Understanding Knowledge Bases: A Comprehensive Guide for 2025

A knowledge base is an essential tool for modern organizations to manage and leverage information effectively. Whether you want to improve customer service, enhance internal operations, or streamline onboarding, a well-designed knowledge base is the foundation of these efforts.

A well-structured knowledge base does more than provide information — it creates clarity, efficiency, and alignment across an organization. At Ninety, we help teams turn information into action by providing tools that ensure critical insights are accessible, usable, and continuously improved.

Is your team constantly searching for the same information? Is your onboarding process taking too long? Are you lacking a single source of truth for frequently asked questions? A knowledge base can help solve all these issues. This guide will help you understand the importance of a knowledge base and how it can best serve your business growth. 

What Is a Knowledge Base?

A knowledge base is a centralized repository that organizations use to store, organize, and share information. It serves as a vital resource for employees and customers, offering a simple way to access answers, documentation, and guidance.

In a high-functioning business, a knowledge base is a core part of your business operating system (BOS). It connects directly to how your business organizes information, assigns accountability, and ensures teams have the right data to execute efficiently. 

Why Knowledge Bases Matter

More organizations are focusing on self-service solutions to empower employees. A study from McKinsey illustrated that a well-structured knowledge base can reduce the time employees spend searching for information by 35%, greatly enhancing operational efficiency. 

We believe effective knowledge bases are built on structured accountability. That’s why Ninety tools help teams document, track, and continuously refine knowledge, ensuring it stays useful and actionable.

Is Your Knowledge Base Working?

Most companies already have some type of knowledge base, but it's often scattered across various software. If your team is constantly searching for the same information, your onboarding process is taking too long, or you lack a single source of truth for important information, then your knowledge base isn’t working.

When a knowledge base isn’t structured properly:

• New employees waste hours searching for information.
• Teams make costly mistakes due to outdated or missing documentation.
• Customers struggle to find answers, leading to higher support costs.

When Does Your Business Need a Knowledge Base?

As your company grows, the need for a structured knowledge base becomes more apparent. Depending on your team’s size, structure, and operational maturity, your knowledge base can either support growth or slow it down.

Many businesses start with unorganized documentation: training materials in Slack threads, FAQs in email inboxes, and SOPs in Google Docs. As complexity increases, this approach becomes difficult to manage and eventually breaks down.

Ninety’s Knowledge Portal eliminates these inefficiencies by providing a single source of truth that is documented, accessible, and continuously refined. 

Types of Knowledge Bases

Different knowledge bases serve different purposes. Understanding these types will help you choose the right one for your organization.

Internal Knowledge Bases

Internal knowledge bases help employees find key information quickly. These often include:

• Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Internal communication guidelines
• Training materials and company policies

These resources boost team productivity by reducing interruptions and helping employees work independently. At Ninety, we stress the importance of organizational structure, and a well-organized internal knowledge base follows the same principle, providing clarity and efficiency.

External Knowledge Bases

External knowledge bases focus on helping customers by offering self-service solutions such as:

• FAQs
• Product manuals
• Troubleshooting guides

These resources reduce the workload on customer support teams and give users the answers they need when they need them. Ninety’s Help Center serves as a valuable resource for customers to learn about our tools and how to best use the platform for their needs.

Hybrid Knowledge Bases

A hybrid knowledge base serves both employees and customers by allowing customized access based on user roles. This ensures everyone has the right information while keeping internal data secure.

Key Benefits of a Knowledge Base

A knowledge base drives efficiency, enhances customer satisfaction, and strengthens collaboration. It helps businesses scale while maintaining alignment and clarity.

Creates Clear Communication

A well-structured knowledge base allows employees to find answers quickly, reducing the time spent searching for information. An established knowledge base contributes to a 33% improvement in decision-making, as reported by Deloitte.

Reduces Onboarding Costs

New employees need clear guidance. A knowledge base provides structured training materials, reducing onboarding time and costs by up to 50%, as reported by Document360.

Ninety’s structured tools can help teams organize and document knowledge effortlessly. Our platform gives you the means to create a single source of truth for your organization.

Encourages Knowledge Sharing

A knowledge base helps teams document important insights, ensuring that expertise isn’t lost when employees leave. This also reduces information silos and improves collaboration.

