Knowledge is power. It’s an overused platitude, but it rings true in the business world. The more knowledge your employees have, the better they’re able to perform their duties and serve customers. The more knowledge your customers have, the more informed and less burdensome they are. Developing a knowledge base is a good first step in the right direction, but not all knowledge bases are created equal. You need to make sure you’re maximizing value by getting the small details right.
5 Relevant Pieces of Advice
Every knowledge base is different. It all depends on your objectives, the information you wish to make available, and how you want to convey that information. But as you design or refine your knowledge base, here’s some advice you’ll want to take to heart.
1. Capture the Right Data and Knowledge
Any successful knowledge base has to start with the right content, which is rooted in capturing relevant data and information. It won’t provide any value if it doesn’t have meaty content and resources. As you build out your knowledge base, make sure you’re putting infrequently asked questions, important topics and issues, guides and user manuals, and even video content. The more knowledge you can add in different formats, the better your results will be.
2. Focus On the People
It’s impossible to build a successful knowledge base without prioritizing people. While it can seem like the knowledge base is the focus, it’s actually the people you’re teaching, educating, and informing that matter most. If you aren’t satisfying their needs, then you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to add value to the bottom line.
3. Implement Embedded Analytics
When it comes to knowledge base management, there’s a lot of talk about the importance of staying up to date. You’ll hear people talk about the need to regularly refresh information and account for changes. But this is a time-intensive, inefficient way of approaching your knowledge base. What you really need is to do is rely on embedded analytics.
The great thing about integrating embedded analytics into your knowledge base is that it allows the application to be context-specific. This means each end-user has real-time access to information that’s relevant to them in the moment.
As data analytics expert Greg Olson writes, “Although standalone tools and embedded applications alike offer the ability to combine any number of disparate data sources – ranging anywhere from small data files and relational databases to big data and even streaming data – the embedded analytics option allows users to explore them as if they were one cohesive data source within any application.”
4. Learn From Past Mistakes
It’s easy to get frustrated with your knowledge base if you haven’t had the results you wanted in the past. The important thing is that you don’t throw in the towel. Having a robust knowledge base software is more important than ever and you have to learn from your mistakes, as opposed to letting them dissuade you from getting involved.
5. Stay Up to Date on New Trends
Finally, make sure you’re staying up to date on all new trends. Knowledge base technology is improving rapidly and yesterday’s best practices may not be useful tomorrow. The more you study new trends, the more likely that you’ll be successful.
Maximize Your Knowledge Base’s Value
If you’re going to develop a knowledge base, you might as well follow through and make it worth your time. A half-hearted effort won’t do you any good. You need to focus on the details and ensure it’s easy to use, fully functional, and valuable to all end users. Otherwise, you won’t see great results.
FREE. All Features. FOREVER!
Try our Forever FREE account with all premium features!
