HRIS: a SMART knowledge management solution

Imagine your company suddenly losing its most experienced employees. With them disappear years of expertise, know-how and valuable knowledge that is not documented anywhere. How can you ensure the continuity of your operations? How can you capitalize on your organization’s collective intelligence?

These questions are at the heart of the concerns of many HR managers and executives today. In a context of high professional mobility, where each departure can lead to a significant loss of strategic knowledge, and where information is increasingly fragmented through the various technological tools available to HR departments, knowledge management is no longer an option, but a strategic necessity.

In this article, we explore how the Human Resources Information System(HRIS) can transform your approach to knowledge management by becoming the central pillar of your knowledge management strategy.

HRIS is a key driver of knowledge management

Knowledge management is considered a cornerstone of the information technology (IT) industry. The development and sharing of knowledge is at the heart of information systems, ensuring the fluidity of an organization’s activities. Knowledge management and IT are strongly linked at a fundamental level, creating an integrated management system that optimizes information flows.

Indeed, for much of the last 50 years, IT has been the traditional knowledge manager, due to its complex technology and onerous implementation requirements. With the introduction of the SaaS (Software As A Service) model, many knowledge bases have become simpler to implement and use, reducing the time IT departments have to spend managing them.

Digitizing HR processes makes it easier for organizations to develop skills, promote access to internal knowledge and improve the efficiency of communication between the various players. Modules such as the LMS(Learning Management System), performance and objectives management, and development plans help capitalize on individual and collective knowledge and experience.

Implementing an HRIS at the heart of effective HR performance plays a vital role in knowledge management. It contributes to the development of a dynamic of innovation and organizational learning by facilitating :

• Capture and formalize employees’ tacit knowledge
• Disseminating explicit knowledge throughout the organization
• Developing communities of practice around specific areas of expertise
• Improved decision-making processes thanks to easier access to relevant information
• Integratingartificial intelligence to optimize knowledge management and exploitation

HRIS helps create a learning culture

Implementing a knowledge management-oriented HRIS is a key step in a company’s transformation towards a learning organization. This involves not only technological aspects, but also a profound cultural evolution within the organization.

A report by Bersin in June 2018, revealed that among the more than 700 organizations surveyed, the employee had just 24 minutes a week for formal learning. Creating an organizational climate that fosters learning thus requires the implementation of organizational practices that encourage employees to develop their curiosity and sharing with each other.

Several levers can be used to implement a genuine culture of sharing:

1. Valuing knowledge sharing: Recognizing and rewarding sharing and collaboration behaviors
2. Facilitate access to knowledge: Implement tools and processes that simplify access to and dissemination of information.
3. Encouraging continuous learning: making learning part of employees’ daily lives
4. Developing knowledge management skills: training employees in knowledge management methods and tools
5. Measuring and monitoring progress: Define indicators to assess the effectiveness of knowledge management initiatives

Unsurprisingly, organizations such as Google, American Express and Bridgewater Associates have made learning an integral part of their talent management systems. For example, they have introduced a bonus for intellectual curiosity and creativity to reward continuous learning.

An HRIS will therefore help to formalize these learning practices to successfully anchor a learning culture within the organization. By integrating knowledge management at the heart of HRIS, companies can transform their approach to knowledge management and create an environment conducive to innovation and collective performance.

What are the benefits of a Knowledge Management-oriented HRIS?

Integrating knowledge management into your HRIS offers many advantages that can transform your organization:

1. Preserving intellectual capital

A knowledge management-oriented HRIS enables you to capture and preserve the tacit and explicit knowledge of your employees. This approach considerably reduces the risks associated with staff departures and ensures the continuity of knowledge within the organization.

2. Accelerating innovation

By facilitating access to internal and external knowledge, HRIS stimulates creativity and innovation. Employees can draw on past experience and best practices to develop new ideas and solutions, which can improve the efficiency of innovation processes.

3. Decision-making optimization

Access to relevant, up-to-date information enables managers and employees to make more informed decisions. HRIS can play a crucial role in structuring and disseminating the knowledge required for effective decision-making at all levels of the organization.

4. Strengthening collaboration

The HRIS’s collaborative features encourage the development of communities of practice and the sharing of knowledge between teams. This enhanced collaboration helps to break down organizational silos and create genuine collective intelligence.

5. Skills development

By integrating knowledge management into training and development processes, HRIS enables the acquisition of skills to be aligned with the organization’s real needs. This personalized approach to learning contributes to the emergence of a learning organization capable of adapting rapidly to changes in its environment.

The future of Knowledge Management in HRIS

The evolution of technologies, particularlyartificial intelligence, is opening up new perspectives for knowledge management in HRIS. Intelligent systems can now analyze large quantities of data to identify trends, recommend relevant content and even predict future knowledge needs.

These technological advances make it possible to envisage a more proactive and personalized knowledge management approach, capable of adapting to the specific needs of each employee. The integration ofartificial intelligence into HRIS systems could thus revolutionize our approach to knowledge management, making it more intuitive, more efficient and more closely aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives.

The new recruitment solutions integrated into modern HRIS systems also play a crucial role in knowledge management, helping to identify and attract talent with knowledge that complements that already present in the organization. This strategic approach to recruitment contributes to enriching the company’s intellectual capital and strengthening its capacity for innovation.

To remain competitive in a constantly evolving environment, companies will need to invest in HR solutions that natively integrate knowledge management functionalities. This integrated approach will not onlyimprove operationalefficiency, but also create a sustainable competitive advantage based on the valorization and exploitation of intellectual capital.

Conclusion: towards an HRIS focused on Knowledge Management

Knowledge management has become a strategic issue for organizations wishing to capitalize on their intellectual capital and develop their capacity for innovation. HRIS, as a central human resources management platform, plays a decisive role in this approach, by facilitating the capture, sharing and exploitation of knowledge.

To maximize the benefits of knowledge management, companies need to adopt a holistic approach that combines technologies, processes and culture. Implementing a knowledge management-oriented HRIS is an essential first step, but it must be accompanied by a more profound transformation of practices and behaviors.

By investing in an HRIS that natively integrates knowledge management functionalities, organizations can create an environment conducive to continuous learning and knowledge sharing. This approach will not only enable them toimprove the efficiency of their processes, but also to develop a sustainable competitive advantage based on collective intelligence.

At SQORUS, our experts support our customers inchoosing andintegrating the HRIS best suited to their needs, and in cultural and process transformation. We help you implement a knowledge management strategy tailored to your specific challenges, drawing on best practices and the most innovative technologies.

Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out how we can support you in your knowledge management approach and transform your HRIS into a real driver of performance and innovation.

See also our feature on "HR strategy management tools".

• What are the key issues facing HR departments today?
• Organization, talent management, recruitment: priority HR projects?
• Human resources management: what HR strategies for the future?
• Best practices to manage your HR strategy in an optimal way
• The different HR management tools to carry out your HR strategy
• HRIS software: the different areas of intervention for the HR function
• How to convince your management to invest in an HRIS tool?
• Is it necessary to be accompanied in the management of an HR strategy?
• What indicators should be defined to measure the performance of an HR strategy?
• HR strategy: how to achieve effective HR reporting?
• Who should drive HR projects in the company?
• Setting up a working group for an HR project: who should be involved?