TL;DR: The knowledge management process has 5 key steps: the discovery of knowledge, capturing it, indexing that knowledge, assessing the accuracy of that knowledge, and then distributing that knowledge to the whole team or company.
Think about this example:
A customer service rep receives a question from a customer that has been asked before. Instead of scrambling for an answer, the rep quickly searches their team’s knowledge base and provides an accurate response in seconds.
Over time, the knowledge base becomes a living resource, evolving with customer needs, making service faster, more consistent, and reducing repetitive questions.
That’s what successful knowledge management looks like in action.
Let’s take a closer look at each step of the process.
What is the knowledge management process?
1. Discovery
The first step is to pinpoint the knowledge that is useful to the company’s goals, operations and bottomline. Like separating wheat from chaff, this can be a mammoth task for several reasons:
- Not all stored information is a knowledge asset, and extraneous data needs to be filtered out.
- It can be easy to overlook critical knowledge, such as highly specialized routines, or uncommonly used procedures.
- Management and team leaders need to define what comprises knowledge in their respective domains in the first place.
Because knowledge is scattered throughout the body of the organization, discovery is best done by dividing it into three levels:
- Individual level. This is the personal knowledge possessed by each team member. Such knowledge can be tacit, such as know-how, or it can be explicit, if recorded in a manual or handbook.
- Group level. This is the knowledge built on the team or department level. It can consist of values, procedures, working relationships, and practical learnings compiled over the years working as a group.
- Structural level. This is organizational knowledge. It can be the company’s values, culture, business processes, and proprietary pieces of knowledge accumulated through application and repetition.
The discovery stage thus involves all levels of the organization, from individual team members to the enterprise as a whole, and the day-to-day managers in between.
The discovery process can be helped by looking at:
✔ The hierarchical structure, and all roles relevant to the knowledge base
✔ Existing knowledge repositories, such as employee handbooks or reference manuals
✔ Training and development resources
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2. Knowledge Capture
Once the knowledge to be collected has been defined and pinpointed, the next challenge is collection.
The different types of knowledge have their own documentation procedure.
Examples include:
- Explicit knowledge – The easiest to collect, since the information already comes from recorded media, such as documents, files, or hard copies.
- Implicit knowledge – This refers to the organization’s processes, routines and culture. It may already be recorded in employee handbooks, or transcribed in department manuals.
- Tacit knowledge – These are lessons acquired through practice and experience, and thus the most challenging to capture.
Most would think of this as knowledge creation, but really it’s knowledge documentation. The information exists out there — in your heads and in random docs — and now is the time to put it altogether.
3. Indexing
After the knowledge acquisition comes indexing and knowledge organization. The collected knowledge assets will need to be transcribed, categorized and indexed for easy navigation and retrieval.
This is where systems come in. Specialized knowledge management tools help build a “Wiki” style database of company knowledge, so that it can be easily accessed and shared by all members.
Knowledge sharing can be part of your company culture and helps with onboarding and mitigating the brain drain, or the inevitable leaving of employees.
Such systems are designed for documenting knowledge, and retrieving them for reference, training, or collaboration.
It should be noted that not all knowledge management systems are equal. They vary in terms of interface, features, security, and reporting / analytics functions. Some platforms also make users replicate the data, while others allow them to reference data sets where it already exists to avoid excessive clutter and redundancy. Tettra takes the latter approach.
4. Knowledge assessment
Once the knowledge base has been organized, it needs to be vetted before rollout. This means reviewing the stored knowledge, validating the information is correct and up-to-date, and extraneous information has been filtered out.
Often, some of the issues that need to be assessed are:
- Incorrect or outdated knowledge
- Redundant entries that conflict with each other
- Incomplete information
- Knowledge gaps in departments, procedures, or routines
5. Distribution
Once the knowledge base is organized and vetted, it should be easy and convenient to access and share.
This helps facilitate learning and when necessary, updating.
Some factors to consider are:
- Ease of access – The interface should be user-friendly and intuitive so that users don’t revert back to old methods of finding knowledge
- Shareable – Members should be able to collaborate
- Security – The database should be secured from external threats and tampering. This is especially important in the age of coronavirus and remote working, as more members access the knowledge base outside the network safety of the office.
- Access levels – Sensitive knowledge should be restricted on a position level or need-to-know basis.
- Upkeep – There should be systems in place for maintaining the accuracy of the captured knowledge over time
With a system in place, knowledge transfer becomes simpler. For instance, your customer service manager can share what’s happening with a new customer support representative much faster when FAQs and processes are well-documented.
Get more tips about successful knowledge management from Tettra
- What is knowledge management? The basics explained
- 8 examples of knowledge management systems
- Here’s your knowledge management strategy
- 7 crucial benefits of knowledge management
- The case for a knowledge base
- 11 best knowledge management tools to use right now
How does the knowledge management process work in Tettra?
You can use specific functionality within Tettra to ensure your knowledge management process is efficient.
Create a plan to help you capture the info and to kickstart the knowledge management process. Once that’s in place, use Tettra to help you get going.
“Very quickly after launching, the number of redundant questions decreased. Managers direct people to look in Tettra first, since the answer is usually there.”
GrandPad
Why Tettra is helpful for customer service teams
As the go-to tool for customer service teams, Tettra is an internal knowledge base to keep information organized and easy to find. Here’s how your team can benefit from using Tettra:
- Centralized Knowledge: Store all your customer service info—FAQs, processes, and troubleshooting guides—in one spot, so your team always knows where to look.
- Better Team Collaboration: Share updates, solutions, and tips easily, so everyone stays on the same page and can help each other out.
- Faster Customer Responses: With everything in one place, your team spends less time searching for answers and more time helping customers, improving satisfaction and productivity.
- Easy Content Creation: Your team can quickly document new solutions and updates, keeping your knowledge base current without any hassle.
- Works with Your Tools: Tettra integrates with the tools you’re already using, like Slack and Google Drive, so your team can get what they need without breaking their flow.
- Simple, Organized Layout: Keep everything neat and searchable, making it a breeze for agents to find what they need, even during busy customer interactions.
Learn more about how Tettra helps customer service teams.
