2025 Priorities and Trends for Knowledge Management

Knowledge management continues to be top of mind for practitioners and leaders, driven in part by the generative AI wave, with investment levels increasing in a majority of organizations. Business leaders increasingly see the value of implementing not just AI capabilities but also holistic knowledge management strategies to achieve higher levels of success. AI has become a great enabler for KM, but more importantly, it has given KM the opportunity to shine once again.

According to our recent survey, the top three priorities for KM teams in 2025 are:

1. Incorporating AI and “smart” technology.
2. Identifying, mapping or prioritizing critical knowledge.
3. Transferring expert knowledge.

KM continues to partner with digital and IT teams to ensure new and evolving AI capabilities succeed. These two functions have always been critical partners. 

While KM relies on IT to build, configure and manage much of the technology employees use for knowledge sharing and access, KM traditionally provides input on user needs, helps shape change management and communication plans, and develops knowledge transfer approaches and training to ensure employee understanding. Additionally, KM brings content management capabilities to the table to ensure content structure, quality, governance and accessibility.

Foundational Knowledge Transfer and Retention Remains Critical 

While AI is the top priority, the management of an organization’s most critical knowledge and the transfer and retention of expert knowledge remain ongoing priorities. Retirements, employee development, onboarding new hires, improving productivity and engaging employees are just some of the reasons organizations need to remain focused on incorporating intentional knowledge transfer and retention capabilities. How organizations choose to approach knowledge transfer will remain agile and varied, but it needs to be intentional to ensure institutional knowledge is preserved to maintain the competitiveness and survival of our organizations.

Here are some proven knowledge transfer practices to consider:

• Start with knowledge mapping (an outline of tacit and explicit knowledge involved in business processes, roles, or activities) or a knowledge audit (inspection and evaluation of knowledge assets).
• Compare and prioritize knowledge transfer opportunities. Once you have a list of critical areas where structured knowledge transfer is needed to support business objectives, you can prioritize that list and get started.
• Consider a variety of approaches. Familiarize yourself with the types of knowledge transfer approaches and then ask key questions about the nature of the knowledge being transferred, the sources and recipients of that knowledge, and the business processes and infrastructure into which transfer activities must be embedded. Here are some common approaches:

• Make knowledge transfer a time-bound event. Outline the limits and requirements of each engagement for your subject matter experts. Encourage participation by securing time and space for the activity, and a plan with clear objectives, timeline and expectations.
• Celebrate experts for their knowledge. Position knowledge transfer as a special, coveted opportunity and a cause for celebration and distribution of rewards.
• Partner with HR to integrate with the employee lifecycle. Work with your HR partners and organizational learning teams to integrate knowledge transfer into the employee lifecycle.

Opportunity for Knowledge Management Practitioners

The survey also revealed that the top skillset for KM teams to develop in 2025 is change management. Change management is always a top skillset to develop in my opinion as I see KM as a “people first” business, so 2025 is no different. 

Effective KM requires a holistic strategy and approach that includes a focus on people, process, content and technology. The people aspect continues to remain the greatest challenge for most KM practitioners. The more momentum KM gains and the more upskilling KM professionals can do in the area of change management, the more they will continue to build trust and ensure leader buy-in and employee adoption of KM approaches within the organization — including AI solutions.

Consider these three practices to improve your change management capabilities:

• Master the art and science of change management. Understand that a structured approach to managing change combined with a mindset and approach grounded in empathy and service-oriented helps employees transition smoothly from a current state to a desired future state.
• Understand the complexity of the change. Change involves leadership, strategy and vision, new skills, incentives, resources, action plans, governance, and measures to be successful. The absence of any one of these elements increases the risk of failure for  the change.
• Shape change management plans with your organization’s culture in mind. Understand the values, belief systems, leadership styles, unspoken assumptions, stories, rituals, and the character and orientation of your organization.

Continually improving your skills for managing change and learning new ones helps you, as KM practitioners, feel prepared and confident in your ability to help others develop new behaviors and transition to a new and exciting way of working, especially in this era of AI.

Editor's Note: Dive deeper into other knowledge management trends:

• AI-Driven Knowledge Management Turns Repositories Into Intelligent Ecosystems — Knowledge management is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid integration of artificial intelligence.
• Preserve Your Organization's Critical Knowledge With Knowledge Maps — Knowledge maps help you better understand knowledge-related risks and opportunities — and have a proven track-record for results.
• Knowledge Management Means More Than Just Mining Digital Exhaust — If we want machine intelligence to play a role in knowledge creation, we need conscious design, not lazy accidents.

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