Implementing a knowledge base for your business can give your organization a competitive advantage, as it gives you valuable access to unique insight and experience. A knowledge base can also identify and address the specific needs of the market you are in and give answers to employees and customers alike.
A knowledgebase can serve an organization as a repository that contains crucial information that allows that business to function more efficiently on a daily basis as well as ensure its long-term success.
It gives businesses an effective solution to store valuable information that concerns their employees, customers, services, and products. It also allows employees to easily access information that is important for handling customer services, improve collaboration and find solutions for current problems.
Why you probably don’t need open source
The first thing you need to choose is the type of knowledge base software that best suits your business organization. All of them benefit a business one way or the other, but it is important to choose the right one so that you can utilize its full potential. A lot of people today are getting hung up on open-source knowledge base software.
Most of them don’t really know why they go for open-source; they most likely just saw somewhere that this is the current “trend.” Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but chances are that you won’t have any uses for open source software and that you will only have nuisances. It’s true that open knowledge base allows developers and users the option to adjust and recreate the knowledge base how they see fit. But do you really need this?
Only unique companies that have highly techy personnel need an open-source knowledge base, for others they can just create a lot of clutter. For example, if someone accidentally changed something, you might have to spend days figuring out the problem and fixing it. Furthermore, when you change a knowledge base, all of your employees will need to get used to working to it, and people with limited tech knowledge could take a long time getting used to it.
In big companies that rely on many people to use a knowledge base on regular basis, this can create a lot of downtimes and a drop in inefficiency. Furthermore, they are harder to maintain and you will have to set up your knowledge base on your own, meaning that you will have to call customer support in case of any issues, and this can cost you a lot of valuable time.
This is why you should probably implement Saas knowledge base software.
Benefits of SaaS knowledge base
First of all, let’s explain what SaaS knowledge base software is. This is a distribution model in which your provider will host, run, and maintain your knowledge base software and give you online access to it. Simply put, SaaS is one of the essential parts of cloud computing.
The first major benefit of building a SaaS knowledge base is the fact that your organization will not have to install, test, and run applications using your own data centers or computers. In some cases, this will also eliminate the need for buying expensive hardware, maintenance, and provisioning, as well as support, installing, or licensing your software.
Your payments will also be more flexible. Instead of actually buying a knowledge base that you then have to install and set up, which is an exhausting process, you will just have to subscribe to someone’s services and pay for your online knowledge base on a monthly basis.
Whenever you are unsatisfied with a certain knowledge base you can easily stop paying for their services and find another one, meaning that you won’t risk a lot of money when you invest in one.
A SaaS knowledge base is also scalable and you can choose how much access you need and include as many features or services as you like. This means that you won’t have to pay for something you don’t need and you can create a knowledge base that fits your needs more accurately without any unnecessary complications.
All of your valuable data can be accessible from anywhere, and you won’t be bound to the computers that only have the physical software installed. Furthermore, in case of a malfunction, your data will not be lost and it will be safely stored on the cloud, while your provider will be in charge of fixing the problem and maintaining your data.
Reusing and capturing knowledge
When you use knowledge base software, you will be directly taking a knowledge-centered approach toward employee training, customer support, and hiring new employees. Most of the processes involved in running a business that requires collaboration and sharing essential information will also be simplified. This information is the key to the knowledge base.
Still, the level of importance your company’s knowledge will have is based on the level of relevance the information you put in it has. In other words, if you want to create a good knowledge base you will have to put valuable information into it such as major business issues, topics, frameworks of your company, important guidelines, and frequently asked questions that concern your business.
One of the best ways to collect only important information is to assign roles and obligations depending on the positions of your employees. For example, someone that works in customer support should only be able to insert new information into the knowledge base space reserved for frequently asked questions because that person is the one who knows what questions customers ask.
When the rest of the company has accurate information, they will be able to see what the issues in customer support are and come up with solutions through mutual collaboration.
Updating the knowledge base constantly
Simply building a knowledge base and filling it with content is not enough. It’s a start, but you cannot stop there. In order for your knowledge base to remain relevant and resourceful, you and your employees alike will have to update constantly.
When there is some new information out there that is relevant to your business, you must include it into your knowledge base and build on it together with your employees.
When employees have new information available, they will interact with it through the knowledge base, gain valuable insights, review that information, and include their feedback based on their observations.
In case that there are inaccuracies or mistakes, employees will update that content or point out these faults to someone who has the ability to change this information. This is how business techniques and operations improve on a regular basis, by updating the information that means the most.
One of the most important benefits of constantly updating your knowledge base is improved employee development. Professions change quickly, and there are always new skills and knowledge that the employees need to have in order to do their jobs flawlessly. When you are always updated with the current trends, employees will learn faster and learn from each other through collaboration.
Conclusion
When building your own knowledge base, it is highly important to consider all of these things mentioned above. Organize your employees well and teach them the value of using the knowledge base in the correct way. Once they are all on the same page you will simply have to sit back and watch the magic at work.