Knowledge management tools are the key to implementing a successful knowledge management system.
As organizations grow and evolve, they develop an invaluable bank institutional knowledge, which often lies untapped, siloed in departments, or held in the minds of your most valuable employees.
Harnessing that wealth of collective wisdom, experience, and expertise, and sharing it across the organization, allows your business to maximize its potential and realize tangible advantages.
Implementing an effective knowledge management program involves a deliberate and conscious process of collecting that institutional knowledge and making it readily available to everyone who needs it.
So, how exactly do you do that? How do you collect, categorize, store and share all that information and knowledge? And how do you make it quickly and easily accessible to everyone else?
It might seem like an impossibly big undertaking but, luckily, we have knowledge management software that is specifically designed to streamline the whole process!
They help you gather, sort, categorize and share institutional knowledge in the most efficient way possible, making it easily accessible to everyone, and creating a smarter, more efficient workforce.
Today, we’re looking at some of the best knowledge management tools to use for every aspect of your business. We have reviewed the best:
We also cover what knowledge management is, why it’s important, and the benefits it offers your business.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
This is a quick comparison of the software tools we have reviewed – scroll down to the full reviews for more info and the pros and cons of each option!
Best Knowledge Management Software | Knowlege Management Software Type | Review Site Ratings | Our P2P Rating |
ConcordNow | Document Management Software |
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M-Files | Document Management Software |
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eFileCabinet | Document Management Software |
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Spaces by Teamwork | Document Management Software |
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Docebo | Learning Management Software |
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Travitor | Learning Management Software |
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Thought Industries | Learning Management Software |
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Tovuti LMS | Learning Management Software |
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Cornerstone LMS | Learning Management Software |
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HubSpot CRM | Customer Relationship Management Software |
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Salesforce Sales Cloud | Customer Relationship Management Software |
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Pipedrive | Customer Relationship Management Software |
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Freshsales CRM by Freshworks | Customer Relationship Management Software |
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Zoho CRM | Customer Relationship Management Software |
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Directorpoint | Decision Support Software |
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Riskturn | Decision Support Software |
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Airfocus | Decision Support Software |
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Samepage | Social Communication Software |
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Blink | Social Communication Software |
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DialMyCalls | Social Communication Software |
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Bitrix24 | Social Communication Software |
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Knowledge management refers to the collective processes involved in the accumulation, categorization, storage, and sharing of knowledge within an organization.
Knowledge management is the deliberate process of ensuring that organizational skills, expertise, and accumulated knowledge are defined, structured, and organized. This allows for organizational knowledge to be shared, expanded, and retained.
Take a look at this short video by KnowledgeMT for a quick overview of what organizational knowledge is and how knowledge management works:
TLDR: What is Knowledge Management
Knowledge management refers to the collective processes involved in the deliberate accumulation, categorization, storage, and sharing of knowledge within an organization, such as skills, experience, and special expertise.
Knowledge management tools are software designed to facilitate and streamline every aspect of the process, from a variety of sources.
They function as the bridge between disparate data sets and meaningful, cohesive, information that be easily accessed and applied by employees.
This information includes things like guidelines, standard operating procedures, company policies, and training materials. It also includes less easily codified information, such as advice from more experienced staff members or input from other departments.
Knowledge management tools are essential for running an effective knowledge management system. It is an ongoing cycle of creating, structuring, sharing, and updating information to ensure that it is current, readily available, and easily located within the system.
Knowledge management is important because it enables companies to make informed decisions, quickly.
It makes the organization as a whole more efficient, more knowledgeable, and better equipped to provide high-quality service to clients and customers.
To appreciate the huge value of knowledge management, it’s useful to understand the different types of knowledge that every organization can access:
These three types of knowledge make up what we refer to as institutional knowledge, which is a hugely valuable asset that grows and develops over time.
When everyone has access to the company’s overall level of skills and expertise, it creates an environment where knowledge sharing is valued and encouraged. This can reduce employee turnover and increase job satisfaction, and build good company culture.
There are many, many, benefits to knowledge management. However, the most important benefits include:
Effective knowledge management is critical for any company that wants to increase revenue and market share in a highly competitive economic climate.
