Storing Corporate Knowledge

Whether we like it or not, every business has at least one expert. Most likely your expert might be an office manager, shift supervisor, or operations director.  When a question arises in your business, someone is sent looking for your expert to regurgitate the standard corporate answer. But what happens to your business when your expert gets sick, quits, or heaven forbid, gets hit by a truck?

Businesses are ever changing living organisms. What was an idea yesterday, quickly transforms into process and procedure today. Keeping up with the changes can be a full time job if you fail to manage it properly. Unfortunately most businesses fall into the trap of relying on people instead of systems to manage the constant change. It’s an easy trap that starts with the simple phrase, “We need someone to keep track of this stuff.”

So if people are not the answer, then what is? Clearly, you need to turn your expert into a knowledge system. Instead of storing the results of years of company experience locked in someone’s head, you need to capture and document that knowledge in one easily accessible online location.

Storing corporate knowledge online accomplishes 3 key objectives. First, it allows you to adhere to the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle. Never underestimate the amount of time wasted repeating the same common answer throughout your company. Second, placing the information online provides for parallel instruction. Gone are the delays of employees waiting in line for the answers they need. And third, having one place to store the answer increases your company’s agility. Need to make a corporate wide change? Update it once online and everyone gets the message when they need it.

Google Docs

There are several online solutions for knowledge management ranging in cost and complexity. Choosing the right solution for you depends on your corporate maturity and size. Most small businesses may be able to use something as simple as Google Docs (docs.google.com). It combines simple file sharing, revision history, and collaboration, with the ability to publish read only views of your documents.

Create a Wiki

Another low cost solution is to setup a Wiki. You’re probably familiar with Wiki software from the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org. You can create your own wiki by either downloading the software from www.mediawiki.org or there are several places online that will host your wiki for a small monthly fee. Wiki’s give you more centralized control over the documentation you create and the ability to link inter-related documents and search for content. Consider using a wiki if you have a lot of information to store, that would quickly become unmanageable in Google Docs.

Questions and Answers are the Key

Quite often the information you need to store takes more of a short question and answer form. In this case, you might consider using the Open Source Q&A System from www.osqa.net. It creates an online location to capture the questions and answers in an easy and intuitive way. With built in game theory mechanics (badges & points), it creates an atmosphere of sharing that’s fun and addictive. It’s just the right combination to get even stubborn employees to share their knowledge.

Getting your existing “experts” to share their knowledge may initially be a challenge. But building a corporate knowledge system is the right strategic move, because it creates a more productive and informed workforce. Knowledge is power, why not empower your employees to succeed?