What is a knowledge base management system?

A knowledge base management system is a software platform that allows organizations to capture, manage, and distribute organizational knowledge in a structured and accessible way. In other words, it’s a repository for an organization’s collective knowledge, making it easily searchable and shareable across teams and departments.

Implementing an effective knowledge base management system is critical for businesses of all sizes. It helps streamline processes, improve customer satisfaction, and encourage knowledge sharing among employees. By consolidating your organization’s institutional knowledge in one place, you’re ensuring that the right information gets to the right people at the right time — creating a powerhouse from within that sustains continuing success.

Below, we’ll uncover the ins and outs of knowledge base management systems and the best practices for selecting and managing one.

What is the purpose of a knowledge base management system?

The primary purpose of a knowledge base management system is to have the ability to easily manage a centralized location where an organization’s captured information can be stored, organized, continuously updated, and readily accessed by all teams and departments. The goal of creating a knowledge base in the first place is to optimize productivity, efficiency, and, of course, the customer experience. The system in which this knowledge lives should make it easier to achieve these goals.

There are five ways in which a knowledge base management system enables organizations to achieve these goals:

• Centralizing all of an organization’s knowledge assets, such as documents, policies, procedures, how-to guides, etc., in a single, searchable repository.
• Making this knowledge easily accessible to teams whenever they need it.
• Enabling opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams and departments, whether it be to share data and insights with clients or on how to improve upon processes.
• Leveraging insights and analytics to continuously improve upon the organization’s collective knowledge and identify knowledge gaps.
• Ensuring the accuracy, relevance, and timeliness of the information contained within the knowledge base.

Ultimately, a well-designed knowledge base management system empowers organizations to break down information silos and make better, more informed decisions, deliver superior customer experiences, and operate much more efficiently.

Types of knowledge base management systems

Internal knowledge bases

Internal knowledge bases are accessible only to an organization’s teams and are typically used to house mission-critical information, such as:

• Company policies and procedures
• Product or service specifications and technical documentation
• Best practices and operational guidelines
• Training materials and onboarding resources

The primary purpose of an internal knowledge base is to empower your teams with the information they need to do their jobs effectively, reduce time spent searching for answers, and ensure consistency in processes and decision-making across the organization.

External knowledge bases

In contrast, external knowledge bases are meant to be publicly accessible and designed to serve a company’s customers, partners, and other external stakeholders. These knowledge bases often include:

• Self-service support articles and troubleshooting guides
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Product manuals and user guides
• Community forums and discussion boards

By providing your customers and other departments with a comprehensive external knowledge base, you can improve satisfaction, reduce support costs, and enable external users to find solutions to their problems independently.

Hybrid knowledge bases

Some organizations choose to implement a hybrid knowledge base approach, which combines elements of both internal and external knowledge bases. This allows them to:

• Maintain a secure, internal-facing repository of sensitive information for teams
• Publish a public-facing knowledge base with non-sensitive content for customers and partners
• Selectively share certain knowledge base articles and other types of content between the two environments

Hybrid knowledge bases offer the benefits of both internal and external systems, providing a flexible and scalable knowledge management solution that caters to the needs of diverse stakeholders.

Key features for selecting a knowledge base management system

Not all knowledge base management tools and software are created equally. When selecting a knowledge management system for your organization’s knowledge assets, the most important thing to consider is the features offered and how they align with your organizational goals.

Successful knowledge base management systems typically include the following key features:

• Intuitive search and navigation: Your teams and departments should be able to quickly and easily find the information they need through powerful search functionality and an intuitive content organization structure. This could look like predictable search functions or a user-friendly navigation menu.
• Content authoring and editing tools: The system should also provide a user-friendly interface for subject matter experts to create, update, and publish knowledge base content.
• Multimedia support: A modern knowledge base should be able to accommodate a variety of content formats, including text, images, videos, diagrams, and more.
• Permissions and access controls: Granular permissions settings allow organizations to control who can view, create, edit, and publish different types of knowledge base content.
• Reporting and analytics: Robust reporting and analytics capabilities provide insights into how the knowledge base is being used, which workflows or content are performing well, and where improvements can be made.
• Integrations and automation: Seamless integration with other management systems and the ability to automate repetitive tasks help to maximize the value of the knowledge base are also essential features in a knowledge base management system.

Responsive design: A mobile-friendly, responsive knowledge base ensures that employees and customers can access the information they need anytime, anywhere.

Benefits of using a knowledge base management system

Implementing a comprehensive knowledge base management system can provide a wide range of benefits for your organization, including:

• Increased workflow efficiency and productivity: By consolidating an organization’s knowledge in a centralized repository that enables quick access through robust features, teams can quickly find the information they need to complete tasks and resolve issues. This reduces the time spent searching for data and informational content, improving overall productivity.
• Improved customer experience: A well-designed external knowledge base allows customers to find answers to their questions independently, reducing the need for support interactions. Not only does this result in better customer satisfaction, but it reduces the time that would be spent on working with customers to guide them through certain knowledge assets.
• Enhanced knowledge sharing: Knowledge base management systems facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams, which is essential in helping to break down silos and prevent knowledge loss when employees leave the organization.
• Reduced support costs: By empowering customers to find solutions on their own and enabling teams to resolve issues more quickly, knowledge base management systems can significantly reduce the burden on support teams and lower the associated costs.
• Stronger compliance and governance: Knowledge base management systems provide a structured way to maintain and distribute important policies, procedures, and other compliance-related information, helping to mitigate legal and regulatory risks — which is especially important in the Pharma & Healthcare space.

