What Is Knowledge Base Management (And What Can It Do for Your Organization)?
A common issue facing many organizations is the tremendous amount of information they have to provide to both internal and external audiences. This can include marketing materials like brochures, slick sheets, case studies, and PowerPoint presentations; technical resources, such as user guides, FAQs, training materials, and documentation; and internal-facing documents (forms, past memos, process protocols, etc.). This collection of information is your company’s knowledge base.
The challenge with a knowledge base is that it tends to build up slowly and haphazardly over time. Someone creates a terrific user guide that has its own distinctive look and feel, but looks completely different from all of your other publications. Important resources (like the documentation of internal systems) might live on someone’s hard disk, where coworkers may not even know it exists. All kinds of internal and external information can get split up into silos, where it does little good for anyone except those who know how to find it. Even if it’s all brought together into one place, organizing this disparate information is a challenge, and much of it may be hopelessly out of date.
Through effective knowledge base management, your company can organize information in one place, keep it up to date, and maintain a consistent look and feel. You’ll also be able to set permissions (e.g., for file access) based on team, role, management level, etc. A good knowledge base will make your business more efficient by facilitating the building and sharing of knowledge between and among employees. It will also increase customer satisfaction by presenting critical information clearly, and making it easy to access.
Implementing an effective knowledge base management program may be a challenge at the outset, but the payoff for your organization can be significant. Resolvit’s consultants can help you compile, update, and administer your knowledge base so that you gain the benefits of better information while keeping your teams focused on their core strengths.
Contact us to learn more about our knowledge base management offerings.