One must be able to extract information relevant to different target groups and process it into a form suitable for the organization and understandable to the target group.
One of the most important elements of reporting is to provoke discussion and generate action. Modern BI tools, such as Microsoft Power BI, make it possible to visualize and share reports in a completely new way that also arouses the interest of target groups. In reporting, it is not worth settling for just traditional tables, as visual elements can be used to process data into a format that everyone can understand.
Clear and common reports ensure that the whole company is on the same page. Instead of everyone having their own spreadsheets and metrics, common formulas used in the reports and common goals are set. BI tools agilely gather data in one place, making it easy to break it down into smaller parts for different user needs.
Shared data promotes self-direction and creates effectiveness
BI tools greatly streamline the daily life of the report author. Manually moving data from one place to another, fiddling with spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, and calculating the same formulas over and over again is a thing of the past. Automation frees up time for analyzing and interpreting reports.
When the data are in an understandable form, it is easier for employees to see the impact of their own work on the business.
BI tools make it easier to share and process data, allowing relevant data to be shaped to the needs of teams more agilely. When the data are in an understandable form, it is easier for employees to see the impact of their own work on the business. At the same time, data sharing supports employee self-direction – when data is available in real time, employees and teams are able to make decisions based on the right information in their daily lives.
Processing data to meet the needs of teams allows for better measurement of success and sharing of lessons learned, as well as better identification of operational challenges and bottlenecks. Understanding your own successes and those shared with you makes the work more motivating. Data do not create effectiveness, but positive effects arise from actions. On the other hand, the right actions happen when data become an integral part of everyday discussion and decisions.
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