🧠The Knowledge Base of The Future
Vertical-specific knowledge bases should be all-knowing, conversational, constantly updating and able to take action without human intervention
There is no reason someone should be manually updating documentation all day, every day. There is also no reason employee education should be a burden on operating businesses. There is a need for verticalized platforms tackling employee education and documentation that fit the specific needs of different industries.
The Cost of Inefficiency
My back-of-the-envelope consulting math suggests that there are roughly 55,000 documentation specialists in the U.S. and 210,000 corporate educators. Worldwide, those numbers are more like 800,000 across both roles. The average salaries range between $68,000 and $75,000 per year, which means companies in the U.S. spend $18.4 billion annually and globally, $54.8 billion per year on these functions alone. This feels unnecessary when we think about the technology available to us.
For many companies, the management of knowledge and internal training still requires significant manual intervention, creating inefficiencies and adding avoidable costs. This is especially true when knowledge workers spend up to 30% of their day searching for or recreating documents, which reduces productivity and employee satisfaction (Sources: Whale, Armstrong Archives).Â
Why Should Knowledge Bases Be Verticalized?
The key to transforming internal documentation lies in verticalization—creating domain-specific models trained on the core systems of record for each industry. A one-size-fits-all solution for knowledge management or employee training doesn’t address the nuances of various industries like property management, healthcare, legal services, or manufacturing. Each sector has its own tools, regulatory requirements, and processes that need tailored, embedded knowledge solutions.
Take healthcare, for example. Medical professionals need instant access to up-to-date, accurate documentation about treatment protocols, patient records, or regulatory changes. A generic knowledge management system won't suffice because it doesn't account for the intricate workflows and legal obligations within the healthcare field. However, a verticalized platform trained on healthcare-specific data—integrating seamlessly with electronic medical records (EMR) and regulatory systems—would revolutionize the way healthcare providers access and update critical knowledge in real-time.
A Conversational Future, Meeting You Where You Are
Beyond just being verticalized, the future of knowledge bases must be conversational, a system that employees can talk to, asking questions in natural language and receiving accurate, real-time responses. This system needs to integrate with existing collaboration tools to avoid context switching: Teams, Slack, etc. This conversational AI would continuously learn from user interactions, keep knowledge bases fresh and updated without manual input. This cuts down on the overhead of documentation specialists and corporate trainers, reducing the need for human intervention, and allowing organizations to focus on value-adding activities instead.
The Bottom Line
As businesses continue to move toward automation and AI, it’s clear that there’s an opportunity to drastically reduce the costs associated with internal documentation and employee education. The impacts are far greater, though, in high turnover industries. Initial and ongoing training time is reduced, efficiency improves and this ever evolving system can proactively identify opportunities for process improvement. One day, this system could be a global search product, a unified data platform and more.
By leveraging verticalized, conversational, and self-updating knowledge bases, companies can not only cut costs but also drive efficiency and improve the employee experience across the board.
The future of work isn’t just about automating processes—it’s also about empowering employees with instant, intelligent access to the knowledge they need to do their jobs well.