Knowledge management toolkit enhancement for a professional services firm

Abstract

Background: Professional services firms utilise knowledge management tools, for example, IBM and Oracle solutions and toolkits, in their day-to-day client-facing operations. The effectiveness of toolkits must be evaluated to establish their actual value.

Objectives: This article evaluates the current toolkit used by the South African client-facing professionals of a global multinational corporation.

Method: Pragmatism philosophy was used because of the various perspectives needed to interpret the data. Data were collected from 30 participants who adhered to sample eligibility criteria. An interview was used to collect data to help determine which tools worked well and what had to be improved on.

Results: The most value-adding tool was the Experience Tool, whereas the Collaboration Tool ranked the least valuable. The Collaboration Tool showed the most potential to increase its value. The results gave a clear indication of areas of improvement that will enable a professional services firm to strategically position its knowledge management toolkit towards adding value for client engagements.

Conclusion: The study contributes towards evaluating the knowledge management toolkit, analysing areas of improvement, and recommending components such as machine learning, online collaboration and other activities that would enhance the knowledge management toolkit.