You’re staring at your team’s mounting support tickets. Customer queries keep repeating. Your best agents are drowning in redundant tasks.
Sound familiar?
Support teams have seen this scene play out countless times in their day-to-day lives. The cost? Your team wastes hours digging through endless folders and emails, desperately searching for the information they need. Productivity suffers. Frustration mounts. Customers wait longer for answers, with customer trust at stake.
But here’s the real kicker: Your team already has the answers. They’re just scattered across emails, chat logs, and your top performers’ minds.
But there is a solution: A single platform that organizes, centralizes, and delivers critical knowledge in seconds a.k.a a Knowledge Management system.
Think of a knowledge management system as your organization’s brain. It captures, organizes, and shares critical information exactly when you need it. Eliminating scattered knowledge and repeated questions, while creating smooth and efficient workflows.
Understanding the right knowledge management strategies will help you succeed. Let’s explore how to make this work for your organization.
What is a knowledge management system?
A knowledge management system is a customer service software tool that captures, organizes, and shares an organization’s collective knowledge. It enables teams to store, access, and utilize information efficiently and acts as a central hub, making knowledge accessible to employees, customers, or both, whenever needed.
Think of it like a GitHub repository for your entire organization’s knowledge. Just as you can quickly find and pull the exact code snippet you need, a KMS indexes and versions every piece of information. From API documentation to customer FAQs, everything is searchable, trackable, and always up to date.
Organizational knowledge exists at multiple levels throughout the company. While some information is readily accessible, critical expertise often remains hidden within departments and individual team members. A knowledge management system centralizes this valuable knowledge, ensuring it’s preserved and accessible across your organization.
What are the types of knowledge management systems?
Knowledge management systems handle five distinct types of knowledge: explicit, implicit, tacit, declarative, and procedural. Each type requires specific approaches for capture, storage, and sharing within your organization.
1. Explicit knowledge management systems
These systems handle your organization’s documented information. They capture clearly stated facts, policies, and procedures. The knowledge exists in written form and is easily transferable.
Your explicit knowledge management system organizes manuals, guides, and documentation. It maintains version control of standard operating procedures. The system ensures easy access to formal policies. It indexes all written resources systematically.
2. Implicit knowledge management systems
Implicit knowledge lies between documented facts and personal experience. These systems capture knowledge that people don’t realize they possess. It’s the practical wisdom gained through daily work.
It’s like knowing the unwritten rules of your job. The system helps turn this automatic knowledge into clear guidance for others.
For eg. When an experienced agent immediately checks a customer’s API usage patterns before investigating reported integration errors. The system transforms this intuitive knowledge into structured diagnostic checklists for the entire support team.
3. Tacit knowledge management systems
Tacit knowledge is the hardest to capture but most valuable to share. It’s the deep expertise that comes from years of experience. These systems help transfer personal insights and intuition.
These preserve expert knowledge that’s difficult to explain in words. Like, an experienced agent knowing exactly when to escalate to engineering versus trying another troubleshooting step—not from following a flowchart, but from deep customer interaction experience.
4. Declarative knowledge management systems
These systems manage factual information and concepts. They organize what your team needs to know about specific topics. The focus stays on theoretical understanding and principles.
When your knowledge base clearly explains what each error code means, what features exist in each plan, and what security protocols are required. It’s the pure facts your team needs before they can tackle the ‘how’ of problem-solving.
5. Procedural knowledge management systems
These systems capture step-by-step processes and methods. They focus on how to perform specific tasks. The system breaks down complex procedures into clear steps.
Your platform creates interactive workflow guides.These document how to perform specific tasks. They create clear, step-by-step guides. The system ensures everyone follows the same processes consistently. It’s like having a detailed recipe for every important task.
Benefits of knowledge management system
A well-designed knowledge management system (KMS) unlocks tremendous benefits for organizations, improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer satisfaction, and fostering long-term growth. Here’s some key advantages:
1. Saves time for agents and employees
One of the most immediate benefits of a KMS is its ability to save time. By providing instant access to accurate, relevant information, it eliminates the need for employees or agents to sift through endless files, emails, or outdated resources.
Self-service features deflect routine queries by allowing customers to resolve issues independently. Internally, agents and employees can locate the answers they need quickly, speeding up workflows and reducing downtime.
DevRev’s PluG improves this efficiency with its capability to capture product interactions in real-time. It automatically identifies user engagement patterns and surfaces relevant solutions based on actual product usage. When a support agent handles a ticket, they see not just documentation, but the customer’s journey within your product.
