How to create a knowledge base to centralize company information
Employees need quick and easy access to information to be productive. Learn 8 tips for creating an effective company knowledge base.
More information is available to your employees than ever before. But do they know where to find it?
Maybe your remote employees are missing out on important content shared in meetings. Or maybe they spend multiple hours out of their week trying to find important documentation. Or maybe a spotty employee onboarding process results in knowledge gaps that bring teamwork to a screeching halt.
Any of these issues have a big impact on employee engagement and productivity. You can fix them by creating an internal knowledge base. It connects employees with important information – when and where they need it.
In this article, we’ll look at how to create an effective internal knowledge base. You’ll learn what it is, why your organization needs one, what yours should include, and how to get started.
What is a knowledge base?
A knowledge base is a technology platform that focuses on the capture, storage, and organization of a company’s information. In terms of an internal knowledge base, this could encompass colleagues’ contact information, corporate policies and procedures, creative assets, employee training documents, and much more.
Another key aspect of a knowledge base is its status as a self-serve repository. Employees can access a knowledge base by themselves, whenever they need to. There’s no need to ask for access or send a support ticket. Your knowledge base should be hosted on a centralized, secure, and easily accessible platform that’s available across departments, projects, and geographical areas.
5 benefits of an internal knowledge base
#1: Connect remote employees
Remote work is a fact of business life. But when employees aren’t in the office, they’re more likely to miss out on important information.
In our 2025 trends report, 69% of employees said their organization delivers inconsistent messaging across different communication channels. Whether your team is sitting next to each other or hundreds of miles apart, a central knowledge base makes sure everyone has fast, easy access to the same information.
#2: Improve collaboration & productivity
According to Gallup, highly engaged employees drive 23% higher profitability. A modern knowledge base with collaboration features allows employees to build engagement with the content. They can leave comments, “like” documents or posts, ask questions, tag others – all functionalities that make them feel more plugged in.
#3: Accelerate learning and decision-making
A modern internal knowledge base centralizes everything an employee needs to know. When they can find relevant information — from processes and best practices to customer interactions, news, and employee insights — it speeds up the learning process and empowers employees to make better decisions.
New hires can get up to speed faster without having to message a manager for every little question. Veteran employees have instant access to relevant resources, so they can accomplish their tasks quicker and with greater context.
#4: Reduce employee onboarding costs
The cost of hiring a new employee can be up to four times their annual salary. A big part of that cost isn’t just recruitment fees – it’s the lost productivity while new hires get up to speed.
You can cut that ramp-up time down significantly with an intranet onboarding center. When all your policies, procedures, and training materials live in one easy-to-search knowledge base, new employees don’t have to wait around for answers. They can learn at their own pace and start contributing faster.
#5: Prevent knowledge loss
When employees leave, years of knowledge and experience walk out the door with them, which costs your company significant time and money. A knowledge base collects that insight before it disappears, crystallizing it as a valuable, transferable asset that can be retained and shared over the lifetime of the company.
How to build your internal knowledge base
So how do you get started with your own knowledge base? Read on for proven tips and strategies to help you build a knowledge base that benefits everyone and grows with your company.
1. Determine what information to include
From company sick leave policy to brand guidelines and best practices for answering a customer inquiry, everything relevant to your employees should be included in your knowledge base. For instance, a governance center can keep employees informed of important, business-critical communications by centralizing policies and procedures.
2. Decide who owns it
Is it HR or IT? Whoever takes the leadership role will manage the content, maintain the community, keep tabs on the logistics, and ensure problems are addressed as they arise. This will prevent responsibilities from being pushed off to one or the other and ensures that someone is always accountable.
3. Identify your content experts
A robust, reliable knowledge base relies on generating a constant stream of new and trustworthy information. Identify the employees that possess the knowledge required and use them as your starting point for building content.
4. Agree on the structure and organization of the content
Organization is vital to locating the knowledge you have stored. Your knowledge base documentation should be logically organized, fast and easy to use, and allow for user feedback and continued contributions.
5. Develop a consistent voice
Ensure the information stored in your knowledge base has a recognizable “voice” that reflects your brand. Verify that contributors use the same style, content type, and tone. A brand knowledge base helps everyone stay on-brand by putting all your creative guidelines and resources into a single digital hub. Adding images and other media can also help to draw people to your content.
6. Use technology
Technology is the engine that keeps your knowledge base running. But it’s not just about having a place to store files – it’s about making sure your team can actually find them.
If your employees have to jump between apps just to find a policy document, they’re eventually going to stop looking. That’s why you need a modern intranet or employee app that connects the dots. The best platforms integrate directly with the tools you already rely on (like SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, or Google Workspace) and put everything in one easy-to-search hub.
This is especially important if you have frontline or deskless workers who don’t spend their day behind a desk. A mobile-friendly platform ensures that everyone has instant access to the same information.
7. Make it searchable
In the digital workplace, employees need to find what they need, fast. This means that some sort of search functionality is necessary to avoid scrolling and searching through endless threads and documents. Include filters, robust search features, and article tagging to make finding content easier.
8. Just get started
If you feel that it’s time to put your company guidelines, documentation, and processes all in one place, you’re ready to build your knowledge base.
Start with the basics such as choosing topics, contributors, style, and technology platform, then get writing. You’ll have a functioning and effective knowledge base in no time, and you’ll be able to build and improve as you grow. No matter how much content you add, a knowledge base built on modern best practices always remains navigable, reliable, and accessible.
Armed with an effective plan for creating and building a knowledge base on a shared platform, your company can remove information silos and productivity roadblocks, and improve collaboration and decision-making. When employees are empowered to do their jobs faster and more efficiently, it’s good for your bottom line.
Ready to build your knowledge base?
One of your company’s most valuable assets is its knowledge, and in today’s competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to lose that.
Once your internal knowledge base is ready to go, you need to populate it with content. Read our guide on how to write great knowledge base articles.
Whether you’re organizing critical documents or capturing bright ideas from the frontline, your top goal is to build a centralized hub that actually reaches your employees. You’ll be able to put an end to the information scavenger hunt and keep everyone in the know.
See how Appspace’s intranet turns your digital workplace into a productivity engine.
