Difficulties and Lessons Learned

The difficulty of implementing a Knowledge Management System within a company is not operating the system, it is getting users to contribute or provide information to the system.  On a personal level, people may not want to share their knowledge publicly because they feel their position within the organization will be compromised, they might be insecure, or they just are not used to the change.  It depends on the top managements initiative for implementing the change to the organizational culture.  A company can change the culture by informing the employees through weekly newsletters, email blasts or meetings, explaining how using the knowledge management system is a benefit for them and the entire organization.  Or individual business units can show the difference between how the employees used to work, compared to how they work now, using the knowledge management system.  The most important fact of change is to stay positive.  The more positive an organization remains at changing the culture, the more beneficial the system will actually be.