P2P

89 I L T A N E T . O R G such as know-how, precedents, templates, proformas, how- to-do, templated checklists, and so on. After the knowledge has been managed, the knowledge worker picks up the prepared work to generate actionable outcomes. By taking this approach, and by carefully picking which projects to work on, KM faces an increasingly smooth trajectory. Over time, their efforts are going to get easier and the ability to find more knowledge – faster – will increase because of AI. In essence, AI will speed up the processes that the KM team has taken the time and effort to put in place, allowing the organization as a whole to capitalize on their hard work. Driving Outcomes, Meeting Today's Challenges This ability to go beyond KM to making knowledge work is more important than ever, because there is no shortage of challenges that KM can help address in today's market. First and foremost, there is the increasing internationalization of work. Law firms and consultancies have to 'seem' more international because the problems they get presented with by their clients are more international – but often the organizations themselves are not as international as they might appear. The name- brand global accounting or consulting firm might really be 45 different companies. How do they do international collaboration if someone's asking them a cross borders question? Many law firms are formed via mergers so they're not always overly collaborative because it's essentially a case of one law firm in Geo A acquiring another firm in Geo B, and never the twain shall meet. Locating expertise is particularly challenging in these types of scenarios. Suppose a client wants to sell a company in 6 different countries with 45 subsidiaries in another 10 countries. The answer to 'who do I know who works in the rest of the firm that has expertise in that particular area'? is often 'No idea, this firm is really several different firms that were purchased and merged together under the same logo'. Nobody in search of expertise wants to deal with a disjointed organization. Then there's always the usual cost pressures from clients to deliver services faster and cheaper while providing more value and proactively uncovering opportunities for the client rather than simply providing reactive counsel. Knowledge is important in addressing all of these challenges and it can help 'make the joins' across an organization, knitting its collective knowledge and expertise together so that it can be drawn upon to drive real business outcomes. Ultimately, that is the real power of harnessing KM and utilizing it to its fullest extent, enabling organizations to make their knowledge work harder for them. ILTA Alex Smith, Global Product Management Lead for iManage RAVN, has over 20 years of experience in product management and service design, including new and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, semantic search and linked data, as well as content management. Prior to iManage RAVN, Alex has held positions at Reed Smith LLP and LexisNexis UK.

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