10 Best Knowledge Base Examples
- 17 Min read
A corporate wiki is a great tool for sharing information with employees. It’s also useful for training new hires and keeping everyone informed on company policies.
However, a knowledge base is a much better option for storing information. A knowledge base is an effective way to store information because it allows users to search for specific topics and find answers quickly.
This article compares the pros and cons of each and how they stack up against each other to help you decide whether a corporate wiki or knowledge base makes sense for your company.
A corporate wiki is a type of knowledge base used within organizations to share information and collaborate on projects online. These wikis usually contain documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and other types of files.
Wikis are useful for companies who want to share information internally, especially when it involves sensitive topics.
There are two main types of wikis: public and private. Public wikis allow users to edit the content, whereas private wikis require approval before edits can be made. Private wikis are typically used within teams, for example, with customer service agents, while public ones are intended for wider audiences.
Most companies today rely heavily on knowledge bases to store and share information. A wiki knowledge database is useful for storing large amounts of data, but it lacks the ability to identify content gaps or edit and organize content.
Wikis allow for collaboration and editing of documents, making them ideal for corporate purposes.
The main reasons companies use a corporate wiki are to:
While knowledge bases are usually easier to set up, traditional wikis are usually more flexible and customizable and provide a form of modern customer support.
While corporate wikis can provide a wealth of knowledge and resources for employees, they can also create problems for businesses. Here are some corporate wiki drawbacks.
Wiki content is commonly hosted outside of the organization, meaning there is no control over who sees what information. Therefore, sensitive information could leak into public view.
When multiple people edit the same document, conflicts arise. These conflicts can lead to confusion and wasted time.
Since wikis allow for unlimited editing, it’s easy to copy and paste content from other documents. This leads to unnecessary redundancy.
If a wiki is not backed up regularly, it could become outdated or inaccessible. In addition, if the server crashes, information could get lost.
Wikis are open systems, which means that any person with internet access can edit the content. This increases the risk of unauthorized access to confidential information.
Since wikis are so user-friendly, it’s difficult to keep them updated. If updates aren’t made frequently enough, the information becomes outdated and obsolete.
Wikis are designed to be collaborative, so they don’t offer many options for customizing the look and feel of the site.
To avoid these pitfalls, you should consider creating an internal knowledge base instead.
An internal knowledge base is a collection of documents that employees can reference while working within an organization. These documents can be anything from instructions on how to perform a task to articles explaining industry standards.
A knowledge base allows you to store information in a centralized location, while still allowing others to contribute. Additionally, it provides a single point of reference for all internal information.
“Creating a knowledge base for a team can be a useful way to share information and improve the efficiency of the team. Here are some tips for creating a successful knowledge base:
By following these tips, you can create a valuable resource for your team that will help improve their knowledge and skills, and ultimately increase their productivity.“
Mohammad Hameed Hameedi
Sales & Marketing Manager | Web developer at Via Aquaria
While wikis are typically used for collaborative projects and collaboration among teams, knowledge bases are meant to provide quick answers to questions that arise during the course of business. Since they contain information that is specific to individual departments, knowledge bases are usually kept private until they are shared with other departments.
Wikis are ideal for sharing large amounts of information over long periods of time, whereas knowledge bases are useful for distributing smaller pieces of information to multiple individuals.
Knowledge bases are powerful resources that allow companies to share knowledge among employees.
These databases provide a central location for storing documents, articles, videos, and other content. There are several benefits to having a corporate wiki versus a knowledge base.
Here are a few key clear distinctions that might cause you to choose to use a knowledge base over a wiki.
Creating a knowledge base requires less work than creating a wiki. You connect your existing apps, such as cloud storage apps, to minimize your initial content investment, which means it’s also cheaper to create.
You can save space by using a knowledge base rather than a wiki. For example, you can store PDFs directly in a customer service knowledge base instead of converting them into HTML pages first.
Searching through a knowledge base software app is faster than searching through a wiki. The reason for this is that knowledge bases have been optimized specifically for searching.