Right, now that we know what knowledge management is, why it’s important and what the benefits are… Let’s take a look at the knowledge management tools and software that make it all possible:
One of the core components of any effective knowledge management system is a way to manage, store and retrieve documents.
Document management software are knowledge management tools that function as an electronic filing cabinet and filing system. They are designed to help organizations implement a coherent and consistent system to manage all their digital documentation. They categorize, store and provide access information as quickly and easily as possible.
It also ensures that all information is secure, and some software allows for advanced document tracking to manage workflows and ensure that information is current.
Let’s take a look at some of the best document management software:
ConcordNow is a document management software that is specifically designed for managing contracts. The software allows you to draft, share internally and externally, edit, negotiate, and sign contacts from one central tool. It also facilitates effective contract management in terms of renewing and updating contracts.
ConcordNow offers several third-party integrations, including Word, Excel, and Google Docs, to collaborate with others inside and outside your organization. It also offers useful features like reminders for upcoming renewals and insights and analytics into various aspects of your contracts overall and in comparison, to one another.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.2/5 Stars from 105 Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 147 Reviews
Website: concordnow.com
M-Files is ideal for small to medium size organizations and its metadata-driven system enables quick and efficient access to information. It also allows for businesses to automate business processes, and control information permissions, which makes it a good software for businesses operating in highly regulated industries.
M-Files offers integration with numerous third parties, including Salesforce, Google Workspace, and full integration Microsoft 365. The software’s advanced encryption and permissions allow for the seamless transfer of information to collaborate internally and externally, without compromising security and sensitive data protection.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.2/5 Stars from 142 Reviews
Capterra: 4.2/5 Stars from 173 Reviews
No pricing is provided but they do offer a free trial
Website: m-files.com
eFileCabinet’s document management software is a great choice for midsize organizations in the HR, Finance, Legal, and IT sectors. The cloud-based solution is designed to automate complex document processes, enable efficient access to documents, and minimize the effects of cross-departmental silos.
One of the biggest advantages of eFileCabinet is that it is highly secure. The tool offers features to ensure compliance with data and privacy protection laws, including HIPAA, FINRA, etc. This makes it a go-to choice for businesses in industries where compliance is mandatory, such as healthcare services, financial and legal services.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.3/5 Stars from 317 Reviews
Capterra: 4.4/5 Stars from 863 Reviews
Website: efilecabinet.com
Teamwork Spaces is a knowledge management tool for collaboration, project, and document management. It is designed to be used by everyone from in-house teams to agencies that collaborate with numerous third parties and clients. As a highly flexible software, it can be used for everything from simple document sorting, storing, and retrieval, to sprint planning, managing client projects, and executing marketing campaigns.
Spaces integrates with other Teamwork products, as well as third-party services like HubSpot. It can be used to manage all types of content, including images and media files, and allows for detailed but streamlined collaboration on any project or document.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.4/5 Stars from 958 Reviews)
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 697 Reviews
Website: teamwork.com/spaces
Learning management software is designed to help organizations store, track, and deliver all their educational and professional development materials. This makes them one of the most important types of knowledge management tools to have in any organization.
The system holds all the training, guides, courses, and certification materials that an organization needs to transfer knowledge, skills, and expertise, and makes them easily accessible.
Here are some of the top learning management software solutions you should consider for your business:
Docebo is an award-winning learning management software that caters to medium and large size enterprises. The AI-based Docebo Learning Suite is designed to help you create and deliver engaging learning material to employees, partners, and customers.
Docebo is available in more than 25 languages and offers more than 400 integrations. It is an ideal tool for organizations that need a solution they can lug directly into their existing tech stack. Docebo also offers analytics and reporting to help you understand the efficacy and impact of your training programs, and how to improve them.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.4/5 Stars from 294 Reviews
Capterra: 4.2/5 Stars from 114 Reviews
Website: docebo.com
Travitor is a learning management software that is ideal for organizations of all sizes. It offers a simple platform that allows you to create, deliver and monitor training programs. The software is great for onboarding employees and customers, continued learning programs, and monitoring training progress for compliance across various departments.
Travitor comes with hundreds of courses included, as well as an easy interface to create and customize your own courses. It offers several integrations, such as Slack, BambooHR, Microsoft, and G Suite.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.0/5 Stars from 7 Reviews
Capterra: 4.4/5 Stars from 44 Reviews
Website: travitor.com
Thought Industries is learning management software for enterprise organizations, with a focus on B2B customer training. The platform allows enterprises to develop, deliver and manage their client-training materials for onboarding, skills development, and technical support.
