Definition: What is a knowledge base?
A knowledge database is a digital archive that systematically stores and organizes information. This information may be in the form of texts, images, videos, or other multimedia content.
The goal of a knowledge database is to make knowledge easy to access and use. Imagine you have a huge library. But instead of spending hours searching for the right book, you can simply type in a few keywords and instantly get the information you need — that's exactly what a knowledge base does.
This is practical for both customers and employees who are looking for quick and precise answers to their questions.
What is the role of artificial intelligence?
Many modern knowledge databases are now based on Artistic intelligence (KI). With AI, information is provided even faster and more efficiently. AI-based systems automatically suggest relevant content and generate personalized answers, significantly improving the user experience.
Chatbots play a special role here, which can also serve as a knowledge database and thus help users in real time. More about that in this article.
Why is a knowledge base important?
A knowledge base is an essential tool for every company, as it offers numerous benefits.
First and foremost, it helps to centralize and make available existing knowledge in the company. This is particularly important in large companies, where information can often be distributed and difficult to find. But the benefits go far beyond simply providing information:
Increasing efficiency and increasing productivity
By having a central point of contact for information, employees work faster and more efficiently. You can directly access the knowledge base and instantly find the information you need instead of spending a long time searching for the data you need or waiting for answers from colleagues.
Support in decision-making
A well-maintained database provides managers and employees with a wide range of information that helps them make informed decisions. In this way, a knowledge database improves the quality of decisions in organizations.
Improving the quality of customer service
For the customer service is a knowledge base of inestimable value. Service staff can quickly access solutions to common problems and thus shorten response times. The result? A higher customer satisfaction and a strengthened customer loyalty. In addition, customers often find answers to their questions themselves through a public knowledge database. This reduces the number of support requests.
Onboarding assistance
With a knowledge database, new employees are often more quickly trained, as they have access to a wealth of information that helps them in their early days.
Promoting knowledge transfer
A knowledge base can involve the exchange of best practices and stimulate experiences between employees. This means that work processes are also constantly improving.
Long-term knowledge retention
Employees come and go, but a knowledge base ensures that the valuable knowledge they've built up over time isn't lost. As you can see, a knowledge database can therefore play very different roles in companies:
- Central source of information
- Incorporation tool
- customer support
- employee support
- Decision-making aid
What must a knowledge base be able to do?
In order for a knowledge database to develop its full potential, it should meet the following requirements:
5 specific examples of knowledge databases in companies
Many companies have recognized and successfully implemented the benefits of knowledge databases. We have a few specific examples for you:
Fressnapf
Fressnapf, Europe's leading pet food and accessories retailer, uses moinAI's chatbot as an innovative knowledge database. All important information is stored in the backend of the chatbot. If the customer service employees don't know something, take a look at digital assistant after.
What makes up the knowledge base?
- Using the moinAI chatbot as an internal knowledge database for customer service employees
- AI-powered help finding information
- The chat user interface serves as a search bar, or alternatively the UX-optimized backend in which the information is presented in topic formats
- Quick and reliable access to extensive knowledge
- Increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction
“Even our customer care employees now use the chatbot as a knowledge database, as they don't know everything.” - Fressnapf
Canva
Canva, a popular design tool, runs an extensive help center as a knowledge database for customers. This provides a comprehensive list of topics and resources to help users with their designs.
What makes up the knowledge base?
- Interactive search bar with suggestions as you type
- Concise and detailed support articles
- Multi-language and easy to use
- Well-organized categories and sub-categories
Mailchimp
Mailchimp, an automation platform for marketing and email marketing services, relies on a powerful knowledge base to help customers efficiently manage their marketing activities. This knowledge base is well-designed and offers an intuitive search bar.
What makes up the knowledge base?
- Popular tutorials and guides section
- Multimedia content such as video tutorials
- Detailed instructions and tips on important topics
adobe
Adobe, a leading provider of creative software, operates an extensive help center as a knowledge database. The center provides users with support for all Adobe products and is known for its comprehensive and detailed resources.
What makes up the knowledge base?
- Interactive search bar for quick access to the information you need
- Extensive collection of tutorials, faqs and support articles
- User-friendly interface with clear categories and sub-categories
- Direct links to popular articles and resources
These examples show how different knowledge databases can be used in companies. In particular, the integration of AI and chatbots, such as the example of Fressnapf, still has a lot of potential for this field.
Create a knowledge base: The 9 steps to a knowledge base
If you want to establish a knowledge base in your company, you can follow these steps:
1. Define responsibilities
Name a team or specific employees who are responsible for creating and maintaining the knowledge base. Define clear roles and responsibilities. If necessary, train your team to use the knowledge base system and create content.
2. Identify common questions and issues
Analyze existing customer interactions to identify frequently asked questions and issues. This works, for example, by interviewing the service and help desk team, evaluating which search terms are being used on the website, which topics the chatbot is being asked about, etc. The most popular questions serve as the starting point for the content of your knowledge database.
3. Create structure
Structure the collected information and organize it into logical categories and subject areas. At this point, the word”information architecture“fall. Sometimes it's not easy to categorize information in a categorically meaningful way.
4. Select a knowledge base system
Choose an appropriate knowledge base system that meets your needs and makes it easy to manage and update your content. Consider aspects such as usability, functionality, and integration options.
5. Editorial guidelines
Develop editorial guidelines and standards for the language, style, formatting, and tone of content in your knowledge base. This ensures that the content is consistent and professional.
6. Collect and produce content
Gather existing materials, such as product descriptions, manuals, and FAQs. If necessary, create supplementary content that addresses the specific needs of your customers.
7. SEO optimization
Optimize content for search engines to improve the visibility of your knowledge base. To do this, use relevant keywords in your articles and structure your content with headlines, paragraphs, and lists.
8. Test and publish content
Verify the quality and accuracy of your content through testing and feedback sessions. Make sure the information is understandable and relevant.
9. Keep your knowledge base up-to-date
Continuously add new information, update existing content, and respond to feedback from customers and employees. In this way, the knowledge database is always up to date and offers added value for users.
moinAI: An AI chatbot and product advisor as a knowledge base
The AI chatbot and Product Advisor from moinAI can also function as a powerful knowledge database. This database is managed in the chatbot hub or backend and offers companies a flexible and user-friendly solution to collect their information (both internally and externally).
- The AI chatbot accesses the comprehensive information in the hub to provide users with quick and accurate answers.
- The moinAI Product Advisor uses a special product knowledge database to tailor Product recommendations and to offer services.
- Companies can easily integrate knowledge and information into the backend via interfaces, manual entries or by uploading PDFs.
- The knowledge base is easy to update so that the latest and most relevant information is always available.
- This enables seamless integration and efficient use of the collected company data.
- All important functions for customer support are thus united in one place. This increases efficiency and offers customers a first-class experience.
These versatile functions make moinAI a powerful tool for companies that want to optimally manage their knowledge data. Would you like to use the AI knowledge base? Just contact us via Chat!