PluG integrates with your product interface, providing contextual help exactly where users need it. This intelligent assistance has helped organizations achieve significantly higher self-service success rates while reducing support ticket volume.
This efficiency translates to faster customer responses, fewer bottlenecks, and improved productivity across teams.
2. Improves employee training and onboarding
A centralized knowledge base streamlines the training and onboarding process for new hires. Employees no longer need to rely on colleagues or managers to find essential information. Instead, they can easily access standardized materials, such as company policies, training manuals, and process documentation.
This not only accelerates the learning curve for new team members but also ensures that all employees receive consistent, high-quality training. Over time, a well-maintained KMS becomes an invaluable resource for upskilling and continuous learning within the organization.
3. Streamlines customer onboarding
For customers, the onboarding phase is a critical period where first impressions are formed, and long-term satisfaction is shaped. A KMS enhances this experience by providing resources such as how-to guides, tutorials, and product walkthroughs that enable customers to fully understand and utilize your offerings.
When customers can quickly grasp the value of your product or service, they’re more likely to remain engaged, satisfied, and loyal. This proactive approach to onboarding fosters a sense of empowerment, helping customers feel confident in their ability to navigate your solutions.
PluG tracks real product usage patterns to identify where users need assistance. This helps teams create targeted documentation and provide contextual support exactly when users need it.
4. Scales customer support
Scaling customer support is often challenging, particularly as your business grows. A KMS addresses this by enabling self-service options like FAQ pages, knowledge articles, and help centers, which significantly reduce the volume of incoming support tickets.
This allows businesses to maintain the same high-quality customer experience without needing to expand their support teams. By deflecting common queries and streamlining issue resolution, a KMS helps organizations scale efficiently while keeping operational costs under control.
5. Provides 24/7 customer support
With providing support and an always-on world, customers expect instant support, regardless of the time or day. A KMS equipped with self-service tools, such as chatbots and searchable help centers, ensures customers can find answers at any hour.
This round-the-clock availability not only meets modern expectations but also reduces the pressure on live agents to manage after-hours inquiries. Businesses can maintain a responsive, customer-focused reputation without requiring additional staffing resources.
6. Promotes consistency and reliability
A centralized KMS ensures that everyone—whether employees, agents, or customers—accesses consistent and up-to-date information. This consistency minimizes errors, prevents miscommunication, and maintains brand integrity across every interaction.
With a single source of truth, organizations can ensure uniformity in customer responses, internal workflows, and decision-making processes. Over time, this builds credibility and trust both within the organization and with external stakeholders.
7. Enhances collaboration and knowledge sharing
In larger organizations or teams spread across multiple locations, collaboration can suffer without a reliable system for knowledge sharing. A KMS facilitates seamless communication by creating a shared space for storing, accessing, and updating information.
This encourages cross-departmental collaboration, reduces duplication of effort, and ensures that valuable knowledge doesn’t get lost due to employee turnover or siloed communication.
8. Improves operational efficiency
By streamlining workflows, reducing redundancy, and simplifying access to information, a KMS improves overall operational efficiency. Employees spend less time searching for resources and more time focusing on high-value tasks.
This operational clarity reduces friction within teams and improves the organization’s ability to adapt to service challenges and opportunities quickly.
Your organization’s specific needs and implementation approach will determine the benefits you’ll receive from a knowledge management system.
What are the best knowledge management systems?
Choosing the right knowledge management system can significantly impact your organization’s efficiency, scalability, and customer satisfaction. Here are some of the best tools available today, offering robust features for knowledge base management, self-service capabilities, and ticketing solutions.
DevRev
G2 rating: 4.7/5 stars
DevRev is a powerful tool that helps knowledge base management by unifying product, support, and documentation workflows. Its AI-native platform transforms how teams create, manage, and share knowledge. The system’s unique product-led approach ensures your knowledge base evolves with your product and customer needs.
Key features:
- AI-powered article creation and management: Write and edit content using advanced AI assistance. Automatically converts agent responses into knowledge base articles while maintaining brand voice consistency.
- Intelligent content organization: Creates a centralized knowledge repository that consolidates information from multiple sources. Supports various content formats including external links and PDFs.
- Smart search and self-service: Empowers users with Gen AI search capabilities. Helps customers find accurate solutions quickly through an intuitive knowledge base interface.
- Comprehensive analytics dashboard: Tracks article performance with detailed metrics. Identifies knowledge gaps through search query analysis and measures customer satisfaction for each article.
- Advanced permission controls: Manages content visibility with granular access controls. Separates internal and external content while enabling team-wide collaboration.
