For the rule-makers and rule-takers operating in regulated industries, the challenge of staying compliant with legislation, regulation and standards is more complex than ever. For rule-takers such as audit firms, fund managers, pharma companies, utilities companies, etc., the goal is to ensure that staff guidance materials adhere with the latest updates and are readily available.
The intricate regulatory ecosystem underpinning the work that regulated SMEs performs currently being reshaped by two connected forces: evolving expectations for content search and navigation, and the increasing importance of AI-based modes of interacting with knowledge.
The need for seamless knowledge integration
Traditional approaches to managing company knowledge represent a key hurdle.
Teams face a constant need to switch tasks, jumping from their core work applications into separate knowledge repositories to find crucial guidance information. This is not only inefficient, causing loss of focus, but it also creates a hurdle to accessing this critical knowledge and keeping up to date as it changes.
Many knowledge management systems based on SharePoint deployments, for example, often exacerbate this problem. Due to the organic way these systems have grown over time, they can be confusing to navigate and difficult to manage for purposes such as reporting on changes. The content itself may also lag behind the pace of regulatory change due to cumbersome or delayed publishing processes.
Publication API: integrated, traceable guidance
The solution lies in integrating single source of truth knowledge directly into the tools and workflows that employees use every day. Publication APIs allow regulatory knowledge to flow seamlessly into business systems such as Audit Software, PLMs, CAD tools, QMS tools etc. At the same time, it is important to allow for the knowledge to be tracked across its lifecycle. Particularly in relation to the publishing of standards and regulatory information, enabling consumers of such information to track at a micro level which parts of the standards or regulations have changed and require a review of impacts caused in operational systems.
By creating direct Publication API linkage between the single source of truth for guidance and the business systems downstream, knowledge management teams don’t have to work hard to get the up-to-date guidance they need as timeliness is baked in to the design from the outset.
Looking ahead: AI-optimized knowledge flows
As more advanced AI capabilities start to become more embedded into businesses across the board, organizations are strategically integrating AI into their systems to change how employees access and interact with company knowledge. For example, in our Innovators interview series, Gert-Jan Gerrits speaks about Forvis Mazars’ GAIA global AI assistant that teams can utilize to ask questions.
Crucially, the effectiveness of burgeoning Gen AI applications hinges on the quality and structure of the underlying knowledge. For AI systems to provide accurate, reliable outputs – a critical need in regulated industries -the source knowledge itself must be AI-ready. This means structuring data in a way that AI can easily understand, process, and retrieve, ensuring that the ‘ground truth’ presented to the AI aligns with your organizational truth – the validated, up-to-date guidance material.
By investing in robust knowledge integration through live APIs and by structuring existing knowledge for AI, businesses are building a trustworthy foundation that is ready for the new digital future of work that is emerging rapidly