If someone tampers with a wiki page, they could potentially damage the entire website. However, if someone edits a document in a knowledge base, only their own version will be affected.
When you create a software knowledge base, you give people permission to collaborate on the same documents. This means that anyone who has access to the database can work together on the same set of files.
Many knowledge bases are accessible via mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This means employees can access the information.
When you create knowledge bases, you can organize all of your documents into one place. A content gaps knowledge base provides a single location for all of your company’s documents. It can also be used as a self-serve library business application for businesses that want to keep track of their most frequently accessed documents.
Knowledge bases are typically built specifically for business purposes. They allow businesses to create and maintain structured data, and they can be customized to meet specific needs.
While knowledge bases provide a wealth of information, they also have drawbacks.
Here are some reasons why knowledge bases aren’t always the best option for businesses.
While knowledge bases allow you to control the flow of information, they lack the ability to edit or remove content. As a result, you lose control over the message you’re sending to your audience.
Some knowledge bases don’t offer many features beyond the basic organization. If you want to do things like track revisions or use advanced formatting tools, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
A lot of companies struggle to build and manage a knowledge base. Many organizations end up hiring outside consultants to handle this task.
The biggest drawback of a knowledge base is that it doesn’t integrate well with existing systems. To get the most benefit from a knowledge base, you’ll need to invest time and money to connect it to your current infrastructure.
Most knowledge bases require a steep learning curve before they become useful. Even after you learn how to use them, you still may not understand everything about them.
Building and maintaining a knowledge base isn’t cheap. You’ll need to pay for software licenses, hosting fees, and more.
Many knowledge bases are difficult to navigate. Most knowledge bases require users to navigate through multiple screens to find answers. This can be confusing and frustrating for users.
Whether you choose to build a knowledge base or a corporate wiki, make sure you pick the right tool for your business needs.
Wiki vs. knowledge base is a subject matter every business owner needs to know. There are pros and cons to each type of platform, so it’s useful to look at both options and decide which one is best for your business.
Knowledge bases are essentially databases that contain articles written by experts. These articles are organized into categories and topics, making it easy for visitors to navigate and find answers to common questions.
Wikis are collaborative platforms that allow multiple contributors to edit and add content. Wikis are usually used for collaborating on projects.
Both types of platforms provide value to businesses, but there are differences between the two. Some of the main differences include:
Both wikis and knowledge bases offer benefits to businesses, therefore you need to choose the option that fits your needs best.
Knowledge management is a critical part of any business. Whether you run a large corporation or a small startup, having a solid knowledge base is vital to running a successful operation.
A knowledge base allows you to store files securely and provides a centralized location for accessing them. While this option is useful for larger organizations, it’s not always necessary. Smaller businesses may benefit from a knowledge base instead of a corporate wiki.
If you have services that process internal-only documents, a knowledge base will work well for you. However, if you want to share these documents with customers, then a wiki might be a better choice.
Ultimately, the decision depends on your organization’s specific needs. Before choosing either option, consider whether you need a single source of truth or multiple versions of the same document. Also, look into the different ways that each option supports collaboration. For example, if you plan to use a corporate wiki, make sure that it offers advanced editing capabilities.
Both wikis and knowledge bases offer benefits to businesses. They can be used for business products, services, marketing materials, and more. Therefore, you need to choose the option that fits your needs best.
Whether you choose a corporate wiki or a knowledge base, FuseBase (formerly Nimbus) has the capability to offer both to meet your organizational knowledge needs.
The features best suited for both a corporate wiki and a knowledge base include:
Build your best knowledge management system with FuseBase
To find out more about how you can use FuseBase to build your corporate wiki or knowledge base and to start a free trial, visit this website.
A self-service knowledge base can save your time and improve your operations. Find out why you should consider having a self-service knowledge base in your business in this blog post.
Using interactive documents can be useful at work. In this blog post, find out what they are and how you can create them to boost your productivity.
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