Knowledge Management Software Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Global Knowledge Management Software Market Trends and Insights

Rising investment in AI and automation

IBM’s generative-AI revenue reached USD 6 billion in Q1 2025, and its software segment advanced 9% year-over-year, underscoring the link between AI spending and robust knowledge systems that underpin model training and deployment. Microsoft added USD 8.5 billion of productivity-and-business-processes revenue in FY24 Q4 as AI-enabled Office 365 features boosted adoption, demonstrating how enriched knowledge repositories accelerate upsell potential.^{[1]Microsoft Investor Relations, “FY24 Q4 Results,” microsoft.com} Cognizant earmarked USD 1 billion for generative AI and deployed 25,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, signaling that consulting firms now regard enterprise knowledge assets as prerequisites for scaled AI value creation.^{[2]Cognizant, “Generative AI Investment Announcement,” cognizant.com} Such investments strengthen the knowledge management software market by channeling budget to platforms that structure data for AI workloads.

Growing importance of data and knowledge sharing

Atlassian surpassed USD 5 billion in annualized revenue by positioning Confluence and related tools as hubs that dissolve departmental silos. Georgia-Pacific’s ‘ChatGP’ project with AWS captures retiree know-how into a central AI-driven knowledge base, illustrating how heavy-industry players institutionalize experiential insights for plant-wide reuse. These examples show that organizations gain speed and innovation agility when institutional knowledge flows freely, bolstering the knowledge management software market.

Expansion of remote/hybrid work models

TCS consolidated 500+ repositories into its Adaptive Knowledge Bank, improving customer experience by 15% and cutting support handling time 40% after applying natural-language search. ServiceNow’s integration of Now Assist with Microsoft 365 lets distributed employees retrieve policies and file tickets via conversational prompts, addressing collaboration gaps inherent in hybrid workplaces.^{[3]ServiceNow Newsroom, “ServiceNow to Acquire data.world,” servicenow.com} As knowledge workers become more dispersed, firms require unified yet context-aware knowledge access, further scaling the knowledge management software market.

Rapid adoption of cloud-native KM suites

SAP grew Q1 2025 cloud revenue 27% to EUR 4.993 billion (USD 5.4 billion) and launched Business Data Cloud, embedding knowledge graphs that feed AI agents with cross-domain context. OpenText’s FY2024 cloud revenue rose to USD 1.8 billion, reflecting the shift of traditional content-management workloads into subscription-based, AI-ready stacks. Cloud models supply elastic compute that AI-centric knowledge mining demands, reinforcing the knowledge management software market.

High initial cost and implementation complexity

Comprehensive roll-outs entail data migration, taxonomy design, and user training that often span 6–12 months. Although cloud subscriptions lower capex, organizations still face integration with ERP, CRM, and identity platforms, raising change-management overhead. Vendors are mitigating the barrier through pre-built connectors and low-code setup wizards, yet the constraint temporarily slows the knowledge management software market’s penetration among resource-pressed SMEs.

Data-security and privacy concerns

Enterprises deploying large language models inside knowledge systems demand granular permissions, audit trails, and region-specific data residency. Microsoft Copilot pilots exposed over-permissioned content access, prompting enterprises to implement continuous monitoring before full rollout. Regulations such as GDPR and CCPA compel providers to deliver fine-grained retention and anonymization features. These safeguards increase total cost of ownership and elongate procurement cycles, restraining short-term adoption while pushing the knowledge management software market toward secure-by-design architectures.

Segment Analysis

By Functionality: Document Management Dominance Faces AI Disruption

Document management retained 38.98% of knowledge management software market share in 2024, affirming that organized repositories remain foundational to digital work. However, the segment’s growth is overshadowed by intelligent chatbots and virtual agents rising at 22.40% CAGR to 2030. Organizations blend traditional libraries with conversational front-ends so users can retrieve contextually relevant excerpts rather than sift through folders. 

