Who is Responsible for Maintaining a Knowledge Management System?

In today’s business landscape, knowledge is one of the most valuable assets an organization can leverage. Successful leaders recognize that managing this knowledge can lead to benefits like cost savings, better decision-making, and enhanced employee engagement. Yet, many organizations face challenges when it comes to ownership. Without a clear knowledge management (KM) strategy or dedicated team, the responsibility often falls through the cracks, causing department inefficiencies.

A key reason for this confusion is that most organizations need a dedicated Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) or similar role. Instead, KM ownership tends to be dispersed, leaving individual teams to define their own processes. This lack of cohesion can lead to organizational silos, a top barrier to effective knowledge management according to Deloitte, with 55% of respondents in a survey pointing to silos as a critical obstacle.

So, who is responsible for knowledge management within an organization? To get the best results, it’s crucial to establish clarity around ownership, roles, and responsibilities. Below, we explore how organizations can structure their KM efforts and ensure a unified strategy across departments. 

Knowledge Management Team Structure Across Departments

Knowledge management means different things to different departments, so companies often organically develop disparate knowledge management initiatives, such as: 

Customer support/customer experience: For customer-facing roles, knowledge management ensures employees can access troubleshooting guides, FAQs, and other vital information quickly. The goal here is speed and accuracy, improving customer satisfaction, and reducing resolution times.

Insights/market research: Insights teams rely on KM to collect and distribute research findings across the organization, driving informed decision-making and aligning strategy with accurate customer data.

Operations: The focus in operations is productivity. KM ensures employees have access to resources and workflows that enable self-sufficiency, alignment, and faster execution.

Strategy: On the strategic level, KM helps prevent knowledge loss from employee turnover and supports data-driven decisions that influence products, services, and overall company direction.

Focusing solely on one department can lead to fragmented efforts. You need a comprehensive, organization-wide knowledge management strategy to drive long-term success that aligns with these varying goals. The person in charge of an organization’s knowledge must ensure that the strategy accounts for the needs of all departments.

Key Considerations for Defining Knowledge Management Roles and Responsibilities

Who is responsible for knowledge management? Ultimately, there’s no one right answer, and it will likely look a little different in every organization. However, there are a few common considerations to remember when developing the proper structure for your company.

1. Develop a Unified Knowledge Management Vision

A common mistake is developing disjointed KM objectives based on departmental needs alone. Instead, start by crafting a shared vision that spans the entire organization. This unified vision allows employees in every department to understand the overall goals of KM, how it benefits them, and how it contributes to the organization’s success.

By building buy-in at every level, you encourage knowledge sharing, and departments align with a common strategy.

2. Appoint a Dedicated Knowledge Management Leader

While not all organizations have the luxury of appointing a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO), it’s worth considering creating a leadership role dedicated explicitly to KM. A CKO (or a similar role) ensures that KM initiatives receive the attention they deserve and aren’t sidelined by competing priorities. This individual will promote KM across departments, ensuring that technology, processes, and people work together toward shared knowledge goals.

If hiring a dedicated executive is not feasible, ensure that whoever takes the lead on KM is passionate about the program and able to champion it across the organization. Ideally, they should be at a senior level and capable of influencing cross-departmental collaboration.

3. Avoid Anchoring KM Solely in IT

It’s tempting to assign KM responsibility to the IT team since they often manage the platform itself. However, KM is about more than just technology—it’s about people and processes. While IT will be crucial in setting up and maintaining the technology infrastructure, the day-to-day success of your KM efforts hinges on a cross-functional team. This team should ensure that content governance, knowledge-sharing processes, and employee engagement align with business objectives.

The IT team should work closely with other departments to ensure the KM platform supports a cohesive strategy rather than simply managing it as a tech asset.

4. Build a Cross-Functional Knowledge Management Team

KM touches every department, so having a cross-functional team responsible for driving the strategy forward is essential. While you don’t need every department represented, include key stakeholders who can advocate for the initiative and help guide the company toward its KM goals.

The members of this team should serve as champions in their respective departments, promoting knowledge sharing, encouraging best practices, and ensuring that the KM strategy is being effectively implemented at every level.

Leveraging AI to Transform Knowledge Management

As AI technology advances, its role in KM continues to grow. AI-powered insights engines, for example, can analyze large volumes of data to identify trends, automate repetitive tasks, and even surface relevant information based on user behavior. Leveraging AI in knowledge management can dramatically increase efficiency and ensure that your teams have access to the right information at the right time.

Implementing AI in KM doesn’t replace human expertise; instead, it empowers teams by reducing the time spent searching for information and helping them focus on higher-value work. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into KM systems, organizations that invest in these tools will see greater productivity, employee satisfaction, and knowledge retention returns.

The Role of Leadership in Knowledge Management Success

Who is responsible for maintaining a KM system? Ultimately, KM’s success relies on strong leadership and a clearly defined team structure. The person in charge of an organization’s knowledge must ensure that the KM strategy is scalable and sustainable across departments. By creating a unified vision, appointing a dedicated leader, avoiding siloed approaches, and leveraging AI technology, your organization can ensure its knowledge management strategy is aligned with broader business goals.

With the proper structure and technology, your KM initiatives can thrive—improving efficiency, decision-making, and long-term organizational success.

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About the Author

Betsy Anderson

Betsy leads the customer success and implementation teams at Bloomfire. Passionate about the people side of knowledge engagement and knowledge sharing, Betsy shares real-world experience with the challenges faced by companies with a knowledge management problem.