1. Internal knowledge base

An internal knowledge base is a private knowledge base for your company. The primary audience for an internal knowledge base is your employees. Only workers who are granted access are able to access the information stored in your internal knowledge base.

With an internal knowledge base, you can provide your employees with the confidential information they need to do their jobs. The resources in your internal knowledge base help your employees complete policies, procedures, and processes.

To access an internal knowledge base, each employee needs a personal login and password.

2. External knowledge base

An external knowledge base is a customer-facing knowledge base. It’s also known as a public knowledge base. The primary audience for an external knowledge base is your customers. 

With an external knowledge base, customers can self-service their questions by searching your knowledge base. 

An external knowledge base can be open to the public or gated. In the first situation, anyone with internet access could see the information in your knowledge base. A gated customer-facing knowledge base means it would require the customers to have a login and password to access your knowledge base.

3. Partner knowledge base

A partner knowledge base allows you to expand your circle of users to a wider trusted group. In addition to your employees, a partner knowledge base allows external partners access to your documents and resources. 

With a partner knowledge base, you grant permission to agencies, collaborators, etc. to see specific content. This way, the information the external partners see is only the information for what their assignment is with the company. 

A partner knowledge base requires a login and a password. 

1. Document library

A document library is a cloud-based software where you can store and share your documents. Like a knowledge base, a document library helps centralize your company resources so that you can share files across your organization. Another name for a document library is a document repository.

The purpose of a document library is to store your company’s documents in one location. 

The main differences between a document library and a knowledge base are two-fold. 

First, a document library doesn’t typically have an opportunity for creating your documents. That means you need an external drafting program (like Google Sheets, Microsoft Word, or another system), to author your policies and procedures. 

Second, the search function is less robust. It works more like desktop folders where you can organize your documents in multiple sub-folders. The danger with this is it is easy to lose files as they get nestled in your organization system.

One way to look at a document library is it is the training wheels to getting a knowledge base — it gets you in the habit of centralizing your knowledge, but doesn’t support employees or help them improve their performance.

For a more comprehensive comparison, read about the differences between a document library and a knowledge base here.

2. Learning management system (LMS)

A learning management system (LMS) is a collection of self-paced training courses for your employees. Companies use an LMS to organize e-learning, create custom courses, and build upon classroom learning. 

The purpose of an LMS is to teach employees new skills by filling in the gaps that were missed in classroom training as well as build on the knowledge employees gained during onboarding.

While an LMS and knowledge base can both help with training employees, their roles in training are different. An LMS is a tool for independent learning that provides employees with a background education on skills and company information.

Alternatively, a knowledge base is used in training as a hands-on learning tool. Because your employees will use a knowledge base in their day-to-day job, you use a knowledge base in onboarding as part of scenario-based training. 

Then they can learn in the workflow as they encounter new situations and use the knowledge base to complete tasks.

See when it’s best to use an LMS, when to use a knowledge base, and when to use both to improve employee performance here.

3. Intranet

An intranet is an internal company website. It is a private online network that centralizes company operational information and allows companies to communicate with employees.

The purpose of an intranet is to increase communication and connection between the company and employees as well as employees across the organization.

The main difference between an intranet and a knowledge base is the information that you store on each site. 

Typically, an intranet is used to share company announcements, upload files, send messages, view organizational charts, and other company communications and organizational information. While you can store policies and procedures in an intranet, that isn’t the purpose of an intranet. 

Comparatively, you store policies, procedures, how-to guides, call flows, and other employee support materials that help your employees perform their jobs in a knowledge base.

Dive into a more detailed comparison of the role of an intranet vs. a knowledge base here.

4. Corporate wiki

A corporate wiki is a website — either private or public — that is created through collaboration. Think of it as Wikipedia for your company information. It is a centralized repository to store, share, and collaborate on content.

The purpose of a wiki is to provide an opportunity for employees to crowdsource information and share their knowledge.

