Knowledge Base

Updated On: Mar 12, 2024

Knowledge Base Management: A Comprehensive Guide

Reading-Time 11 Min

Knowledge base management

Imagine you’re at a massive party, but everyone’s speaking a different language. You’re lost, confused, and desperate for a translator. That’s what information overload feels like, especially in today’s world.

Now, imagine if a dear friend appears at the party, not just translating but being much-needed support. They introduce you to the right conversations, making the party bearable and maybe even enjoyable for you.

That’s the essence of Knowledge Base Management in the business world – your ultimate translator and guide through the maze of information overload.

In this blog, we will cover what knowledge base management is and how to effectively create it as per your organization’s needs, among other things. 

What is Knowledge Base Management?

Knowledge base management is when the creation, organization, maintenance, and distribution of knowledge is carried out systematically to bring knowledge under one roof within an organization. 

A Knowledge base is a reliable single source to access organization-wide knowledge of products, policies, and best practices. The goal of knowledge base management is to facilitate efficient knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and decision-making among employees and other stakeholders.

Types of Knowledge Base

Knowledge bases can be categorized into various types based on content, purpose, and functionality. Here are the two types of knowledge bases:

1. Internal Knowledge Base

An internal knowledge base (KB) is like a company’s own library or encyclopedia. It’s a centralized platform where employees can find all the information they need to do their jobs efficiently without having to ask colleagues or waste time searching through documents. 

Think of it as a single source of truth for your organization’s internal knowledge and practices. An example of an internal knowledge base could be articles for solving customer queries.

2. External Knowledge Base

The external knowledge base is the publicly available content on digital channels for customers to view. This provides self-service capabilities & customers can solve their own problems at their convenience.  

The main idea of an external or customer-facing knowledge base is that it is accessible and easy to use. An example of an external source knowledge base management system could be FAQs.

internal vs external knowledge base

3 Benefits of Knowledge Base Management

A knowledge management system provides multiple benefits for different facets of your organization. It works like an interlinked web. This means that the software thinks of all the essentials of your business.

We can look at a few benefits of this system in the following areas:

Benefits of Knowledge Base Management

1. For Your Customers

An effective knowledge base management system helps your organization serve customers in many ways. It helps the customer help themselves, a.k.a. Self-service, and enhances customer satisfaction (CSAT).


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A user-friendly knowledge base management system allows customers to quickly find answers and resolve issues independently, enhancing customer satisfaction by saving time and effort. It is also always accessible, even outside of support hours, giving customers the flexibility to get help when they need it, regardless of schedule constraints.

Customers who can easily find the information they need are less likely to get frustrated and contact support. This leads to a more positive overall experience.

2. For Your Support Agents

Knowledge base software helps increase your agent’s efficiency by streamlining information access, boosting efficiency, and tailoring support for agents. This support leads to improved first-call resolution (FCR) and overall customer satisfaction (CSAT).

An AI-based knowledge management software can further automate the retrieval of common information, freeing up agents’ time to focus on more complex problems. By providing a single source of truth, the KMS ensures that agents give consistent and accurate information to customers, regardless of their experience level.

3. For Your Business

A knowledge base management system allows operational efficiency in your organization by providing a centralized platform for organizing and accessing information, reducing time spent searching for relevant data. 

It also minimizes knowledge loss, ensuring valuable insights are retained even with employee turnover. Moreover, it reduces support costs as customers can find solutions independently, reducing the need for extensive assistance.

How to Create an Effective Knowledge Base

Creating a knowledge base that’s intuitive, engaging, and delivers answers fast requires careful planning and execution. Here’s how you can build an effective knowledge base:

How to Create an Effective Knowledge Base

1. Define Your Objectives

First and foremost, clearly define your goals. What purpose will this knowledge base serve? Is it to expedite the resolution of support tickets, facilitate onboarding new agents, or share best practices across the organization? 

Clearly defining your objectives forms the bedrock upon which every subsequent decision rests, ensuring the overall effectiveness of your knowledge base.

2. Identify Your Audience

Next, understand your ideal user. Understanding the needs and preferred learning styles of your agents can really help set up the knowledge base. This insight is pivotal in shaping your knowledge base effectively.

Tailoring content and format to your audience’s specific preferences lays the groundwork for a seamless and intuitive information retrieval experience, optimizing the usability of your knowledge base.

3. Choose a Platform

Decide whether you want to build a custom solution, use an existing knowledge management platform, or integrate a Knowledge Base module into an existing system. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each option, taking into account factors such as development resources, scalability, and potential integrations with existing systems. 

Popular platforms like Knowmax, Confluence, Zendesk, and other custom web applications give you the option to implement AI-based knowledge base management.

4. Plan Your Information Architecture

Design a logical and intuitive structure, employing clearly defined categories, subcategories, and relevant tags. This ensures that the users can navigate with ease, readily locating the information they want. 

5. Include Visuals

Organizing information in guided workflows with visual support makes knowledge easily consumable for users. With intuitive decision trees and picture guides, the knowledge base can be more effective during information retrieval.

6. Prioritize AI-powered Search

A powerful generative AI in modern knowledge management systems can provide precise answers to any question while simultaneously locating the source for you from your knowledge base. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what an AI-backed knowledge base can provide. Make sure to implement an advanced search feature that can handle keyword searches, filters, and advanced queries.

7. Use Feedback and Analytics

Encourage user feedback through comments, ratings, and comprehensive surveys. Analyze usage patterns to identify popular content and outdated sections. This ongoing feedback loop helps keep your knowledge base relevant.

8. Assess and Maintain Knowledge Base Health

Regular maintenance and updates are essential for knowledge base management. Ensure that content is updated regularly and existing content is also reviewed for accuracy. 

Knowledge Base Management: Best Practices

1. Know Your People

A knowledge base management system is the people who use it. So, the best way to choose functions is to look at how information sharing is currently happening in the organization. Then, look at what changes you want to make and how knowledge management tools can help achieve the goal.

2. Embrace New Technologies

Absolutely no business starts from scratch without minimum software technologies in the 21st century. Leveraging the latest technologies enhances efficiency through automation and ensures adaptability to evolving organizational needs.

Advancements like AI tools streamline processes, minimize errors, and ultimately empower your teams to access and utilize information more effectively, thereby optimizing the overall knowledge management experience.

3. Foster a Knowledge-sharing Culture

The knowledge base you implement not only decides workflows in the present or near future but also determines how the culture of knowledge-sharing will happen in the organization. It is best to opt for tools that help you provide maximum transparency with long-term goals in mind.


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Build a Dynamic Knowledge Base with Knowmax

Knowmax is a CX-first web knowledge management system that helps you create a single source of truth for your organizational knowledge. The AI-powered knowledge management features help your agents and customers across touchpoints with actionable knowledge in the form of:

With Knowmax’s AI, Knowledge authors can scale content by converting static troubleshooting articles into next-best actions workflows, repurposing existing content, and generating article summaries hassle-free. 

What’s more, the built-in analytics and reports give you detailed insights into knowledge health, tool activity, search trends, and more. And seamless integrations with your existing CX tools like CRM, chat, telephone, etc, ensure the right knowledge is always available to the right people.

Pratik Salia

Growth

Pratik is a customer experience professional who has worked with startups & conglomerates across various industries & markets for 10 years. He shares latest trends in the areas of CX and Digital Transformation for Customer Service & Contact Center.

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