How to implement an enterprise search solution in the company to better manage the knowledge base while staying on a budget

Enterprise search solution as part of a knowledge management strategy

The management of information in the company, which we have already dealt with in a previous article, allows you to do the job smoothly and without wasting time and resources. Company information must always be easily accessible to employees wherever it is stored.

The context related to information is also important, which gives them a sense and allows them to use them: for this, enterprise search solutions must allow you to recover the contents of the knowledge base, update them easily, as well as integrating with tools and management systems in use.

A search solution is in fact the main tool through which to realize a wider strategy of construction of the enterprise knowledge and knowledge base management.

What is an Enterprise Search Solution?

Enterprise Search solutions are real search engines that allow you to search for information within multiple sources, such as databases and intranets, which can contain structured and unstructured data.

To ensure the security of the information in question, which can often contain sensitive data related to the organization, an enterprise search solution is typically aimed at a narrow audience (such as employees of the company) and have access control systems.

To extract the information required by users is often used Information Retrieval and the content goes through various stages, from the collection and indexing of files and documents to retrieving of search queries, up to the match between "questions and answers". 

Among the undeniable advantages of Enterprise Search there is certainly to make the entire wealth of business documentation usable, both for employees and customers.

But let’s see how to implement an Enterprise Search solution and what are the resistances that today can be faced in the corporate context.

The best practices to implement an enterprise search solution

When it comes to choosing an enterprise search engine, there may be some practical problems, especially regarding implementation costs and time. These can represent an obstacle in perceiving the value of an effective information search system.

Today, many of the solutions on the market benefit from Artificial Intelligence, significantly reducing the time and effort required for the company to implement them.

As far as the persons responsible for scouting new technologies are concerned, their introduction in the company and the training of employees for their use, it may be useful to take into account some fundamental steps and features useful for defining a precise budget.

Let's have a look together:

• defining the goals: identify the objectives and improvements that you want to achieve with the adoption of a search solution. For example, helping support teams solve problems, drive up-selling and cross-selling products, improve customer experience, or create efficient workflows;

• choose a user-friendly solution: employees must be trained to use the new solutions, but this can take time and above all cost. Therefore, it is essential to choose a platform that is intuitive to use and designed for them, where research is integrated with other features, such as editing and creating new content. In this way, it will be easier to insert it into the working routine and you will have savings in the long term;

• outsource: outsourcing the creation and implementation of a search solution for your knowledge management is the easiest way to keep costs down. In addition, relying on companies and professionals in the sector ensures that you have a solution based on your needs and receive assistance for updates and maintenance;

• facilitate integration: a budget-friendly solution does not require rewriting knowledge base content or modifying elements in your business ecosystem. A search solution should integrate seamlessly with all systems and tools already used by employees and departments. Pigro, for example, thanks to its AI algorithm, independently performs training on all company content and extracts precise and accurate information without the need to use keywords, tags or categories;

• continuous improvement and updating: as the information contained in the knowledge base changes and increases, the chosen solution must also be updated automatically, to always provide you with relevant and valuable answers and make your knowledge management system efficient and functional.

Developing the Knowledge-Sharing Culture

To these technical-practical ideas, we can also add some behaviours that can positively influence the company culture and the resistance that can be encountered from a more theoretical point of view.

• Develop programs to "capture" knowledge: both in onboarding - when hiring new resources - and in offboarding - when an employee leaves. This helps to prevent time wasting when, for example, searched information is not found, but also to avoid losing valuable information related to the personal experience of employees;

• Create a repository with centralized access where you can gather all the knowledge base and spread the policy of documenting best practices among employees and managers. When, in fact, the knowledge is fragmented and enclosed in silos, it is difficult to access the information and you must turn to colleagues to find what you need, slowing down, therefore, the work of all;

• Measure the efficiency of knowledge management with KPI and analytics (the direct impact of KM on productivity, efficiency of operations and cost reduction can be measured by analysing ROI metrics). Regular analysis of KM tools and related initiatives can be critical to understanding how and how much they are used and how to improve them.

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