Top 5 Benefits of Using an Internal Database

“Internal information is a company’s most valuable asset, and every company has a treasure trove of it. Unfortunately, important files can go unnoticed and unread if they aren’t properly indexed or if a powerful search tool isn’t used. Intranet knowledge bases and wikis are great for surfacing content and directing workers in the direction of tools that can assist them to get their jobs done with as little interruption as possible.”

How simple is it for employees to get their hands on company policies and guidelines? An internal knowledge base could be useful if employees frequently complain about a lack of easy access to, say, HR policies or training documents. In the context of the modern digital workplace, a knowledge base is a controlled repository for all the information your organization will ever need to function effectively.

There are a number of approaches to building a knowledge base, but intranet software is often considered to be the most efficient. In addition to storing sensitive information and company policies on a private network, your company can benefit from an enterprise search tool that will bring up relevant content from all over the company. Your content is now easily accessible by your staff because it has been gathered, published, organized, and made searchable. They can find everything they need in one convenient spot, cutting down on their searching and looking around.

Simply put, what is the definition of an internal knowledge base?

Your company’s success depends on your knowledge base, which is essentially a repository of all the information your company has ever accumulated. It’s a one-stop shop for all the information your staff will ever need and can house a wide range of documents to back up operational requirements. I’ll give you an example:

• An employee handbook, including up-to-date information about the company’s location and administration, the employee benefits offered, the company’s structure, and the names and contact information of all employees.
• Core beliefs and culture – What sets your company apart from the competition and what you hope all employees will uphold as personal values
• “Onboarding” refers to the documents that are given to new employees in order to introduce them to the company and to inform them of what they can expect during their first few weeks there.
• Insider information required for daily customer support, including but not limited to:
• Money – Shares, payroll, taxes, and company bonuses, as well as other financial information
• Calendars – a schedule of important dates that may or may not be applicable worldwide depending on where the headquarters are located.
• Marketing details: describe your current advertising campaigns and explain how your staff can help spread the word about the business.

The list goes on and on.

Everything that is documented internally and could be useful to employees on an ongoing basis should be included in the company wiki or knowledge base.

Everything useful to the day-to-day operations of your company is what you should be storing in your knowledge base. What you put in that space is determined by your organization’s internal culture and the wants and needs of your staff.

There are businesses with thousands of wiki pages (covering everything from ESG initiatives to diversity and inclusion) and others with much simpler Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) sections.

Information such as employee benefits packages, vacation schedules, and in-depth company values can all be stored on an intranet for easy access by employees around the world. Indeed, the level of specificity is not limited to that.

The knowledge base can be partitioned into different divisions so that different groups can easily find and use the information that is most pertinent to them. After all, what works for someone on the Sales team might not work for someone in Engineering, and vice versa.

Knowledge is strength.

You should now ask yourself whether it is worth your time to create a knowledge base. Standardizing content and making information accessible to employees has many long-term advantages for businesses, as many thriving companies already know. A knowledge base on the company intranet can be useful for a number of reasons, the top five of which are listed below.

The existence of a knowledge base has the potential to boost efficiency.

According to McKinsey, productivity can be boosted by as much as 35% if the right data is readily available. Providing easy access to all the data your workers need will increase output. They can look it up in the KB rather than bothering a manager, HR, or a coworker for an answer. Time-crunched HR and IT staff who field similar inquiries will also benefit from this.

This is particularly useful for processes that are not routine for the employees in your company, as they will not have the necessary information memorized. Searching through old emails or chats for random documents to try to find the answer to standard processes within an organization can be a major hassle and wastes a lot of time for employees. In order to get the information they need, they may have to interrupt a coworker.

Everyone knows the rules, the values, and the constant expectations when the right data is stored in a central location. It can help reveal some of the company’s secret information, which is especially helpful after an employee leaves and takes their knowledge with them. If it’s kept in a database, it won’t get lost and will remain accessible to employees within the company. Having a centralized system for managing intranet pages makes it simple to hand over responsibility for pages created by a departing coworker to their replacement.

Quality and uniformity of content are rewarded on intranet pages.

By centralizing all of your data in one place, you’ll have much more control over the maintenance and improvement of your content. By employing a content management system (CMS) intranet editor with designs, for instance, communicators and intranet managers can easily establish criteria that all content must meet. Content authors with the proper authorization can create and publish high-quality content in accordance with business expectations with minimal training (or access to readily available documentation).

The use of a company wiki has been shown to significantly improve teamwork and morale among employees with widely scattered locations.

Communicators within an organization understand the importance of staff working together to foster a strong and positive company culture. When everyone has access to the same comprehensive database, they only need to reach out to one another for collaborative purposes rather than for questions that could be answered by looking in the database. When there is a consistent body of content being used on a regular basis by those who need it, any internal communication needs can be met with minimal effort.

A well-used knowledge base and an intranet with a searchable people directory both contribute to a more collaborative workplace. The ability to filter by categories allows users to quickly find the right people to talk to and determine which of their coworkers can provide the help they require.

Boost onboarding assistance by using a knowledge base.

When a new employee joins your company, the orientation program is their first exposure to their new position and the company as a whole. However, this can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, especially for businesses that are making multiple hires. The onboarding process is more uniform and thorough when key documentation is disseminated in the first few weeks thanks to a knowledge base.

The new employee can go through any required training, read any necessary manuals, or review any company policies whenever it is convenient for them. Also, since the same details are communicated to everyone, there’s less room for misunderstanding because the information can’t be interpreted incorrectly. Giving new hires their own section in your knowledge base ensures that they can return to the materials as often as they like, answering any questions they may have. All participants can be accommodated, and people who learn in a variety of ways can feel comfortable participating.

When a company uses its own content to help new hires become acclimated to the company’s culture and practices, it can do more than just sell itself. Access to a knowledge base for onboarding enables a connection to the entire organization, reopening effective communications networks as everybody recognizes the business’s goals and requirements from the get-go. This is especially important as we move ahead on widespread hybrid and remote working.

The challenge of maintaining the usefulness of knowledge base content.

There needs to be more openness and relevance from the business side if they want to increase employee engagement and satisfaction. What happens, though, if circumstances alter, as they might due to a merger or acquisition?

A knowledge base hosted on the intranet has the distinct advantage of being easily updated in real time to reflect any organizational shifts. That way, nobody will be basing their work on an old email or a rumor going around the office. It removes obstacles to interaction and guarantees that everyone is always in the know.

With a multichannel intranet, you can alert staff about new and updated content via email or through the Microsoft Teams channels they use most often.

While there is no shortage of resources to aid in internal communications, doing it poorly can lead to data silos, disengaged workers, and the death of company culture. A knowledge base, backed by intranet software, can encourage teamwork by collecting and organizing all relevant data in one place. The benefits of the digital workplace provide employees with the resources they need to access documentation at any time to support any ongoing business activity.