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What is the knowledge base and why is it so important in Service Desk systems?

What is the knowledge base and why is it so important in Service Desk systems?

Nowadays, the product itself is no longer a guarantee of success. It is more and more often that high quality and automation of service help to keep customers. Thus, an efficient and quick reaction to incidents may be decisive for the final satisfaction of system users. Answering questions and solving problems in real-time, and then sharing information with other Clients who may encounter the same situation, is achieved in ticket management systems through knowledge management.

What is knowledge management?

In today's world where technology plays a major role, everyone wants their problems to be resolved quickly. When creating an incident, the user pays attention to the fact that his case is dealt with as soon as possible, and that the response is delivered quicker. In such cases, the knowledge base becomes one of the most important practice that put the needs of customers first and helps minimize time and costs. Situations in which companies, instead of focusing on efficient problem solving, devote their valuable time to searching for relevant information should not occur.

Knowledge management is the process of identifying, organizing, storing, and disseminating information in an organization and consists of three main steps:

  • Knowledge Creation. At this stage, organizations identify, collect and document knowledge, which is then disseminated in the enterprise.
  • Knowledge Storage. This is the stage where the system gathers knowledge and the information is formatted to meet the requirements.
  • Knowledge Sharing. The last stage in which knowledge is communicated to the selected departments, and its use may decide about a competitive advantage over other organizations.

Knowledge management has been defined in ITIL®4 as one of the main practices responsible for providing the necessary information to all other IT assets management processes.

In practice, it works like this each time an IT agent receives a ticket and then works on it, new solutions are created. Knowledge management is about documenting these solutions and sharing them with others. Due to this, when another agent receives a similar incident, it can quickly and efficiently respond to it and thus minimize the time allocated to a given ticket. An additional advantage is that the customer can use the knowledge base himself and find answers to the most frequently asked questions.  The lack of documenting the methodology of operation for a specific problem significantly hinders and extends the work, which is why proper knowledge management is such an important process.

How is the knowledge base built?

A properly created knowledge base is extremely helpful for the Agent. Mint Service Desk has such a knowledge base, due to which typical requests can be solved immediately.

Building a reliable knowledge base iis a complex process that consists of several stages. First, it is important to define most common problems your users may experience. The basic ones may concern problems for example with installation, logging in, or using specific functions. Then, it's a good idea to start by gathering information for the most frequently asked questions as they maximize problem-solving and ensure high returns with the lowest investment of time. In the next step, one should focus on organizing the content in such a way that the solutions are easily accessible, properly categorized, and easy to search for. Finally, it is important to monitor the effectiveness of the database and conduct analyses to improve it if necessary.

In the case of Service Desk systems, it is worth paying attention to whether they have this type of knowledge base and choosing those that provide it. Mint Service Desk is a system for managing requests, in which customer service operates at the highest level and guarantees answers as soon as possible.

What are the benefits of knowledge management in Service Desk systems?

Knowledge management is a very important practice that should be included in Service Desk systems. Activities such as finding ways to effectively record knowledge, making it easier to find information and assets, motivating employees to share knowledge, and integrating with existing processes and systems translate into success.

The use of knowledge management in Service Desk systems brings many benefits, including:

  • Efficient decision-making.
  • Troubleshoot faster.
  • Support for employee development.
  • Sharing specialist knowledge.
  • Streamlining business processes.
  • Improving communication.
  • Self-service promotion.
  • Increasing customer satisfaction with the service.

In conclusion, having a knowledge base containing solutions to simple incidents and then sharing them with users is a very important process that can guarantee all the above-mentioned benefits. Mint Service Desk is a system for handling requests with many functionalities, including an extensive knowledge base, dueto which even customers are able to find an answer to their problems on their own.