Improved decision-making: The analytics and insights provided by a knowledge base management system can inform strategic decisions, identify knowledge gaps, and drive continuous improvements to the organization’s knowledge management capabilities.

Challenges of implementing a knowledge base management system

While the benefits of a knowledge base management system are substantial, your organization may also face several challenges when implementing and maintaining these systems. 

The most common challenges associated with implementing a software-based system or additional tools for managing knowledge assets include:

• User adoption and behavior change: Encouraging teams and customers to use and contribute to the knowledge base consistently can be a significant change management challenge. This is especially true for organizations with established but inefficient knowledge-sharing practices. Therefore, it may take a considerable amount of time for your knowledge management system to reflect positive transformation that moves your organization closer to its overarching goals.
• Integration with existing systems: Integrating a knowledge base management system with other business applications, such as CRMs, help desks, and content management systems, can be technically complex and time-consuming. That’s why it’s essential to pay attention to the features offered by each knowledge management system to ensure seamless integration with minimal disruption.
• Scalability and performance: As your organization’s knowledge base grows in size and complexity, ensuring fast search and retrieval times, as well as the ability to handle increased user traffic, can become a significant operational challenge. Choosing the right system for your organization means ensuring it’s designed for scalability and is equipped to track important metrics and generate reports so you always know how close or how far you are to your organizational goals.
• Governance and access control: Striking the right balance between making knowledge widely available and maintaining appropriate security and permissions controls is critical but can be difficult to achieve. Depending on the system you choose, this may require more discernment among team leaders and stakeholders.
• Measuring and demonstrating ROI: Quantifying the benefits of a knowledge base management system, such as reduced support costs or improved customer satisfaction, can be challenging, making it harder to justify the investment to key stakeholders. Be sure to choose a system that allows you to measure important metrics with ease — or ensure there’s a protocol in place for doing so manually.

Best practices for managing a knowledge base management system

To ensure the long-term success and sustainability of a knowledge base management system, there are certain best practices to follow:

Unify all knowledge sources

The first critical step in establishing an effective knowledge base management system is to consolidate all existing knowledge sources into your centralized knowledge base. Organizations typically have valuable insights and internal knowledge scattered across multiple platforms, from internal documentation to support tickets and existing CX tools. 

This unification process requires careful evaluation of existing systems and business processes to ensure that all types of knowledge assets are properly captured and integrated into easily accessible formats.

Establish a protocol for capturing and organizing information

An efficient and sustainable knowledge management process is essential for maintaining accurate information and ensuring the long-term value of your knowledge management system. Your information architecture should support both structured and unstructured content, with clear guidelines for creating and updating knowledge assets. 

For instance, support teams will likely need standardized procedures for repurposing existing content and data so they can convert it into valuable insights. The same goes for turning customer interactions into actionable knowledge that can be shared across the organization and used to enhance decision-making.

Implement the right security and access controls

Implementing comprehensive security measures in your knowledge management software is crucial for protecting both internal knowledge bases and customer-facing knowledge base content. 

The system should incorporate role-based access controls that distinguish between private knowledge bases and external knowledge base access, ensuring that sensitive company knowledge remains secure while still allowing for appropriate information sharing.

Provide comprehensive training and ongoing support

To ensure successful implementation and management, teams and departments should receive adequate training on using the knowledge base software effectively, emphasizing helping them find solutions independently and create accurate answers for common support tickets. 

It’s also a good idea to prioritize leveraging built-in analytics to track search trends and user feedback. This ensures that the training program evolves to meet changing needs and maintains high levels of accuracy and customer satisfaction

Foster a culture of collaboration

Creating a thriving culture of sharing and voluntary collaboration is fundamental to any good knowledge management system. The focus should be on encouraging knowledge sharing across departments and making it easy for teams and individual employees to contribute their expertise or suggestions to the collective knowledge of the organization. 

To create more opportunities for this type of collaboration, it’s necessary to implement the right knowledge management tools that facilitate information sharing.

Monitor and adjust regularly

Regular monitoring of knowledge health and knowledge management capabilities is essential for maintaining an effective system. Through detailed insights and search trend analysis, organizations can continuously improve their knowledge base management practices and streamline processes. 

Organizations should plan to utilize built-in analytics to track how effectively their knowledge base documents are serving both potential customers and internal teams, making data-driven decisions about content updates and software integrations to enhance the overall customer experience.

By implementing a robust knowledge base management system, leaders can unlock the full potential of their organization’s institutional knowledge, empowering employees to work smarter, customers to find solutions independently, and the business as a whole to make more informed decisions. With the right strategy, tools, and best practices in place, knowledge base management systems can become a powerful competitive advantage and a key driver of long-term success.

Ready to change the way your organization manages its knowledge assets? DeepSights™ by Market Logic offers a powerful centralized knowledge management system designed to transform the way your teams handle and share organizational knowledge and track performance. Request a demo today to learn more.