New Approach to Knowledge Management in Marketing Teams of IT Companies

Marketing departments in IT companies may face certain knowledge management issues if they have to deal with rapid personnel flow and technological progress. A poor systematic approach to knowledge management leads to information gaps, wrong decisions, and long adaptation time for new employees. The authors adapted the conventional knowledge management models to the specifics of marketing in Russian IT companies to minimize knowledge gap, accelerate the adaptation period for new employees, and improve their performance. The research relied on the methods of observation, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis of corporate documents. The KPI and employee analysis covered such indicators as adaptation period, number of errors, speed of access to information, and satisfaction with information availability. The case study of a marketing team (AO Ispmanager; n = 12) describes a new type of knowledge management with a combined architecture (by projects / products and departments) based on Google Docs. The team trained new employees, regularly updated their databases, and integrated new specialists into the adaptation process. The effectiveness was measured by adaptation, speed of access to information, and employees’ satisfaction with data availability. The results showed a 33% decrease in adaptation time and a 60% decrease in search time. The satisfaction level increased by 57%. The new approach can be used by other small cross-functional teams in the IT sector. The study prospects include automatization and research into the impact of documentation quality on motivation and performance.