Knowledge discovery and search modules connect static documents to AI engines that parse unstructured text via machine learning, while analytics dashboards surface usage gaps, guiding content curation. LG CNS, for instance, cut retrieval time by more than 50% after integrating Elastic search into its KeyLook platform, raising search relevance 95%. As generative models rewrite or summarize content on demand, formerly siloed document archives transform into interactive knowledge assets, sustaining momentum within the knowledge management software market.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Deployment: Cloud Transformation Accelerates Enterprise Adoption

Cloud deployment captured 62.66% of knowledge management software market share in 2024 and is set for 20.10% CAGR through 2030. Hyperscalers equip tenants with auto-scaling GPUs and pre-integrated AI APIs, enabling knowledge extraction, summarization, and semantic search without on-premise hardware. ServiceNow’s 2025 purchase of data.world embeds lineage-rich data catalogs into its SaaS workflow fabric, positioning its cloud stack as the default knowledge backbone for cross-department use cases.

On-premise deployments persist in defense, healthcare, and finance owing to sovereignty mandates, yet even these sectors pilot hybrid topologies that route non-sensitive analytics to public cloud. Subscription pricing further entices SMEs, democratizing enterprise-grade capability and expanding knowledge management software market size among first-time buyers. The convergence of workload portability, continuous feature delivery, and AI accelerators cements cloud as the dominant delivery model.

By End-User Enterprise Size: SME Growth Challenges Enterprise Incumbency

Large organizations controlled 56.52% of knowledge management software market share in 2024, reflecting decades of content-management investment. Their adoption centers on complex use cases—regulatory e-discovery, multilingual taxonomies, and integration with DevOps pipelines—that require enterprise-class governance. Atlassian now counts more than 500 customers spending USD 1 million or more annually on its collaboration stack, illustrating sustained enterprise appetite. 

SMEs, however, are accelerating at a 19.60% CAGR, drawn by plug-and-play SaaS suites bundled with workflow and generative write-assist tools. With limited IT staff, these firms prioritize rapid onboarding and ROI, turning to templated knowledge wikis that extend existing productivity suites. The resulting influx of net-new accounts invigorates overall knowledge management software market growth while pressuring vendors to streamline UX and support multi-tier pricing.

By End-user Industry: Healthcare Acceleration Outpaces IT Leadership

IT and telecom retained a 24.19% revenue share in 2024 as early digital adopters enhanced developer-support portals and incident-response playbooks. Yet healthcare climbs at a 21.30% CAGR because clinical decision support, patient-safety mandates, and electronic health record interoperability hinge on real-time, evidence-based knowledge delivery. Hospitals deploy AI-tagged repositories that surface treatment protocols and research summaries at the bedside, directly shaping patient outcomes. 

BFSI firms integrate knowledge hubs with risk-modelling engines, while manufacturers digitize legacy standard-operating procedures to counter retiring-workforce brain drain. Retailers embed knowledge bases into chatbots for omnichannel customer service. Each vertical imposes domain-specific taxonomies and compliance filters, spurring vendors to launch pre-configured industry packs and driving segmentation within the broader knowledge management software market.

Geography Analysis

North America accounted for 38.46% of knowledge management software market share in 2024. The region’s technology incumbents both supply and consume advanced suites, reinforcing a virtuous cycle of product enhancement. Microsoft’s productivity portfolio alone added USD 8.5 billion year-over-year, highlighting mature yet growing demand for AI-infused knowledge services. Regulatory scrutiny around AI governance prompts providers to embed auditability and role-based controls geared to U.S. and Canadian privacy statutes, shaping product roadmaps. 

Asia-Pacific advances at a 23.70% CAGR, acting as the growth engine for the knowledge management software market. National digital-transformation programs, mobile-first workforces, and aggressive AI skilling initiatives foster fertile ground. Hitachi’s multi-billion-dollar partnership with Microsoft illustrates how regional conglomerates scale generative-AI-ready knowledge platforms to support smart-city and industrial-IoT rollouts. Cloud availability zones across India, Japan, and Southeast Asia further reduce latency and improve compliance alignment, catalyzing adoption. 

Europe shows steady expansion underpinned by GDPR-driven demand for metadata lineage, retention controls, and on-premise options. Enterprises invest in semantic graph layers that enforce fine-grained consent and enable multilingual search across complex corporate archives. Meanwhile, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa emerge as green-field territories where SaaS knowledge hubs leapfrog legacy ECM investments, with public-sector e-government projects acting as anchor tenants and widening the knowledge management software market’s global footprint.