PENETRATION AND PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE SOFTWARE SMES IN NORTH INDIA Ritika Saini Assistant Professor, Chandigarh Business School, Landran, Mohali. Email: ritika.er@gmail.com. Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the penetration and performance of IT tools in the implementation of Knowledge Management Practices in Software SMEs. Design/Methodology/Approach: Following Factor analysis, Descriptive analysis, and Regression analysis techniques, the study sourced its data from 80 Software SMEs of North India. The research instrument was created using the existing literature. Findings: IT is an indispensable part of Knowledge Management Practices and applicability of Information Technology tools improved the Knowledge Management process by increasing the speed, accuracy, cost effectiveness, effective control and operational eficiency, and made the implementation of Knowledge Management Practices easier. IT provided the operational support to the Knowledge Management Practices by increasing the content visibility, proper documentation, completeness, and systematic storage of the knowledge. IT tools also provided better security and more reliability to the Knowledge Management system. The strategic development was the third important area of IT Enabled KM Practices in software industries. These IT enabled KM Practices enhanced the strategic development of the organization by improving KM process, competence, employee participation, decision support, Cross-unit performance and effective integration of systems. Research Limitations/Implications: Study was restricted only to Software SMEs of North India. Keywords: Knowledge, Knowledge Management (KM), Information Technology, IT Tools, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). 1. INTRODUCTION The advancement in Information Technology had created the opportunity for organizations to use information systems to collect, organize, and synthesize knowledge in a manner that creates competitive advantage. Information Technology (IT) is widely employed to connect people with reusable codiied knowledge and it facilitates conversations. It qualiies as a natural medium for knowledge low. Knowledge Management’s growth within organizations is closely aligned with the development of intranet, internet, emails, and web technologies. Many organizations have employed Information Technologies, known as Knowledge Management systems (KMS) for managing organizational knowledge. These IT-based systems support and enhance the organizational processes of knowledge creation, storage, retrieval, transfer, distribution, application, indexing, categorizing, seeking related content, and lexibly expressing the content based on the various utilization backgrounds (Safa, et al., 2006; Cavana et al., 2001). Intranets and the internet are IT tools which allow communication by using applications like electronic mail, online discussions, and document management. Knowledge Management Portals and other Knowledge Management systems provide discussion boards for employee communication and collaboration. The various specialist software houses have developed complete Knowledge Management solutions and large software companies such as Microsoft and Lotus have marketed their groupware and Intranet products as supporting Knowledge Management Practices.