Corporate know-how: how to “create” and enhance it

Every company has distinctive traits that characterize it and, very often, what makes it unique is what is called the corporate know-how, that set of skills, knowledge, and abilities that define its approach to business. It is not a material asset, but nevertheless it is the one that can make a difference in the marketplace and that often defines values.

Giving a few examples, we can bring expertise in a specific area, such as the ability to manage cloud infrastructure or experience gained in computer vision solutions for automated defect identification in production, within the company’s know-how. But internal procedures, workflows, ways of dealing with customers, work processes, and internally developed tools are also part of this key body of knowledge.

Corporate know-how is not something that is created overnight, but is generated and refined over time. While at the company’s inception this asset is still all in development, as processes and procedures are refined it becomes more and more codified, so that it can be transferred to new hires, who will not have to grope in the dark or depend totally on their managers for every activity, but will be able to rely on manuals, best practices, digital assets and internal knowledge bases that can guide them.

What does know how mean in business context?

Before going any further, let us dwell on the meaning of the term itself. We often hear about know how, in economics, in business management but also in everyday life, often without being aware of the real meaning of the term. In the business context, we can define know how as the entire set of skills, both in terms of technical and field experience and the  soft skills. It is a  unique heritage, the result of years of work and studies, including empirical ones, and practice. And while, like any heritage, it must be rightly protected, as we shall see, secreting it, that is, hiding it or making it barely accessible within the company can be counterproductive.
Fortunately, thanks to digital tools and good management, it is possible to find the perfect balance between these two needs.

Codifying corporate know-how and making it accessible to all

In many cases, corporate know-how is tied to the skills of specific people within the company or passed on orally, almost as if it were a secret. While it makes sense to protect this asset at the same level as a  intellectual property, while also preventing it from entering the public domain (it would be a gift to competitors), it should not be forgotten that in order to enhance it, it needs to be easily accessible to all employees. Let’s take the example of a procedure: ideally, anyone who has to deal with it in the company should have the tools to manage it in a way that  self-service. So documentation is needed, the list of tools and services needed to carry out operations, even any FAQs to solve common problems. Tools that do not replace the training of new hires, but must be an integral part of it. In fact, if all procedures are codified and accessible to everyone, processes will not be stalled due to unforeseen events, such as a person’s absence due to illness or other factors. Nor will employees waste time collecting pieces of information from various figures or the Internet and then putting it all together. In short, it saves time and gains efficiency and productivity while holding all business functions accountable.

The problem of silos

Therefore, the first step is to equip oneself with tools to create a internal knowledge base, containing all this information in one place, accessible to anyone who has the right to it. The knowledge base should be structured so that it is easy to understand, well-indexed and, above all, extremely straightforward. There should be no roundabouts, no cross-references to a thousand different sections: a well-indexed knowledge base  allows in a few moments to find the solution to the problem. Whether it is using a specific tool, following a codified process or “simply,” passing the problem on to a specific department or figure when particular conditions arise. A classic example of areas where an optimally structured knowledge base makes a difference is in support, whether in call centers intended for the public (e.g., those of telcos) or for the internal helpdesk. Indeed, employees in these departments must be able to rely on clear and very easy-to-understand documentation in order to be able to identify and solve the problem as quickly as possible, without wasting time searching within a huge document for the relevant section at that moment.

Optimizing business know-how: a never-ending job

Managing corporate know-how is a job that requires constant refinement over time. If a knowledge base is not in place, it needs to be created from scratch, putting together all the documents and procedures. This is a job that can initially require a significant investment in terms of time, and it is not always trivial, so much so that it is worth considering turning to companies that specialize in corporate document management that can lend a hand in making it more understandable and more effective, organizing the data so that it is easy to find and contains simple, precise and intuitive indications of the various procedures.

In more structured settings, it may also make sense to integrate enterprise workflow platforms, which on the one hand allow for the automation of the more repetitive and lower value-added tasks, and on the other hand guide workers, reducing possible errors.

Both the knowledge base and the processes, then, need to be constantly checked and refined so that they become increasingly accurate and effective. In this case, surveying usage data can help to understand which procedures are where there is room for further optimization as well as those that might generate doubts.

The most difficult challenge will not be using these procedures, which once in place will be extremely intuitive, but initiating change. Gathering all the corporate know-how, structuring and refining it requires change, and, as is often the case, dealing with change management is not always trivial.

Being able to have within the company a permanent centralizer of accumulated human knowledge and experience is in fact a real asset. Consider, for example, the advantage of being able to pair a new trainee with a digital assistant who concentrates all the expertise of the experts who preceded him or her.

We can help you create a system that allows you to make your company’s know-how accessible to all your employees quickly and easily. Contact us to learn more.