- AI writing assistance: Enhances content quality with AI-powered grammar checks and tone adjustments. Automatically restructures articles to match content guidelines.
- Collaborative workflow management: Streamlines content creation across teams with built-in quality checks. Maintains content accuracy through structured review processes.
Pricing: Flexible plans starting from $19.99/user/month
Fuel self-service, build out an accurate, comprehensive knowledge base to provide users with the right solutions and agents with the right resources.
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Zendesk
G2 rating: 4.3/5
Zendesk’s knowledge management capabilities center on customer support efficiency. The platform connects help center content with ticket management. It streamlines knowledge sharing between agents and customers.
Key features:
- Customizable help center templates: Offers brand-aligned design options for knowledge base presentation. Supports full customization of layout and user experience.
- Content suggestion engine: Recommends relevant articles based on ticket content and context. Helps agents quickly find and share appropriate solutions.
- Multilingual knowledge base support: Manages content in multiple languages with automatic translation features. Ensures consistent knowledge sharing across global audiences.
Pricing: Plans start at $19/user/month
*Advanced AI is available at the Professional and higher plan levels.
Salesforce
G2 rating: 4.4/5 stars
Salesforce Knowledge integrates seamlessly with its broader CRM ecosystem. The platform emphasizes customer service knowledge management. It supports both internal and external knowledge sharing.
Key features:
- Knowledge article versioning: Maintains complete history of content changes and updates. Enables teams to track modifications and restore previous versions when needed.
- Role-based article access: Controls information visibility based on user roles and permissions. Ensures sensitive information reaches only authorized team members.
- Advanced knowledge analytics: Measures article performance with comprehensive reporting tools. Tracks user engagement and identifies knowledge gaps through detailed metrics.
Pricing: Service Cloud starts at $25/user/month
HubSpot
G2 rating: 4.4/5 stars
HubSpot’s knowledge base tools focus on customer education and support. The system combines service hub features with content management. It offers straightforward knowledge organization.
Key features:
- SEO-optimized knowledge articles: Automatically optimizes content for search engine visibility. Includes built-in tools for improving article rankings and discoverability.
- Customer feedback collection: Gathers user ratings and comments directly within knowledge base articles. Uses feedback to improve content quality and identify areas for expansion.
- Knowledge base reporting: Provides detailed insights into article performance and user behavior. Tracks metrics like views, helpful votes, and time spent on each article.
Pricing: Service Hub starts at $20/user/month
Confluence (Atlassian)
G2 rating: 4.2/5 stars
Confluence specializes in internal knowledge management and documentation. The platform excels at team collaboration. It supports structured knowledge organization.
Key features:
- Template-based documentation: Offers pre-built templates for various knowledge types and use cases. Ensures consistency across documentation while saving creation time.
- Team spaces organization: Creates dedicated areas for different departments and projects. Maintains clean knowledge structure with intuitive navigation and access controls.
- Rich text editing capabilities: Supports advanced formatting and multimedia content integration. Enables teams to create engaging, visually appealing documentation easily.
Pricing: Free plan available, Standard at $5.16/user/month
*Limited features with free and Standard. AI capabilities available with Premium and onwards
Building an effective knowledge management framework
Success in knowledge management relies on a structured five-step approach:
- Generation and capture: Your teams create valuable insights daily. Capture this knowledge systematically through documented experiences and learnings.
- Systematic organization: Transform raw information into accessible resources. Structure your knowledge in ways that make sense for your teams.
- Distribution: Make knowledge available across your organization. Ensure every team member can access the information they need.
- Implementation: Put knowledge into practical use. Transform stored information into actionable insights that drive results.
- Evolution: Keep your knowledge base dynamic. Regular updates ensure your information stays relevant and valuable.
This framework empowers every employee to both contribute and benefit from your organization’s collective wisdom. When everyone participates in knowledge sharing, your entire organization becomes more efficient and innovative.
Knowledge management with DevRev
Success depends on choosing a system that aligns with modern needs. Look for platforms that offer intelligent search, collaborative features, and AI assistance that feels natural. Your knowledge management system should adapt to your organization’s growth while maintaining simplicity in daily use.
DevRev delivers exactly this. Transform your knowledge management process with DevRev’s intelligent platform. Its built-in AI capabilities automatically identify content that needs refreshing and helps create new articles effortlessly. The system proactively highlights improvement opportunities and streamlines content updates. Your teams and customers benefit from consistently fresh, relevant knowledge when needed.
Book a demo to see DevRev’s intelligent knowledge management in action.