It also allows for the development and delivery of monetized courses, handling everything from enrolment to completion.
Thought Industries supports engaging learning materials and activities, such as webinars, live events, online courses, and training programs. It also offers gamification and other incentive-based engagement tools. As an LMS, it is one of the most comprehensive tools available, with the flexibility to be used for in-house training, customer training, and monetized training to the public.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.5/5 Stars from 62 Reviews
Capterra: 4.6/5 Stars from 78 Reviews
Website: thoughtindustries.com
Tovuti is a scalable, cloud-based, learning management software for organizations and course creators of all sizes. It provides all the tools need to create, deliver and track your e-learning courses and training programs.
Tovuti is equipped with integrations for e-commerce so you can sell your courses and subscriptions, with no limit on the number of courses you can offer. The platform also allows you to create and manage offline events, with ticketing and registration payments included.
Learners get a personalized dashboard that displays all their learning materials, courses, and achievements. It offers close tracking of courses and how learners interact with the content, as well as detailed reporting.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.6/5 Stars from 165 Reviews
Capterra: 4.9/5 Stars from 75 Reviews
Website: tovutilms.com
Cornerstone Learning and Development is an LMS solution for large enterprises and public administration organizations. It is a good choice for compliance-focused industries like government, healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
The platform is designed to help organizations provide engaging, personalized training and development programs. It offers everything needed to develop, distribute and monitor the use of training courses throughout the organization.
Cornerstone offers in-depth management and monitoring features, which make it easy to monitor essential competencies and compliance in highly regulated industries.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.1/5 Stars from 464 Reviews
Capterra: 4.3/5 Stars from 204 Reviews
Website: cornerstoneondemand.com
Having easy access to all the relevant information about your customers is critical for providing great customer experiences, personalized interactions, and streamlined support.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is designed to simplify and streamline all the processes involved in gathering, storing, transmitting customer data in a way that is easy to understand and quick to access, at every stage of the sales cycle.
As such, CRMs are some of the most important knowledge management tools for revenue growth and long-term success in commerce.
CRM software is sales-specific. It tracks leads through the entire sales funnel, consolidates customers’ communication and transaction histories, and facilitates timely and relevant communication throughout the customer lifecycle.
CRM software acts as a single, cohesive database of all your customer information, that be easily accessed and understood by sales personnel.
These are some of the top CRM software options to consider for your business:
HubSpot CRM is a platform designed for businesses of all sizes, which can be easily scaled up or down, depending on your needs. It allows you to track and monitor leads and customers at every stage of the customer their journey.
One of the biggest benefits of HubSpot’s CRM, especially for smaller organizations, is that it offers a free package with all the basic tools needed to start out using a CRM and improve your customer experience. Free features include forms for lead capture and email marketing, dynamic lists, and a live chat function.
HubSpot CRM allows you to aggregate all your customer information and see a single view of every customer. It tracks a huge number of data points, from activity, communication history, website activity, and engagement, to list memberships, colleagues, and personal information.
HubSpot CRM integrates with most platforms, allowing you to populate your CRM directly from all your customer touchpoints, including social media and your website.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.4/5 Stars from 8264 Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 3014 Reviews
Website: hubspot.com
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a cloud-based CRM software for businesses of all sizes, in all industries. It includes tools that allow you to manage contracts, automate sales processes, track and manage leads and customers at every stage of the customer lifecycle.
Useful functions include analytics, reporting, and sales forecasting, as well as actionable insights to streamline customer management and prioritize tasks.
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a good choice for industries that involve managing projects, budgets, suppliers, and partners as well as customers. It is highly customizable and can be adapted for just about any use case.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.2/5 Stars from 14438 Reviews
Capterra: 4.4/5 Stars from 16648 Reviews
Website: salesforce.com/products/sales-cloud
Pipedrive is a simple but powerful CRM tool designed to manage sales pipelines from end to end. It helps you streamline and manage your sales process by easily importing leads, assigning relevant salespeople to them, and then tracking leads throughout the sales cycle.
Pipedrive is a fully customizable and highly flexible CRM software. It can be set up to suit a wide variety of industries and sales processes.
