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We all know the saying “Knowledge is Power”, and this still rings true today, but knowledge can also be analogous to “Time”. Whether it be time gained, or time lost, how quickly employees can access company knowledge translates into huge amounts of time, translating into huge amounts of money. In a season where companies are forced to maintain and improve services, while often cutting budgets, time (knowledge) management can be an overlooked tool that can produce dramatic effects to the bottom line.

Knowledge Sharing:

Organizations use knowledge management/sharing for both internal and external use. Some companies post answers to FAQ’s , company information, and even product manuals in knowledge base articles located on their company websites. Call centers typically use knowledge base technology to provide customer service reps the ability to search for and quickly provide answers to callers. And there are companies that simply have a corporate knowledge base for internal knowledge sharing.

Selecting the right Knowledge Base Tool:

There are many Knowledge Base (KB) software tools on the market today that are built to organize your company knowledge. You’ll need to develop specific criteria based on your needs because all software applications are not created equal. For example you will need to consider:

Web Based Apps - Web based apps are hosted on the web, so they can be accessed by anyone with access to a web browser. This is especially effective for remote access such as remote employees.

Ease of Use - your KB should have an easy to use article editor, so that articles are easy to create. It should include the ability to create links, include images, and add attachments to the article. Additional features to consider are the ability to load and view multiple file types, such as video and flash files. The inclusion of a flexible template system allows different departments to quickly create articles based on their needs.

Flexible Roles - You will have administrators that manage the app, and employees and/or web site visitors that will be the ‘end-users ‘of the app. The software should be highly flexible where administrators can delegate the content (through permissions), so that you can decide who has access to view what.

Search capabilities - what good is storing knowledge if you can’t easily find it? The KB should have both basic and advanced search capabilities, such as the ability to not only search the KB, but also the ability to search common attachments. Other high-quality search features include a built-in thesaurus engine, as well as search filters that further refine your search.

Work flow Capability - this key feature can be a huge time management tool. In certain cases, Knowledge Base articles that have been added or changed require multiple people in various departments to approve the new or changed article. A Work Flow System provides a flexible method for automating AND keeping track of these approval tasks. Advance features should allow for auto email notifications, to complete the loop and advise when tasks are completed or rejected.

User Feed back mechanisms - this will help you keep your KB well maintained. Metrics such as hit tracking, search phrase logging, and an article rating system can let your users tell you how the app is working for them. Some KB’s even allow your users to propose an amendment to a given article.

Traceable Security - supports compliance with archival histories, such as who/when an article was edited, and as mentioned above, who has permissions to view selected company data.

Getting Your Employees on Board:

Sharing employee knowledge is one of the greatest benefits of a KB System. Whether it be documenting company policies, or company best practices, getting that information out of the employee’s heads and into a centralized reservoir is essential. Letting valuable knowledge leave when an employee leaves is costly and unnecessary. With the knowledge base you can:

Reduce employee training time - document training and company “best practices” to get new employees trained and quickly up to speed.

Retain employee knowledge - prevents knowledge from leaving when an employee leaves.

Share knowledge among departments - encourage employees to propose or amend articles to help management solve problems- they can often give higher level management a great perspective ‘from the ground level’. (Most employees are eager to contribute - awards for article submissions are a great incentive to get employees to play a part).

Companies whose Call Centers maintain statistics regarding the number of incoming calls and the average time per call are often able to see an immediate reduction in the “cost per call”. This quickly translates into increased efficiencies as well as proven Return on Investment (ROI). Once employees begin to see the benefits and how much easier their jobs will be, they will often quickly get on board and become huge proponents of the system. In the end, management gets a system that quickly pays for itself and the employees are pleased to be able to quickly access the data they need in order to do their jobs better and provide their customers the best and most expedient support possible.

About The Author:
Written by: Anne Sych, Marketing Manager for Novo Solutions, Inc.
Novo Solutions, Inc. is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) in Virginia Beach, Virginia specializing in Knowledge base and Customer Support Software. Free trial versions of the Novo Help Desk Software, Knowledge Base Software and suite of web-based Customer Support Solutions are available. Contact: sales@novosolutions.com for more information. http://www.novosolutions.com/

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