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Where do you start when building an outward facing knowledge base system?
Our company is looking to create a customer-facing knowledge base system. Where do we start? What types of software systems should we be looking into?
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2 Answers
The most important feature of a KB is, how easy its user can get to what he/she is looking for. So the search feature must be powerful and effective.
Next important thing is, how easy someone can contribute to the KB. That means, not having a write a scripting language to edit some content on the KB.
Luckily, both these features are already address today. 1) Wiki 2) Sharepoint.
Sharepoint is little more robust and feature rich compared to Wiki sites. Sharepoint can also be extended to other uses, like document repository etc. But since you are talking about outside facing KB, I recommend Wiki site, as it is a light weight, which is what you would want, so your customers can use it easily.
You start by thinking about the process by which the system is populated and kept up to date with the correct information.
Since most customer issue are addressed by your support department, this probably means that the system should be an integral part of your Helpdesk or CRM system. It may present the data as a dynamic wiki or FAQ, it really does not matter so long as it is easy to use and provides your customers with the information they need.
The following white paper includes a list of vendors who offer such systems. In addition to questions specific to your business, you will want to ask questions such as whether your customers can rate particular answers, sort results based on previous ratings and submit requests if they do not find an answers. http://www.focus.com/ugr/research/crm/how-pick-right-crm-helpdesk-bpm-vendor/
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