In many ways, a wiki is a cross between a knowledge base and an intranet. The main difference between a wiki and a knowledge base is its collaborative nature. Wikis rely on tribal knowledge and are less controlled. A knowledge base relies on expert knowledge. 

Understand more of the differences between a wiki and a knowledge base here.

5. Flowchart diagram tool

A flowchart diagram tool is a visual representation of a decision tree. 

The purpose of a flowchart diagram is to present processes and procedures in a visual manner. They walk end-users through a procedure step-by-step by presenting choices with outcomes.

While a knowledge base hosts processes and procedures, it typically presents decision trees differently. Often, a knowledge base uses a standard word article or interactive workflow articles to walk an end-user through a procedure. 

However, some knowledge base software services have a flowchart diagram tool as part of their knowledge base.

1. Centralizes information into a one-stop shop

A knowledge base provides a single location where you can store your company resources. Your employees know where to turn to find help guides that help answer their questions.

This means employees don’t need to check in multiple locations (i.e. desktop folders, email, chat messages, etc.) to discover where the information they need is stored.

2. Provides 24/7 support to your employees

Your leaders and subject matter experts are not always available to answer questions. With a knowledge base, you capture the expert knowledge and make it accessible to everyone. 

It doesn’t matter what time of day it is. Customers and employees with permissions can search your knowledge base and get expert-level support by following your knowledge base articles.

3. Provides consistent customer support

When your customer-facing teams use knowledge base articles to walk them through a process or procedure, you provide your customers with a consistent experience.

Without a knowledge base, the customer experience can vary depending on which agent the customer talks to.

4. Increases productivity

How much time do your employees lose waiting on answers? Employees don’t know what they don’t know. You can train them and have them memorize information, but you have to leave room for human error. Eventually, your employees will forget something. 

With a knowledge base, your employees have all the answers at their fingertips. This eliminates roadblocks since employees don’t have to wait on a leader or co-worker to help them solve their problems.

5. Makes it easier for remote work

It doesn’t matter if your employees are working in the office or they are working from home. Since a knowledge base is a cloud-based software, your knowledge base articles are accessible anywhere your employees have internet access and a login. 

Disadvantages of a knowledge base

Now that you are completely sold on investing in a knowledge base, it is only fair that you are warned of some of the challenges with having a knowledge base. Here are a few things to be aware of before purchasing knowledge base software.

Should you build a knowledge base from scratch or purchase a ready-made software service?

Companies don’t typically build a knowledge base from scratch. That’s because there is enough work to do in creating your knowledge base without coding an entirely new software program. 

Creating a knowledge base can mean one of two things: 

1. You are building your knowledge base using an established software
2. You are coding your own software application

While coding your own knowledge base is uncommon, here are a few options for building your company’s knowledge base from scratch and for purchasing ready-made knowledge base software.

Building your own knowledge base software

While it is rare that companies build a knowledge base from scratch, it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Because of the already long to-do list for creating a knowledge base when purchasing the software, it isn’t recommended. 

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information on the internet about how to code a knowledge base site.

Alternatively, some companies try using HTML, Drupal, or WordPress sites to build their own knowledge base. However, those tend to end up being low-end knowledge management systems or corporate wikis with fewer tools and capabilities.

Purchasing ready-made knowledge base software

The more common approach to creating a knowledge base is to purchase ready-made knowledge base software. These ready-made knowledge base software companies have worked out the back-end coding, the structure, etc. 

But, there is still a lot of work to be done when you use ready-made knowledge base software. 

When you purchase ready-made knowledge base software, you still need to set up your knowledge base site. Most companies let you customize your site. 

After you set up your site, the real work begins. You’ll need to fill your knowledge base with all of your resources and documentation. However, you don’t just want to upload everything you have. Your files might be outdated and inaccurate. 

As you create your knowledge base, you want to optimize your knowledge base articles for performance. Then you’ll want to outline a plan for optimizing your content and keeping your articles up-to-date.