What is a Knowledge Sharing Platform and Why is It Important

what is knowledge sharing

In the business world, efficiency and productivity are held in high regard. However, no employee can rise to the best of their abilities if they have to stop and ask for every new piece of information they need to do their work.

That’s why companies need to find a way to disseminate their internal knowledge and make sure employees have access to basic tools, files, and how-to guides. The solution is a centralized repository where employees can access, share, organize, and store information. 

This is also known as a knowledge-sharing platform, and its purpose is to provide everyone within the company with the resources and data they need.

So, if you find your employees’ constant requests for onboarding checklists, policies, and any other type of document frustrating, there is an easy solution. But do all businesses need a knowledge-sharing platform?

Moving forward, we’ll talk about the top three reasons why a knowledge-sharing platform is important regardless of business size and development plans.

The Power of Search

The best knowledge-sharing tools have a powerful search engine that allows users to find different file types, resources, and information in the blink of an eye. Plus, as users add more information, the search engine must keep up with the new additions without slowing down or choking.

The true power of a knowledge-sharing platform stands in its ease of use. Therefore, the best platform doesn’t take long to understand how to use (it has a minimal learning curve). Also, the interface needs to be clean and intuitive. 

The Power of Collaboration

Most projects nowadays are based on collaboration and teamwork, so businesses that don’t encourage departments to work together have a lot to lose. However, if the business model is based on individual silos, it can be difficult to get people to open up. 

This is where a knowledge-sharing platform becomes crucial. Users can edit, add, and improve the files on the platform, but they can also ask questions, collaborate with colleagues, and provide feedback without having to meet the other person in a face-to-face encounter. 

Let’s take the content discovery process as an example. In this case, employees from the marketing, SEO, and sales department have to come together to create a reliable content strategy that will help improve the business’s online presence. 

This can be difficult considering just how busy things can get, but if you use a knowledge-sharing platform, everyone assigned to the project can add their intake and provide information as needed.

Deep Insight into your Business

Businesses often use analytics and reporting tools to understand customer behavior and market trends, but they tend to forget about their own backyard. Luckily, a reliable knowledge-sharing platform has built-in analytics and reporting, which you can set to identify gaps in knowledge, weak points, and other issues. 

The insight provided by these platforms can help you improve various internal processes related to knowledge sharing, but it can also pinpoint problems in your onboarding process. Plus, it will be easier to understand if there is any friction between departments (or colleagues) and see who works best with who.

The data from these reports will guide your decision-making process and help improve your HR department’s assessments and practices. 

Wrap Up

As you can see, knowledge-sharing platforms come with a series of benefits you can’t ignore (as a business). Plus, you have the added benefit of flexibility since there isn’t a clear definition for what a knowledge sharing platform should look like.

This is why it can be difficult to find the right tool for your team and business. Still, finding the right tool is only half the answer – you also have to work on developing your knowledge-sharing platform and keep it up to date as things change in your organization. 

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