Employees spend more than 25 percent of their time searching for the knowledge they need to do their jobs, according to a recent workplace study. That means, in the average 40-hour workweek, team members waste 10 hours looking for information. Within a company, the average employee might need to navigate several systems to find the answer to a question. Or wait until their supervisor or manager is free to help with critical support.
A knowledge base, which is a self-service library of information that includes answers to commonly-asked questions, can provide companies with a solution. Knowledge bases can help employees learn how to use a particular system or where to send an email. It provides employees with quick access to the information they require without any else getting involved, freeing up resources and improving productivity.
Here’s how to improve information sharing by using a knowledge base.
Make it easy to access and use.
First, managers should promote their knowledge base. That means telling new hires and current employees where they can find it or providing training on how to use it. Employees should become familiar with the knowledge base and use it as the first point of contact when seeking information.
The best knowledge bases are the most simple ones. They structure information in an easy-to-read way and use simple language to explain complicated concepts.
Pro-tip: Capacity is a support automation platform that provides employees with the knowledge they need. Capacity features a knowledge base that organizes tacit knowledge with folders, exchanges, and dialogues, making it easy to find information. Managers can even connect their knowledge base to their current Active Directory for improved functionality.
Explain the benefits of a knowledge base.
Explaining the benefits of a knowledge base can increase adoption and make it a success. Here are some of the perks of a knowledge base for employees:
- They no longer have to ask supervisors or managers for help.
- They can find the information they need in one place.
- They get the support they need to complete day-to-day tasks even when working from home.
- They can improve knowledge and develop new skills.
Don’t overwhelm employees with knowledge.
Employees want answers to their questions, not information that doesn’t pertain to them. So managers should create different knowledge bases for all roles, departments, and team members. For example, managers can develop a knowledge base for their marketing team with department-specific answers and a separate knowledge base for their finance team. Doing this can prevent confusion among team members and improve productivity across all departments.
Pro-tip: Capacity has a knowledge base feature that lets enterprises set access permissions by role, department, geolocation, team member, and more. That means the right people can access the right information at the right time. Employees in their respective departments can instantly access knowledge and do their jobs better without troubling supervisors and managers.
Get employees involved.
Enterprises can improve their knowledge base by asking employees to provide answers to questions if they have the right experience or a particular skill. Doing so can increase collaboration in the workplace and make their knowledge base a centralized information source for everyone. Over time, managers can build up their knowledge base so it provides information for almost any scenario, helping employees access the latest up-to-date information whenever they need it.
How to improve knowledge sharing with AI.
Artificial intelligence turns a knowledge base from a boring question-and-answer database to an interactive, immersive experience. Employees can ask a chatbot a question about their work and receive an automated answer that requires no human intervention.
Pro-tip: Capacity is a support automation platform that offers chatbot functionality for employees who have questions about their job. There are no conflicting or duplicate exchanges. Plus, AI-powered bots can provide accurate answers to questions in mere seconds, improving employee knowledge sharing. Using the latest machine learning technology, Capacity’s interactive knowledge base provides invaluable knowledge to teams across departments.
Find out what employees are asking.
Many knowledge bases at organizations become inactive and include outdated information. By monitoring the questions employees ask, managers can improve knowledge quality and discover insights into their team members. Employees can also find out what questions their colleagues ask and get instant answers to queries they didn’t think to ask. As a result, businesses can improve knowledge management for all teams.
Pro-tip: Capacity has a knowledge base feature that serves as a newsfeed, listing the most popular or recently-asked questions from all team members in a central location. This newsfeed feature can improve collaboration among team members and increase knowledge across an organization.
How can Capacity help?
Request a demo to learn more about how to improve information sharing in an organization. Discover how Capacity’s knowledge base software can improve productivity, reduce training time, achieve high-quality responses, and increase employee engagement with features like chatbot technology, Active Directory connection, and drag-and-drop capabilities.