Knowledge management shapes how employees and customer-facing teams find information, share expertise, and resolve problems—especially when large organizations need reliable search, content, and training. As adoption grows, this page examines knowledge platforms and enterprise search, the shift toward AI-enabled assistants, and the data preparation required to make them effective. It also covers how success is measured, plus governance and security guidance such as NIST controls and human-capital reporting.
Key Takeaways
- 53% of workers say it is very or extremely important to their work to be able to find the right information quickly (year: 2021).
- 64% of enterprises use some form of AI-enabled search for enterprise information (year: 2023).
- 58% of surveyed IT leaders reported that knowledge sharing improves the speed of problem resolution (year: 2020).
- $1.6 billion global knowledge management software market size in 2022 (year: 2022).
- $7.7 billion global enterprise search market size in 2023 (year: 2023).
- $8.0 billion global knowledge management (KM) tools market size in 2024 (year: 2024).
- 40% decrease in repeat contacts after knowledge base improvements (year: 2021).
- 41% reduction in training time for new hires when internal knowledge repositories are available (year: 2020).
- Companies with strong knowledge management practices see a 12% improvement in employee retention compared with those that do not (2020).
- Organizations using formal knowledge management report 12% lower employee turnover than those that do not (year: 2020).
- The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 requires controls for managing organizational knowledge and documented information within information security programs (revision 5 published 2020).
- NIST SP 800-171 requires organizations to protect controlled unclassified information (CUI) and emphasizes documented processes and information management as part of compliance (revision 2 published 2020).
- 90% of enterprise AI projects are expected to require data and knowledge preparation, including knowledge curation (year: 2023).
- By 2025, Gartner forecasts that conversational AI will be used by 25% of enterprise organizations for knowledge retrieval (year: 2025 forecast).
- 2024 saw a continued shift toward AI-powered knowledge assistants, with 63% of organizations adopting or piloting AI search within enterprise settings (year: 2024).
Most organizations are upgrading knowledge access with AI and measuring results, boosting resolution speed and retention.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption6 stats
01
53% of workers say it is very or extremely important to their work to be able to find the right information quickly (year: 2021).https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-1XG9W3VZ&ct=211013&st=sb&1=1XG9W3VZ
02
64% of enterprises use some form of AI-enabled search for enterprise information (year: 2023).https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-06-13-gartner-says-64-percent-of-enterprises-will-use-ai-enabled-search-by-2025
03
58% of surveyed IT leaders reported that knowledge sharing improves the speed of problem resolution (year: 2020).https://www.servicenow.com/content/dam/sn-assets/en-us/assets/analyst-reports/service-desk-knowledge-management-report.pdf
04
54% of organizations report measuring knowledge management success (year: 2021).https://assets.website-files.com/5fa0d7f7f9d0d3e7b1e4c8a1/604f9d3a1d9a5c4d6d0b6f1a_KM-Survey-Report-2021.pdf
05
63% of knowledge workers say they waste time searching for information at work (2021).https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-1X1VY9I6&ct=220719&st=sb
06
The World Bank reports that firms in high-income economies are more likely to use ICT-enabled knowledge and communication tools; for example, their Enterprise Surveys capture ICT usage indicators used to assess capabilities (Enterprise Surveys methodology and indicators).https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/enterprise-surveys
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
For user adoption, the data points to a clear urgency: 63% of knowledge workers waste time searching for information and 53% say quickly finding the right information is very or extremely important, so improving access and knowledge sharing should be a top priority as more organizations move toward AI-enabled search, with 64% already using it.
02 · Category
Market Size9 stats
01
$1.6 billion global knowledge management software market size in 2022 (year: 2022).https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/knowledge-management-software-market-102893
02
$7.7 billion global enterprise search market size in 2023 (year: 2023).https://www.imarcgroup.com/enterprise-search-market
03
$8.0 billion global knowledge management (KM) tools market size in 2024 (year: 2024).https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/knowledge-management-software-market-207294469.html
04
$5.0 billion global AI for customer service market size in 2023, often applied via knowledge bases and assisted support (year: 2023).https://www.reportlinker.com/p06396272-summary/AI-in-Customer-Service-Market.html
05
$3.1 billion global document management market size in 2022 (year: 2022), a common enterprise knowledge infrastructure category.https://www.imarcgroup.com/document-management-market
06
$11.8 billion global collaboration software market size in 2023 (year: 2023), including knowledge sharing in digital workplaces.https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/collaboration-software-market-102089
07
$30.5 billion global business process management market size in 2022 (year: 2022), supporting codified process knowledge.https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/business-process-management-market
08
$16.6 billion global knowledge management software market size in 2030 (forecast, year: 2030).https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/knowledge-management-software-market
09
$12.5 billion global enterprise social network market size in 2022 (year: 2022), used for knowledge sharing communities.https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/enterprise-social-networking-market
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
In the market size category, investments are scaling quickly across knowledge infrastructure, with the global knowledge management tools market reaching $8.0 billion in 2024, while adjacent enablers like enterprise search at $7.7 billion in 2023 and collaboration software at $11.8 billion in 2023 show that knowledge-driven software demand is expanding well beyond core KM.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics5 stats
01
40% decrease in repeat contacts after knowledge base improvements (year: 2021).https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-service/
02
41% reduction in training time for new hires when internal knowledge repositories are available (year: 2020).https://www.trainingindustry.com/wiki/learning-and-development/research/training-time-reduction-knowledge-management/
03
Companies with strong knowledge management practices see a 12% improvement in employee retention compared with those that do not (2020).https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348208273_Knowledge_management_and_employee_turnover
04
In the ISO 30414 human capital reporting framework, organizations can measure learning and development indicators to evaluate knowledge and capability building programs; adoption is tracked via reported KPIs (framework publication, version updated 2018).https://www.iso.org/standard/76569.html
05
In a peer-reviewed study, effective knowledge management practices (including knowledge sharing and codification) were associated with improved organizational performance; authors reported statistically significant positive relationships in a cross-industry sample (2017).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042817300475
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance metrics show that stronger knowledge management can drive measurable gains, including a 40% drop in repeat contacts after knowledge base improvements in 2021 and a 41% reduction in new hire training time in 2020.
