Even in an era often referred to as the “Information Age”… keeping track of information can be a daunting task. Companies are moving away from traditional paper documentation for internal policies, references and documentation. We are also seeing a growing trend for companies to provide their customers access to information with online self help tools. Organizing your information for easy retrieval is essential to be competitive in this marketplace.
The IDC, a leading global intelligence marketing firm recently studied the issue of knowledge management. They found that knowledge workers, some of the industries highest paid workers, spent about 20% of their day looking for information. In the American workforce, that translates to about 400 hours per year/per worker. The IDC further noted that about half of that time spent searching resulted in the workers (employees) still not being able to find the information they were looking for. Imagine… 200 hours per worker (per year) of wasted time, or put another way, your employees wasting about 10% of their workday.
The blessing and the curse of the “Information Age”… is that managers now have at their disposal a wealth of information. Organizing, storing and retrieving this information effectively requires a strong knowledge base system.
Knowledge base systems can typically be used for internal and external support. Internal support systems store company knowledge to be retrieved by management and staff. Administrator settings that are easily configured allow for optimum functionality such as flexible permissions controls, workflow, article review, etc. External support systems for customer self help should integrate with your existing web site and be easy for your customers to navigate. Ease of use, advanced search capabilities and the ability to rate articles are essential system features.
Knowledge base software systems are usually priced based on the number of administrators who will be managing the system. It pays to research the many features that are available to ensure you will not soon outgrow your system. Up front spending for functionality must be weighed against revenue lost for wasted employee time. A robust knowledge management system will save your employees search time and boost their search productivity.
IDC Research; January 2005; www.idc.com
Editor’s Note: Article previously published here.
…
Written by: Anne Sych, Marketing Manager for Novo Solutions, Inc.
Novo Solutions, Inc. is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) in Virginia Beach, Virginia specializing in Customer Support Software. Free trial versions of the Novo Help Desk Software, Knowledge Base Software and suite of web-based Customer Support Solutions are available. Contact: sales@novosolutions.com for more information. http://www.novosolutions.com/
Read more articles written by Anne Sych
Related posts:
- Disaster Preparedness | Safeguarding Your Most Valuable Assets – Company Knowledge
Nobody likes to have to think about disaster preparedness, and many do not give thought to safeguarding ‘company knowledge’, but among other tangible catastrophic losses, it can mean the difference between your business making it or going under when a disastrous event occurs. We all ensure that we have adequate... - 5 Ways to Save on IP Telephony with Call-Accounting Software
A call-accounting solution is a regular companion of any telephony system. To manage your personal expenses for paid calls, you can get by information from your telephony service provider, who uses a call-accounting system to control their client calls. To manage effectively expenses for thousands of paid calls made each... - How to Save Time, Money and Effort with Enterprise VoIP Software
Today’s economy requires all business to use all the enterprise resources most effectively. An IP telephony network is not an exception. From this article, you can learn how to: automate client request processing and release your staff to fulfill more complicated tasks with a voice portal; save your client time... - Help Desk Software: Exploring Deployment Options
IT professionals of today tend to have high expectations with regard to the software tools they use to track and manage their customer issues. Almost everyone who is researching Help Desk software is looking for the application that has the most powerful feature set at the best price. Obviously it... - Choosing the Right Automated Forex Trading Software
Automated forex trading has a few advantages of its own. Here all you have to do is follow trade signals that are generated and if you are able to execute them with discipline and if your system is logical, then you can easily pile up gains. Before looking at the... - 5 Savvy Ways to Make the Most of Your Call Accounting Software
If you are looking for a savvy way to improve your business efficiency with a low input, learn 5 call accounting tips to increase your enterprise VoIP network ROI. 1. Cut Your Employee Telecom Expenses Call accounting software can help you not only calculate your employee telecom costs but also... - Expired Domain Gains – Simple Ideas to Create an Income Base
You can use a number of simple methods and plans to create a solid income base that earns a monthly ongoing income base. For many expired domain entrepreneurs (both full-time and part time), expired domains offer an opportunity to supplement their current income with money earned out of dealing with... - How Proactive Networking Can Dramatically Boost Your Business
Dear Friend, Do you know why most people fail at marketing anything on the Internet? Even though the products or services they are trying to sell are awesome? Regardless of your present level of success, pause for a minute and try to find out the #1 reason for failure so... - Developing Original Articles: The Human Touch vs. Computer Software
With the increasing demand of high quality content on the web, finding original articles and carefully stylized content is a priority for companies to retain credibility. With today’s fierce search engine ranking competition, a steady supply of original articles has become a necessity. Websites need to be designed to increase... - 5 Great Ways to Save Time with Enterprise VoIP Integration
The 3 main goals of today’s business are effective client service; higher employee productivity; lower costs for telecommunications, network maintenance, etc. Here you can learn 5 savvy ways to achieve these goals by integrating IP telephony in your enterprise IT infrastructure. 1. Process Your Client Requests Timely With Maximum Effectiveness... - The Hidden Costs of Freeware
You are tasked with looking for software and in your research you stumble upon ‘free’ software. Can this be? It sounds too good to be true! How can they do that? It is very tempting – most of us at least take a peak. After all, why would we buy... - 7 Serious Ways to Save Money – Not for the Faint of Heart
Do you truly want to save? Take a serious look at how you spend and then change it. Quit smoking those cigars, take in a roommate, park your car-and you’ll save as much as $10,000 a year. It really is just as easy as all that! Are you finding it... - Tips for Homeowners: Simple Measures You Can Take to Save Your Home from Fire
You may have homeowners insurance that provides coverage for damage to your home resulting from fire, but this coverage cannot protect your loved ones or memories in the case of fire, it only covers material objects. Every year, 4,000 Americans die in fires, and the vast majority of those deaths... - Yes! You Really Can Save Money
Sometimes, saving money may seem impossible. You buy groceries on Monday, pay bills on Tuesday, and by Wednesday your paycheck has disappeared. However, if you establish a savings plan, you’ll “find” money in places you’ve never thought to look! If you’re like most American families, you wait for “extra” cash... - Thrifty Ways to Save Money
Saving for an emergency need not be a chore when you are making a good effort to put money aside constantly. Be in a mood of saving and watch as that bank account accumulates. Instead of buying a new DVD, save money by trading with family and friends. Once a...