KMWorld 2024 day 2 continues the discussion around the new KM paradigm: AI and knowledge workers

Today’s business landscape is changing faster than ever before in history. The power of inclusive engagement and collaborative curiosity cannot be overstated.

Dan Pontefract, founder and CEO, Pontefract Group and Author, Work-Life Bloom, Flat Army, and more, opened the second day at KMWorld 2024 with essential techniques to cultivate a culture where every voice is valued and heard during his keynote, “Value Every Voice: Leading Teams That Thrive.”

He outlined several use cases of companies and organizations serving the public good. He explained how during the pandemic in 2020 IKEA began a campaign to send frontline workers, such as nurses and doctors, items they needed.

“To create a better everyday life for many people. That’s good for me,” Pontefract said of IKEA’s mission. “The real question is: Who are you and how do you want to be known when you leave a room?”

He explained that many employees are experiencing burn out. Since the 2008 financial crisis, more and more workers have been taking on more work with less support.

“But there is hope here,” Pontefract said.

Leadership tactics to consider in the workplace include:

• Bloom: What permits people to be their best?
• Collaborate: Sit down with team and ask how they’re going to conduct team business?
• Care: To bloom and collaborate we need to support and to care about who we’re working with.

“Work and life are puzzle pieces,” Pontefract said. “They can compliment and contradict.”

Work-life bloom includes trust (transparency and advocacy must be consistent), strategy (communicate, consult, and connect the strategy to people), norms (defined and consistent operating processes/rules), skills (invest now/gig economy and lateral workplace moves), meaning (alignment of self-worth and what we do at work), and relationships.

“How we act as leaders value where people are at in the moment,” Pontefract said. “How are you the conduit on your team? Empathy is how we care.”

Supercharging the Power of AI for CX

As organizations integrate AI into their product ecosystems, innovative KM practices are essential to keep information relevant and useful. In the age of GenAI and LLMs, the principle of “garbage in, garbage out” remains true—AI systems are only as effective as the data they process. John Chmaj, senior director, KM Strategy, Verint discussed emerging content models, new competencies, advanced authoring techniques, and governance practices that are transforming the KM landscape for CX during his keynote.

It’s vital that companies evolve their technology, resources, and strategies to unlock the full potential of AI-driven KM capabilities. In this dynamic and complex AI landscape, content remains king. He explained how GenAI applications can be applied to key points in the support interaction lifecycle.

Frustrations remain when delivering omni-channel services, he said. Verint is working on an open platform that leverages all its products to support organizations and customers to report information. It manages the revisions of AI models, it manages compliance, security, provides a service where customers don’t need to manage that, a hub does.

“A bot is a small application with AI in it to manage a business task,” Chmaj said. “There’s a paradigm shift that AI can help with bringing the right information to the right people at the right time.”

Leveraging AI for Productivity

The productivity of knowledge workers is critically important to the growth and profitability of businesses. However, they remain weighted down, spending nearly half their time on mundane tasks, leaving less time for the work that matters most.

An organization’s information is the lifeline that provides the insights required to gain collective intelligence. Speakers discuss how organizations can gain a strategic, competitive advantage by leveraging knowledge work automation.

Devan Dewey, principal, chief technology officer, NEPC, LLC and Laura Carson, CMO, M-Files shared actionable insights on harnessing the power of automation and AI to eliminate information chaos, improve productivity, and reduce business risk to enable knowledge workers to thrive, during their keynote, “Leveraging AI+ for Productivity.”

“I think we can all agree that we’re in a new era when it comes to automation and AI,” Carson said.

By tapping into automation, knowledge workers are relieved of overburdened cognitive tasks, she explained. The main concerns about GenAI surround security and compliance, as well as the accuracy of the information. Managing unstructured data was another concern.

She recommended building a strong foundation for leveraging AI and automation.

“If you have a metadata foundation, then you can address the three tenants to successfully manage GenAI,” Carson said. The three pillars are connectivity, confidentiality, and curation.

Dewey gave an overview of how his company leveraged M-Files to institute GenAI and automation tools across the business.
“Leveraging AI starts with ‘Why’ and then you’ll make progress,” Dewey said.