In addition to tracking, reminders, and lead/customer data gathering, Pipedrive offers great analytics and reporting. These insights support effective, data-based, sales strategy development, implementation, and monitoring.
Compared to other CRMs Pipedrive is a simple tool that offers sales process management, analytics, and reporting.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.2/5 Stars from 1486 Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 2369 Reviews
Website: pipedrive.com
Freshsales is an all-in-one CRM solution for sales teams of all sizes. It is designed to be a full sales automation software that helps you attract leads, nurture them through the sales process, and engage all leads and customers in contextually relevant communication.
Freshsales incorporates email, phone, and instant chat, and provides AI-powered data, analytics, and reporting. It also offers useful marketing automation and email marketing automation. It is easy to use and fully customizable to suit your needs.
One of the best things about Freshsales is that it is a great stand-alone CRM tool that does not reply on integrations with numerous other tools to function.
This makes it a good choice for smaller businesses and start-ups, as it can do more than just sales automation but doesn’t come with an overwhelmingly broad and complex set of functions.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.5/5 Stars from 6020 Reviews
Capterra: 4.6/5 Stars from 483 Reviews
Website: freshworks.com/crm
Zoho CRM software is a great choice for businesses of any size, from small to very large enterprises. It is a fully customizable CRM that can be adapted to any industry and sales cycle.
Zoho CRM provides a bird’s eye view of overall sales, customers, and accounts. It provides everything needed to attract and nurture leads, provide great customer experiences and retain and re-engage your customers.
Core features include contact and sales pipeline management, workflow automation, inventory management, marketing campaign management, in-depth analytics, reporting and sales forecasting, and over 500 integrations with popular business software tools.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.0/5 Stars from 2077 Reviews
Capterra: 4.3/5 Stars from 5350 Reviews
Website: zoho.com/crm
Decision support software is designed to implement a decision support system (DSS), which involves the analysis of huge datasets to support informed, data-driven, business decisions.
Software for your DSS can manage any type of data, depending on your business type. DSS software is commonly used to inform decisions on marketing and sales, support and customer care, as well as internal business processes.
Making data-driven decisions allows you to implement precise and effective strategies to drive growth, improve efficiency, and achieve your revenue goals.
The following decision support software are all great knowledge management tools that you should consider:
Directorpoint is a leading cloud-based management software for boards of directors and executive teams. It is designed for use in small, medium, and large size organizations, as well as non-profits and charities.
Key features are designed to simplify and streamline the management of committees and meetings, including administration for calendar management, meeting agendas and minutes, attendance records, polls, surveys, voting, and signatures.
Dirtectorpoint functions as a central portal for all board-related communication and collaboration, with features for adding notes, comments, and uploading documents. It also has a member directly with contact information and locations.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.5/5 Stars from 1582 Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 1582 Reviews
Website: directorpoint.com
Riskturn is a cloud-based financial planning tool designed for organizations of all sizes, across a wide range of industries, including research and development, and financing providers.
Key features include built-in cashflow templates, financial forecasting based on different financial and time-bound variables. It integrates with third-party programs like Excel and data can be displayed with charts, graphs, and graphics.
Riskturn allows users to create projects and set timelines for different phases of each project. They can run Monte-Carlo simulations based on set probabilities and impact values for potential risks. It also allows for user sharing and collaboration.
Riskturn is a great tool for making financial and budgetary decisions based on current and accurately projected data.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: No G2 reviews (scores 4.64/5 Stars from 11 Reviews on Software Advice)
Capterra: 4.6/5 Stars from 11 Reviews
Website: riskturn.com
Airfocus is a decision support software tool designed to provide the insights needed for product managers and teams to develop their strategies and create the right products.
It is a flexible, modular, solution that facilities the management and communication of product development strategies, as well as task and decision prioritization.
Airfocus is customizable to suit any business and can be scaled to meet changing or growing needs, without disrupting workflows.
It offers useful integrations with Jira, Trello, Asana, Azure DevOps, Shortcut/Clubhouse, Microsoft Planner, GitHub, and Zapier.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.4/5 Stars from 95 Reviews
Capterra: 4.5/5 Stars from 95 Reviews
Website: airfocus.com
One of the most valuable sources of knowledge within any organization is the knowledge shared between employees when they engage with one another in any setting.
