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5 lesser-known knowledge base benefits for companies

by Casey Schmidt  |  February 18, 2020

4 min. read
A collection of library shelves.

Every company expands, yours is certainly no different. With this expansion comes the need for team members to make quicker decisions and be more efficient. In order to do this, they need important information easily accessible. This empowers them to make faster and better decisions, share their work quicker and solve problems easier.

Fortunately, you can do all this and more with one simple solution: implementing a knowledge base. This guide details five of the most unique and important knowledge base benefits. If you aren’t completely aware of this powerful technology, don’t worry. I’ll provide you with enough information to have a strong foundation of the concept, followed by some in-depth details.

What is a knowledge base?

A knowledge base is a way for companies to store information digitally. It allows team members the opportunity to share and search through important content in a centralized location. Furthermore, customers and clients are also able to use this hub to find answers to their potential questions – questions they likely would have asked your company.

A globe on a desk.
Knowledge bases provide information quickly.

Think of a knowledge base like an ultimate search engine that holds information about your specific company’s products, services and more. Instead of asking companies for information, customers simply use the search engine (knowledge base) to find their answers. If a customer or client does end up asking a team member a question, they can also use the knowledge base to provide a fast answer.

Now that you have an idea of what the knowledge base is and what it does, let’s take a look at some of its benefits. Here are five unique advantages to using a knowledge base.

1. Frees up your customer support teams

Customer support teams are designed to provide answers to customers in a timely fashion. For their sake, a knowledge base is one of the greatest inventions they could have ever wished for. It reduces the amount of contact they have with customers, improves the interactions they do have and achieves the end result of their overall goal efficiently (happy customers).

An empty headset on a computer desk.
The less your customer support teams have to do, the more they can accomplish.

2. Increases company productivity

A knowledge base offers team members a chance to quickly pull any piece of information from a centralized location without any type of limitations or access issues. Any potential hangups they may have previously had are quickly erased with this simple, powerful tool. With all the information they need in an organized, central hub, team members are sure to retrieve needed data faster while finding more time during their day to complete projects.

3. Keeps customers satisfied

Imagine that you’ve just purchased a product and have a question about it. You head to the company’s website and look around for a way to contact them. After giving them a call, you’re told by an automated machine that they’re closed for the day. Instead, you email them and receive an inefficient reply the next day that doesn’t answer your question. Now, compare that to this scenario, where you buy a company product, head to their website and find that your question is answered immediately by their handy knowledge base. Certainly, scenario two would make you much happier and might keep you coming back to this particular company’s products in your future purchases.

A man holding a thumbs up.
A powerful knowledge base increases customer approval.

4. Boosts remote accessibility

Important business takes place all over the world, making it vital for companies to provide information in a mobile-friendly manner. A knowledge base allows for remote access, giving team members a chance to discover important data or answer specific questions while out of the office or at a meeting with a client. This type of remote accessibility further favors clients who work remotely as a standard.

5. Empowers your company’s authority

Customers want to put their complete trust in companies they patronize. A knowledge base helps secure customer faith, presenting your company as an expert on a field of information. Certainly, it’s easy to see why customers would select one company over the other if they feel one has a clear advantage in expertise concerning their product or service. Consider this when implementing a knowledge base.

At the end of the day, empowering customers and clients with access to extensive product documents keeps them happy and informed. They’ll end up using your products and services efficiently and refrain from tying down your tech and customer support teams. Consider implementing a knowledge base when you feel its benefits give you a big boost. Chances are they will.