Why (and How) to Build a Company Knowledge Base

“Knowledge is power.” This theme has been demonstrated countless times throughout history, from the huge conflicts that spanned the globe, to the meteoric rises that many businesses have seen, down to the conversations held at the dinner table. Knowledge simply makes things go better for you, which is why it is so helpful for businesses to have a knowledge base at their disposal. Today, your IT can give you even more opportunities to use information to your advantage.

Here, let’s discuss how to put together a knowledge base to ensure that your team has access to the information they need.

The Root of All Knowledge is Data

With the right data at your disposal, and a means of using it, your capability to improve your business’ many processes is substantially improved. Whether you’re considering your procurement processes, your standard operations, or your delivery and support, the right information makes all the difference. However, you need to collect this information first.

How do you do that? Simple. By educating yourself through experience and analysis, you can devise improved processes for your business, ultimately boosting its productivity and its general success.

Documentation

Of course, for this to happen, your information needs to be in a usable, accessible format. This is where a documented knowledge base becomes key. Creating one is an important task to undertake and is a process that needs to be standardized so that others can and will follow it as needed later on. Your documentation should cover the correct procedure for completing a defined task, as well as the reason for that process and the underlying goal for doing so.

Creating a knowledge base like this brings you some considerable benefits, including:

• More consistent service delivery—If a standardized process is followed each time an activity is carried out, your clients and customers should be able to reliably expect a certain outcome, growing their confidence in your business.
• Reduced time consulting support—With a reference to lean on, problems can be solved more efficiently, without needing to expend extra time or manpower pulling in an additional resource for help.
• Reduced training costs—With a comprehensive knowledge base, you have a tool that can help you train your employees, as well as a resource for them to refer to when needed. Establishing this knowledge base also helps you when the time comes to onboard someone new.

Starting Your Knowledge Base

The first step to creating a knowledge base is recognizing the need for one. If your team keeps asking the same questions repeatedly, they will likely benefit from such a resource. 

Once you’ve identified the need for a knowledge base, you should go through any training content or informational resources you do have to see if there are any gaps. Then, once you’ve picked a tone for your knowledge base to take (to help avoid apparent contradiction) you can put together your completed resources.

After that comes the management. As circumstances change all the time—especially in business—these documents will almost certainly need updating on occasion. You also need to be sure that your documentation is in a format that makes it easy for your staff to access it and find what they are looking for.

This process can help you create a knowledge base for whoever needs it, whether that means for your employees or your clients. If you need assistance with the technical side of managing a knowledge base, or any IT challenge you may be facing, reach out to BNMC at (978) 482-2020.