Buyer Beware: Software Is Not a Silver Bullet

The world generates 2.5 exabytes of data every 24 hours. In other words, every 48 hours, we generate more data than all the words spoken by every human being who’s ever lived on Earth. 

That’s…a lot of data.

And your organization only generates a tiny fraction of that information. So it seems reasonable to purchase a software package to help manage it, right? Not necessarily. Here are a few reasons why.

Software is not a substitute for strategy.

There’s no question that the implementation of knowledge management systems is critical to a federal agency’s data strategy today. But one of the most common mistakes agencies make is the knee-jerk reaction to implement new software in the hopes that it will provide a silver bullet solution to their information overload.

Technology is not the bad guy in these situations, and the market is exploding with options. But technology isn’t necessarily the solution either. Software that checks all the boxes or offers a kitchen sink full of features doesn’t automatically equal success. User engagement isn’t built into these systems.

No software comes out of the box fully aligned with an organization’s needs or decision-making process, and a wide gap often exists between the people making the buying decision and the people who will be using the software on a daily basis. That disconnect between software selection and software users typically leads to another software search down the road.

Software is not a proxy for a well designed process.

Besides encountering mismatches between software capabilities and user requirements, on the content side of knowledge management, many federal agencies are stuck in an endless loop of garbage in, garbage out. Their knowledge management platforms are full of unreliable data so when users search for information, let’s say about current projects in Cameroon, and come up with data that hasn’t been updated since 2017, those users get frustrated and blame the software, not the bad data itself.

But the problem isn’t the software, it’s the process. You can buy a Ferrari, but without gas,  you won’t win any races. Similarly, some federal agencies lack the process to run the knowledge management system efficiently. 

Tackling data problems with software is like scratching an itch without addressing the rash. But many federal agencies are operating under the faulty belief that equipping existing teams with new tools is the panacea.

But if software isn’t the problem, it’s probably not the solution either.

Software does not provide expertise.

Software is doomed to fail when the process of adding documents or data to a knowledge management system is low on everyone’s to-do list. It’s just one additional task outside of people’s core workflow, that provides a potential future benefit that is easily discounted.  The end result is often a fancy dead software system.

Without someone in charge of maintaining the knowledge management system, the whole process fails. But the solution isn’t hiring more full-time staff. The last thing federal agencies need or want to do is throw more bodies at the problem. 

So if software isn’t the solution, and hiring more staff isn’t either, what is? 

At Tesla Government, we offer expertise in setting up knowledge management systems that can’t be programmed into an algorithm. Software tools certainly make the process easier but they don’t do the work for you; you still need someone with dedicated expertise to guide you. 

That’s where we come in. We work with you to learn your process, and build, implement, and maintain a solution that works for you. We make it easy for you to keep your knowledge management system up to date and seamlessly slide in only the necessary technology so it’s not a hurdle to adopt.

Trust Tesla Government’s Scalable Knowledge Management Services

When software isn’t the solution to your data management problems, you need someone you can trust to strategically guide the process. Tesla Government’s knowledge management expertise is the solution you’re looking for.