How to Create a Knowledge Base

An effective knowledge base should be well-structured, user-friendly, and updated regularly to ensure relevance and accuracy. Your knowledge base can become a valuable resource for enhancing productivity, improving customer support, and driving business growth. 

Organize Content Clearly

Use clear categories and tags to help users navigate information easily. Think of it like structuring a business — clarity leads to efficiency.

Keep It User-Friendly

Make your knowledge base easy to use with a clean design, collapsible menus, and a simple layout.

Improve Search Functionality

Use search tools that allow users to find answers quickly. Features like keyword tagging and natural language processing can enhance search accuracy.

Make It Scalable and Integrated

Your knowledge base should grow with your company. Choose software that integrates with your CRM, project management, and communication tools to ensure seamless workflows.

Offer Different Content Formats

People learn in different ways. Provide text-based articles, video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and interactive FAQs to accommodate various learning styles.

Best Practices for a Successful Knowledge Base

1. Ensure Content Consistency

Follow a standardized style guide to keep tone, language, and formatting uniform.

2. Encourage Contributions

Allow employees and customers to contribute by suggesting edits or adding insights to keep the content fresh and relevant.

3. Regularly Update Information

Schedule routine content audits to ensure accuracy and remove outdated or misleading information.

4. Use Analytics for Improvement

Track user engagement and search trends to identify gaps in content and refine your knowledge base.

5. Optimize for Mobile Access

Make sure your knowledge base is mobile-friendly so users can access it on any device.

Choosing the Right Knowledge Base Software

Choosing the right knowledge base tool is vital for improving organizational efficiency and knowledge management:

• Scalability: Can handle growing content needs
• Integration: Seamless connectivity with business tools
• Customization: Matches your branding and needs
• Analytics: Provides insights into user engagement

Popular platforms such as Zendesk, Document360, Guru, and Confluence each offer unique strengths. An additional option is Ninety’s Knowledge Portal, which is one of many tools available in our platform.

This tool integrates professional development directly into daily workflows, which allows employees to track progress on upskilling, action items, and key performance indicators (KPIs). The portal allows users to create custom documentation, ensuring teams have a reliable means of accessing information to do their work more efficiently. 

The Future of Knowledge Bases

As companies scale, their knowledge bases must evolve in both content and function. They should do more than store information: An effective knowledge base seamlessly integrates into your business operating system.

More Capabilities with AI

From predictive search to auto-tagging and content suggestions, an AI-powered knowledge base helps teams find what they need faster and keeps information up-to-date without the need for excessive manual upkeep. From removing outdated information to making it easier to find the resources team members need, AI improves efficiency and reduces noise.

More Control for Scaling Teams

The best knowledge base systems scale with your business as it grows. They go beyond broad access, supporting version control, permissions by role, and real-time updates. These features reinforce team health and role accountability, especially for hybrid teams. 

Personalization

Future knowledge bases will meet the needs of your team as it grows in complexity. They will deliver a more tailored experience, providing the right documentation, dashboards, and how-to content based on specific seats or departments. As your business puts the right people in the right seats, an advanced knowledge base will give them exactly what they need to work effectively. 

Integrating Your Knowledge Base into a Business Operating System

A knowledge base isn’t just a collection of documents — it should be part of your BOS. At Ninety, we emphasize the importance of clarity and alignment in scaling a business. A well-structured knowledge base supports efficiency, alignment, and knowledge sharing: three critical aspects of a well-run organization.

When connected to a BOS, a knowledge base ensures that teams can access the right information at the right time, reinforcing processes and maintaining a culture of accountability. Integrate knowledge sharing into your BOS today with Ninety’s structured tools. 

Conclusion: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Knowledge Base

A knowledge base is more than just a document repository — it’s a strategic asset that drives efficiency, improves customer service, and enhances company growth.

To fully leverage a knowledge base, leaders should ensure it evolves alongside their business. This aligns directly with Ninety’s 9 Core Competencies and Stages of Development, which help senior leadership teams assess their company's current state and identify areas for growth.

As your organization scales, your knowledge base should reflect that growth, ensuring it remains an active, integrated part of your business operating system rather than a static resource.

Are you ready to take the next step in optimizing your knowledge base and aligning it with your business strategy? Learn how Ninety can help you build a stronger organization today.