The biggest mistake people make when selecting a KM system is to choose a platform instead of an application. The business case is dazzlingly simple—yet many organizations overlook it.

You don’t have to go it alone to sell KM inside your organization. There are many avenues available that let you take advantage of outside help when you’ve run out of ideas (or steam!) and need to regroup or re-energize. These include joining and participating in KM communities, using industry analyst reports, and interviewing your peers in other organizations.

Too much focus on technology when implementing a KM program is a common problem, but you will definitely need to use software applications—so it’s important to understand them and leverage them in an optimal way. It’s imperative that you offer a truly great user experience out of the gate.

It may come as a surprise that knowledge management isn’t simply about paper and electronic resources. Today's KM systems also capture the information in people's heads: the tacit knowledge, that when added to explicit knowledge completes the picture. The art and science of KM involves synthesizing the two for maximum impact. Please read on for some tips on how to make it work.