When it comes to knowledge management tools, tools for communication and collaboration are critical for generating knowledge, sharing it, and capturing it for future use.
Knowledge management tools all center around the collection and sharing of information, and social communication tools are the best way to make that information accessible to everyone.
Social communication tools are designed to facilitate easy sharing of information, in a variety of formats to be most accessible for different roles and functions within your business, and categorized, logged, and stored for future use.
These four tools will help you do all of the above and foster a culture of knowledge sharing and skills development within your organization:
Samepage is a knowledge management tool designed to help internal and external teams, of all sizes, manage projects, communicate, collaborate, and share ideas effectively and efficiently.
The platform facilities the management of files, tasks, and calendars, and supports the use of videos, maps, and diagrams within team conversations that are consolidated in one place. All edits can be tracked, while multiple users work together.
Communication does not rely on email and Samepage provides video and text chat services for individuals and teams from within the platform.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.5/5 Stars from 214 Reviews
Capterra: 4.8/5 Stars from 816 Reviews
Website: samepage.io
Blink is designed for communication with frontline workers in industries like healthcare, facility management, and transportation services. It is especially good for teams or employees that are geographically separated or mobile, keeping them connected and in the loop at all times.
Blink is a simple platform that acts as a secure, unified portal to access everything your team needs. Workflows, timetables, conversations, and important notifications can all be handled within the platform.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.6/5 Stars from 133 Reviews
Capterra: 4.7/5 Stars from 107 Reviews
Website: joinblink.com
DialMyCalls is a social communication software that allows for streamlined bulk and emergency messaging via phone, text/SMS, and emails. emergency notifications to a group of people in seconds.
It is used by all kinds of businesses and organizations, including utility companies, schools, churches, sports teams, and private businesses. Anyone with a large number of people to notify instantly can use DialMyCalls to do it.
DialMyCalls’ app can be accessed from any computer or smartphone, and also offers a toll-free number to broadcast messages.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.8/5 Stars from 461 Reviews
Capterra: 4.8/5 Stars from 50 Reviews
Website: dialmycalls.com
Bitrix24 is an award-winning communication and collaboration platform, designed for small businesses and companies, as well as remote teams. It is cloud-based or on-premises, depending on your needs.
Bitrix24 offers a full suite of tools, which include tools for communication and social collaboration, task and project management, and employee engagement. It also offers group chats and shared calendars, as well as a host of other features.
Pros:
Cons:
G2 Crowd: 4.1/5 Stars from 433 Reviews
Capterra: 4.0/5 Stars from 499 Reviews
Website: bitrix24.com
Good knowledge management tools are the key to implementing an effective, meaningful, and sustainable knowledge management system in your organization!
Knowledge management systems are an important way for businesses and organizations to make the most of their organizational intelligence, expertise, and experience.
When everyone in an organization has easy access to the information they need, the organization as a whole is better informed, more effective, and more efficient.
This makes knowledge management tools a critical component of organizational growth and long-term success in the highly competitive modern economic environment.
Knowledge management is the deliberate process of ensuring that organizational skills, expertise, and accumulated knowledge are defined, structured, and organized in an easily accessible way. This allows for organizational knowledge to be shared, expanded, and retained. Read the full review for more on knowledge management and the best tools to use.
Knowledge management tools are essential for running an effective knowledge management system. They include Document Management Software, Learning Management Software, Customer Relationship Management Software, Decision Support Software and Social Communication Software. Check out the full review for the best tools to use in your business.
Knowledge management allows organizations to make informed decisions quickly. It also creates a smarter, more effective and more efficient workforce, which benefits the company as a whole. Valuable knowledge is also retained not lost when people leave the company. Read the full review for more detail on the importance and benefits of knowledge management.
Core Project Advisory: What’s the Difference between Knowledge Management, Document Management, and Document Control?
Corporate Finance Institute: Decision Support System (DSS)
Deloitte Insights: Knowledge Management – Creating Context for a Connected World
Forbes: Why Knowledge Management Is Important to the Success of Your Company
Investopedia: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Oxford Review: Why You Really Need to Align Your Learning and Knowledge Management
Research Gate: A Social Software Strategy for Knowledge Management and Organization Culture (Pdf)