Knowledge base software stores and organizes information about businesses and their products, services, and processes in a central repository accessible by the rest of the organization.
Businesses use knowledge bases to bring information from different sources, such as internal communications platforms or email software, into a self-serve digital library that acts as a single source of truth. Businesses can determine what content they want to collect in the knowledge base, how it is used, and who can access or edit the information. The content can range from training documentation to project timelines to meeting notes and action items. Knowledge bases allow users to organize information effectively and offer powerful search capabilities, which help employees find information efficiently and trust that it is accurate. Knowledge bases can be accessed by a large audience, but they are typically managed by a limited number of contributors. Contributors usually include those with more expertise or oversight into particular topics, such as subject matter experts, team leads, and project managers.
Wiki products are also included in this category but differ from knowledge base tools in a few ways. Firstly, the content stored in wikis encompasses a wider range of business topics than a knowledge base, which focuses on products, services, and processes. Further, wikis offer a flexible workspace where employees can work together to flesh out ideas, thus making them more collaborative. Usually, any employee has the freedom to contribute or edit content in a wiki, as opposed to knowledge bases that have a few dedicated contributors and editors who actively manage the content.
Some knowledge bases are deployed as contact center knowledge base software to help customer service agents access clear and accurate answers to frequently asked questions. Knowledge base software products may also integrate with enterprise content management (ECM) systems to allow users to search for and access materials across different repositories.
To qualify for inclusion in the Knowledge Base category, a product must:
- Enable users to create editable articles
- Provide cloud storage space for content
- Allow users to search for specific content
- Support a tagging or taxonomy system to sort articles
- Allow users to upload or attach various file types, such as audio and video files, images, and external links
