Knowledge Add-on: share business know-how, procedures and info

What is the Knowledge Add-on?

A business can only get so far when one or two people store everything in their head. It can’t operate efficiently, or grow sustainably, when business knowledge, process and expertise is known only to a few — this kind of approach can cause a lot of micro-management, inefficiencies, and sub-standard outcomes.

ServiceM8’s Knowledge Add-on lets you record videos & create articles in your ServiceM8 account, which can be searched & viewed by staff in the field or back in the office.

The Knowledge Add-on can help maintain and improve your team’s efficiency, quality of work, customer service, and instil the essence of what sets your business apart. This happens through systemisation and empowering your staff with knowledge which is organised, accessible wherever they are, and available just when they need it.

You can capture and share:

  • Procedures for specific types of jobs
  • ‘How To’ instructions for specific tasks or problems
  • Expertise & Know-how which set your business apart
  • Tips, Tricks & Traps of the trade which could save a junior staff member hours on a job
  • Policies & Guidelines for dealing with certain scenarios
  • Best-Practice Examples to demonstrate the standard of quality & service expected
  • Client-specific info such as Service Level Agreements or non-standard processes

The point is, the Knowledge Add-on is flexible — it’s a tool for capturing and sharing information. You create the content, which can be whatever you want to help improve your business and empower your team.

By investing the time to properly document and record something once, it’s then available for everyone’s benefit. This is great for:

  • Staff independence & capability
  • Knowledge sharing between senior and junior team members
  • Minimising interrupting phone calls to senior staff
  • Avoiding the need to answer the same question or teach something, over and over
  • Improving job completion & reducing return visits or call-backs
  • Promoting a consistent standard of quality & customer service
  • Proactively learning from past mistakes
  • Making information accessible to staff “just in time”, wherever they are

Overview Video (6 mins)

How the Knowledge Add-on works

In the ServiceM8 app, through a job card you can create new Knowledge content. Directly in the app, you can:

  • Record and upload a video. You can even start/stop recording several times if needed, and ServiceM8 will combine the footage segments into a single video; and
  • Create an article, with basic formatting options and the ability to insert photos.
Recording a Knowledge video in the app

Similarly, in the Online Dashboard, you can:

  • Upload a video from your local storage; or
  • Create an article, with additional formatting options such as the ability to hyperlink text and add tables.
Creating a Knowledge article in the Online Dashboard

You can also “tag” a Knowledge article or video with a specific Client Name, Item Name, Item Number, or Service Name. Tagging your content will cause it to surface on job cards where the tag finds a match, making the content more discoverable and useful:

A tagged Knowledge article surfacing in a relevant job card

Knowledge articles and videos can be searched through the More tab of the app, via Global Search (magnifying glass icon) in the Online Dashboard, as well as in the Knowledge content manager.

Searching Knowledge with Global Search online

How to get started with the Knowledge Add-on

Knowledge is a ServiceM8 add-on, so to get started, login to your Online Dashboard and activate it in Settings > ServiceM8 Add-ons. If you can’t see the add-on, check your ServiceM8 pricing plan details.

Start with some small, quick wins — create a few Knowledge articles or videos on topics which come up again and again on:

  • “How to do X”; or
  • “What to do when Y or Z happens”.

From there, promote a practice of sharing knowledge, and identifying opportunities to create Knowledge articles & videos for the benefit of the team and business as a whole.

Check out the following resources:

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