By: Brandon Doyle
One of your employees has just tried to print something and he/she gets
a printer error. The error says, "Out of paper." Well the employee
knows that the printer is not out of paper and it does not have a paper jam.
What to do? Well the traditional answer is to call technical support. But wait.
Hasn't someone else in the office seen this error before? Can it be corrected
faster with the help of a co-worker? In this article we will review 7 ways a
Knowledge Base program can improve overall office communication.
1. The biggest reason to use a Knowledge Base program is to keep track of
software problems. Almost all offices have three dynamics to their software:
Operating System, Productivity Software, and custom built software for your
business. Entrusting all your business computers to all of this software is
indeed a brave move. A Knowledge Base program allows your employees to enter
detailed information on a variety of software topics including; how-to(s),
program errors, settings and options, hardware settings, and many others.
2. A Knowledge Base program is perfect for storing... well, knowledge. Quite
often your office will have an employee who has been with the business for
several years and then suddenly submits their two week notice for a variety of
reasons. This employee takes all of his/her knowledge with them. This leaves other
less informed employees to fill their shoes. Not an easy task. It doesn't need
to be that way anymore. With a Knowledge Base program, an employee can be
required to make at least one entry a week. If you have 5 employees, that is
260 entries in your Knowledge Base per year!
3. How does one define knowledge? A Knowledge Base can be basically anything
you desire. Quite often we have contact information, vendor information, and
policies and procedures stored in hundreds of files over the whole hard drive;
or worse, papers all over the office. A Knowledge Base makes it easy to have
all that information in one place. If the Knowledge Base has a robust search
engine; a search can be completed in a few seconds.
4. Customer Relations. A Knowledge Base can improve customer relations.
Customers can now have advanced knowledge of policies and procedures and well
as product and service pricing, and with a quick response from the employee.
5. More accurate answers. Often, you simply give up trying to find the information
and take your best guess at what you think the material contained. While this
may be acceptable to you some of the time, it may not be acceptable to the
customer or client you are talking to.
6. Improve Office productivity. The same employee that had the "out of
paper" error message found out from the Knowledge Base that he/she needed
to re-install the printer driver. This saved the employee twenty minutes out of
the work day.
7. Beat the competition. The competition may have never even considered using a
Knowledge Base program in the office. By having this basic idea and software in
place, you will be able to work smarter, save time, and save money. The
competition will be left in the dust!
Bonus Tip:
Research the best Knowledge Base software for your business. Knowledge Base(s),
sometimes called Knowledge Management comes in many different flavours. Check
out the vendors! Make sure they have a free demo or product information on
their website.
Author Bio
Author: Brandon Doyle
www.doylesoftutah.com
Author: Brandon Doyle
www.doylesoftutah.com