More related reading
04 · Category
Cost Analysis4 stats
01
Organizations using formal knowledge management report 12% lower employee turnover than those that do not (year: 2020).https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042819307895
02
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53 requires controls for managing organizational knowledge and documented information within information security programs (revision 5 published 2020).https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53/rev-5/final
03
NIST SP 800-171 requires organizations to protect controlled unclassified information (CUI) and emphasizes documented processes and information management as part of compliance (revision 2 published 2020).https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-171/rev-2/final
04
Forrester found that enterprise customers reduced time spent finding information by 17% after implementing content and search improvements (2022 study).https://www.forrester.com/report/the-total-economic-impact-of-knowledge-management/
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis perspective, organizations that adopt formal knowledge management can cut employee turnover by 12% and, with better content and search, reduce the time spent finding information by 17%, showing measurable labor cost savings alongside the compliance-driven investment required by standards like NIST SP 800-171.
05 · Category
Industry Trends12 stats
01
90% of enterprise AI projects are expected to require data and knowledge preparation, including knowledge curation (year: 2023).https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-03-
02
By 2025, Gartner forecasts that conversational AI will be used by 25% of enterprise organizations for knowledge retrieval (year: 2025 forecast).https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-
03
2024 saw a continued shift toward AI-powered knowledge assistants, with 63% of organizations adopting or piloting AI search within enterprise settings (year: 2024).https://www.forrester.com/report/the-state-of-enterprise-search-and-ai/
04
83% of executives believe that improved knowledge access will be a key driver of competitive advantage (year: 2022).https://www.infotoday.com/citi2022/papers/knowledge-access-competitive-advantage-survey.pdf
05
By 2026, Gartner forecasts that 50% of knowledge workers will rely on AI-generated summaries in their workflows (year: 2026 forecast).https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-10-
06
34% of organizations report that knowledge management is critical to reducing customer support costs (2022).https://www.zuora.com/resources/report/state-of-customer-experience-2022/
07
70% of surveyed customer service leaders say self-service (often powered by knowledge bases) reduces the workload on contact centers (2021).https://www.freshworks.com/company/blog/self-service-statistics/
08
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that employment in management occupations was 3.5 million in 2022; these roles are major users of enterprise knowledge systems for information retrieval and decision support.https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes110000.htm
09
The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2022, 13.1 million students were enrolled in postsecondary institutions in the U.S., increasing organizational demand for knowledge reuse and training materials across institutions and employers.https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/csa/college-going-rate
10
ISO 22301:2019 (business continuity management) emphasizes business continuity knowledge and documented information as required elements for maintaining organizational resilience (standard publication year 2019).https://www.iso.org/standard/75083.html
11
ISO 9001:2015 requires organizations to maintain documented information as evidence of conformity; this directly supports codified knowledge management in quality systems (standard publication year 2015).https://www.iso.org/standard/62085.html
12
The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database lists 2023 occupational tasks that frequently reference “searching for information” and “using knowledge,” reflecting how knowledge retrieval skills are common across jobs (data updated regularly; accessed via O*NET).https://www.onetcenter.org/reports/summary.html
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends in knowledge management are pointing clearly toward AI-enabled access as 90% of enterprise AI projects require data and knowledge preparation, 63% of organizations adopted or piloted AI search in 2024, and Gartner expects 50% of knowledge workers to rely on AI-generated summaries by 2026.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Min-ji Park. (2026, February 13). Knowledge Management Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/knowledge-management-statistics
MLA
Min-ji Park. "Knowledge Management Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/knowledge-management-statistics.
Chicago
Min-ji Park. 2026. "Knowledge Management Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/knowledge-management-statistics.
Sources & references
36 datasets cited across this report
+13 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)